Ok, here's the deal. We've lived in our present house since 1980. That's 29 autumns, or 29 sessions of serious leaf raking. We have six maple trees on the property, as well as assorted dogwoods, a couple apple trees, and so on. This means lots of LEAVES.
So, for nearly 30 years we have raked and hauled leaves to the edge of the street, where the city mercifully sucks 'em up into a truck and hauls 'em off to the mother of all compost piles. Conservatively estimating the dry weight of each year's leaf harvest at, say, 200 pounds, this means we are closing in on hauling some three tons of leaves out of here over the past three decades.
So here's the question: Assuming these leaves are somehow transmogrified from nutrients in the soil and all that, why aren't we sinking into an abyss as the leaves are hauled off the property? What is coming in here to replace the mass of the leaves? We keep hauling leaves OUT, but nothing IN to replace them. I'm not sure I get that.
Inquiring minds want to know.
5 comments:
I guess that's the mystery of Mother Nature. At least that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
I had to look up "transmogrified"
so, today I have learned a new word!
But I'm sorry I don't even have a good guess for your question. That is something to wonder about!
I'd guess you've removed a good 1/4 inch of dirt during that time. If you spread all those leaves out and let them decompose into soil you might get that much. The water to grow the leaves originally, of course, is replenished by rainfall.
Every fall we used to haul leaves across into the woods and pile them up. Every year, by the next fall, you had a hard time finding where we piled them...
Gary, you're probably right. There are exposed roots here and there where there weren't before. Some of it is the tree pushing up, but some could be soil loss.
Pigeon: I think I learned the word "transmogrified" from one of my favorite comic strips ever, Calvin and Hobbes.
That's a ton of leaves!
hmmm... ask Jeeves.
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