Petrichor
What a cool word right?! Petrichor… but what does it mean?!
Petrichor is a fancy word for the smell of wet earth. For those who know me know that there are a few things in the natural world which will always have a special place in my heart, moss, conkers and the smell of wet woodland floors. That beautiful earthy smell found after the rains, or when the earth is damp.
Why am I talking about damp earth? Because at this time of the year, we’re lucky enough to have a woodland full of falling leaves. Whilst we’re conscious not to take too many, there are enough for us to take a few hessian bags worth to make our own leaf compost over the winter to use next spring.
We have a little walk around the woodland, scooping up some of the drifts of leaves which have collected around the fire circle area. Ash, willow, oak, sycamore, hawthorn. We’re not blessed with the beautiful colours of the beach or alder but it doesn’t matter so much once they’re mulched down making the beautiful soil below our feet.
Once the leaves are tucked into jute bags, they go into the leaf bowl in the garden (the chicken wire frame near the water butts if you’re wondering, poorly modelled on the beautiful wire teapot at RHS Harlow Carr)
We cross our fingers and toes and hope Mother Nature works her magic. The beneficial microbes, fungi and bacteria doing their thing to break down the leaves into beautiful leaf compost for us to use on the garden. It’s a simple process but takes a little time to gather the leaves, making sure not to collect too many from the same spot, nor collecting the earth below the leaves. I’ll be honest, each time I take a handful, I do it with a little trepidation, we’ve found curled up mice, hedgehogs, bright green caterpillars and the larvae of 100’s of detritivores squirming under the leaves when we’ve done this in the past. Some surprises nicer than others for sure. We take only what we need and leave the rest for our woodland to regenerate over the cold months.
Whilst we play and work, all around us the crops and plants from the year gone by are decomposing. Their husks, leaves, stems and roots become the fertile ground which will nourish the land when green life springs back in the spring. These leaves are part of such a beautiful ecosystem, we’re so grateful to be able to work in these circular ways.
And now you know a cool new word too, go smell the petrichor next time you’re near damp earth, it’s utterly divine.
A huge thank you to our friends Michael and Aislinn for bringing us 8 huge bags of leaves. We’re so grateful for the thoughtful gift.
We’ve laid them out onto the beds and will soon cover them with manure ready to be tucked away for the season. We can’t wait to see the beautiful soil come spring, the plants will love it!
