sumisu: the leaves were collected last year in the fall. They were put in a massive leaf corral surrounded by wire. I only turned them a few times, until spring. While I do crush a small percentage of outer dry leaves, the turning and the worms do a fairly equal job of breaking them down.
Ants make their homes against walls and large stones. Remove the large stones and ants go elsewhere and aphids have no guardians. In initial preparation of a spot or row, I run an iron rake across the top to cull the easy rocks. Then I go over the spot again and then rake again. That pretty much takes care of the rocks. The rocks serve their purposes for me elsewhere.
My Swiss Chard row is maybe fifteen feet. I get to eat some almost every day.
My dad taught me to work smart; not hard. Still, when one considers the raw, denotative meaning of "kung fu," it is: hard work and practice. Any land, that has not been poisoned, can easily be made fruitful by applying simple fundamentals. A sensei, once commented to me, at his dojo, in his disappointment at how his class wanted to do all the "fancy" moves. He said by mastering six fundamentals/basics, one could become invincible. That is pretty much the same with gardening. It is only hard, if one does not enjoy doing it.
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