Garden Journal Week 28, 2026

This topic is a bit unusual for my garden journal posts, since they’re meant to be more of a review of the previous week; however, this is relevant to this week’s post and rarely (if ever) covered in gardening posts—and it’s something I have a good bit of experience with. You see, when you have a woodland that’s been heavily damaged by invasive species, you may find that you need to restore the soil so you can start restoring the natives.

I would preface a warning here about transporting Asiatic jumping worms, but if you’re at the point of restoring degraded soil, they may be part of the reason you’re in this situation. Still, learn how to distinguish between them and other worms. You can still use compost, but you’d want to stick it into some black bags and set it out in full sun to cook what’s inside. Leave these bags sitting out in the full sun for 4-6 weeks, and then it should be good to use.

So how do we get the components?

If you have a fireplace, it’s likely that you have a pile of old, partially rotted firewood that’s been sitting a while because you didn’t use it (like myself… I have tons of wood piles). If you aren’t one of those people, ask about it in a local online group. I guarantee that there are at least a few people out there who have rotted wood piles they need to have cleared out.

Tell them that you’re willing to clean it out for them free. You’d be doing them a favor, when in actuality you’re collecting from a goldmine. You would pay a fortune for aged, well-rotted compost. Sure, you can do it with woodchips too, but even as those break down, it still takes a few years for them to finish composting down.

The second thing you’ll need is leaf mold. I have piles of leaves set out around the property. Some of this is collected from the woods where I was clearing space to remove invasive species. You can also create fence rings and keep filling that with leaves. HOAs will be more accepting of rings than piles.

The birds arguably prefer the piles. This is the best natural birdfeeder for certain species like robins and catbirds, who will regularly pick through the leaf pile for worms and other insects. You just need it to sit for around two years in a moist, shady location, then scrape back the top layer of leaves to find the leaf mold.

An optional step is to purchase some native mushroom spawn. I opted for adding bluets to these areas, which I got from North Spore (I’m not an affiliate or sponsor). We’ll find out next year if any of it took. They have instructions on how to grow them, but a good mix of partially decomposed wood, leaf litter, leaf mold, and broken up sticks and twigs is ideal.

I like to mix it all up together: the well-rotted wood dust, bits of partially decomposed wood, the leaf mold, and the leaf litter. Then I mulch the surface of the woodland soil with it. Scatter some across the soil surface, add some of the mushroom spawn on top, and then scatter more of your compost on top of that. I’ll reserve some of the dry leaf litter to scatter on top as the final dressing. You can also include some wood chips as well. Be sure to scrape away all of this to bare soil when you’re adding in your plants.

PS. If you don’t have access to leaf mold, Frey Brothers makes both leaf compost and soil conditioner, which can be mixed in with the soil itself. It’s more expensive than using the free materials nature gave you, but it should be fairly sterile and free from pests. If you need something to start out with so you can then start collecting your own material, it’s a viable option.