The leaves and stuff in my backyard just aren't decaying. They dry out, turn black, then winter comes and freezes the ground for 5 months. When spring rolls around again, everything is practically mummified. There has been a perfectly intact, unchanging, piece of banana peel sitting on the ground for 3 years! And no, I couldn't find any worms. Is it all the pine needles causing this? Why and how does this happen??

>>2825209 (OP)
Its dead jim

>>2825209 (OP)
I know nothing about yards but christ that looks like shit. Like, back of an abandoned parking lot shit.


I were you?, I’d literally shovel every single bit of of that shit, mix it up, remove some of the weeds and shit, and then go to home depot and buy bags of soil. actual soil. and actual manure shit. mix THAT all up. then lay it over your current shit and throw seeds from plants native to my area in there.


even if nothing grows id rather look at some nice dark brown, watered soil than that shit

>>2825226
I already did lol I forgot to mention. I mixed it, watered it, removed the pine needles, deweeded (manually), put grass seeds, put fertilizer, even outright replaced the dirt one time… Idk what to do man. There is no rock bed or nothing blocking the soil. Just dirt all the way down. Also I took the picture after it rained lol.
Should I just mix the surface every week?

>>2825250
Put fungi and worms in the soil.

Compost kitchen scraps daily. Or bury them in different places around your property. If you are close to neighbors, this can be problematic - pests. Try composting in hanging plant pots - this will reduce the number of crawling insects somewhat if you are close to neighbors. You can grow things in the pots in a year from now. Balance greens and brown material. Start an outhouse if you can be bothered. If you keep nutrients at home, wildlife will come and start to break it down. Also look into water recycling with reed beds. People living in the desert can make little oases by conserving water.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOKn33-q4Ao

>>2825209 (OP)
have you considered watering it?

>>2825305
like a cunty golf course?

>>2825250
It seems to be cursed. Start by figuring out who put a hex on your land and why, then go from there.

>>2825250
Probably a mix of pine straw and not enough sunlight. Where I live, loblolly smothers everything if you aren't on top of it

>>2825209 (OP)
Apply a mycorrhizal fungi

>>2825209 (OP)
if you are midwest or northeast and within 20 miles of acity with more then 2000 residents the soil is just permafucked by industry it isnt even worth carign about anymore

>>2825663
This is why we're running out of arable land

>>2825209 (OP)
>Is it all the pine needles causing this?
Yeah, bro. Depends on the species but pine needles leech tannins and acid into the soil to make it hostile to other species. Consider how long it takes for a pine sapling to grow, the whole point is to stunt everything around them so their seedlings can get started. If you want to reclaim your yard mulch your leaves into a shaded compost pile, trim your pine tree's lower branches, and use a leaf-blower in the Fall after raking leaves to clean up the needles. In the spring rent one of those perforation machines, fertilize your yard, then plant a nitrogen fixing species like clover, and spread your compost over it. Let the cover crop grow without mowing for the better part of the season, then run the mulching mower over it and plant grass or whatever. Reclaiming land from pine species is a process that'll take a couple seasons but after you get other species established they'll fight the needles.

>>2825209 (OP)

>>2825250
bury a dead animal in the ground and see if it comes back to life

>>2825266
>Compost kitchen scraps daily.
The banana peel didn’t decompose for three years, what makes you think piles of compost would?
OPs just gonna have tons of immortal garbage in his yard instead of ugly grass

>>2825209 (OP)
Looks pretty rocky anon. You need a dump truck of compost. Literally the first thing I did when I bought my house because the yard had been graveled over

>>2825209 (OP)
I started composting this year and it only took a couple of weeks to start turning into really nice soil. Looks like you need to mix it up. Like you suggested earlier ITT, mix it up every week, or even twice a week for the first two or three weeks. Keep it damp but not soggy. Most people say there’s a certain ratio for the best compost, but I’ve had success with equal parts nitrogen (grass clippings) and carbon (dry leaves). I’d wait to put grass seed down until you have a good inch or two of black soil.