You're right, of course. Thank you Sjoerd! I think what I might do with some of it is to rake it into the bed next to that one. That adjacent bed has a sort of downward tilt to it. It angles and dips slightly away from the walkway and I've been thinking about filling it in some to make it more level, before I do any further planting in there. I've also got the chips from the other side of the house where they ground out the tree stump there, that I need to gather up and do something with. That would be OK right? To spread the chips into that part of the garden?
If you don't mind looking at it, I'd leave them piled as much as possible until you're ready to use the space again. The more spread the material is, the longer it will take to decompose. Adding anything green to them will help the process and moderate the nitrogen-robbing effect, if any. Greens could be cut grass, kitchen scraps (slightly buried so 'nobody knows,') trimmings from other yard plants with green leaves on them. When you are ready to start using the space, definitely spread the bounty as far as it will go! Since it was already a garden bed, was there mulch on it? If so, there should be little concern since the decomposition process is already going on there. Every time the ground is disturbed, the micro-organisms and bigger entities like earth worms (and the habitats they've created) are also disturbed. One might want to turn a compost pile, but I'm against unnecessarily disturbing the ground. The nitrogen problem is usually only seen when starting 'from scratch' on a patch of ground that was previously lawn. There is virtually no life in turf. A great garden, whether edible or ornamental, must have fertile ground with humus/organic matter. This is a great lecture on soil structure, although it is geared toward talking about crops, it applies to anyone doing any ground-gardening: http://permaculturenews.org/2013/09/20/ ... robiology/
Purple, yes there was mulch there already from the spring and summer work I did on that bed. Also the link you provided is fabulous, thank you! I learned that soil and dirt are different....that soil is sand, silt and clay, essentially a breakdown of the bedrock, and that it's just dirt until you have the nutrients, the organic matter, that change it into soil. Who knew? Fascinating!
