As mentioned a few days ago I mulched the Rhubarb patch by chopping and dropping the Comfrey growing there. Today I added a barrowload of wood chip and a sack of pine needles raking them into the layer of leaves. Keeping it local I shredded some branches lying around after the tree overhead was pollarded by the council. The pine needles I swept up from a big Scots Pine round the corner.

 Adding organic matter builds soil humus. "Well rotted" is the mantra for compost, particularly something potent like horse manure which shouldn't be used fresh. Using greens and browns as a mulch is fine, shredding when that helps. After all what is the forest floor but an accumulation of "green waste"? Creepy crawlies, bacteria, microbes and fungi rapidly go to work digesting all that goodness and returning it to the soil.