There’s a moment every gardener knows too well: you step outside expecting to admire your beautifully mulched garden bed, only to realize it looks like it’s sagging, settling, or sinking as if the earth decided to take a long nap. The first instinct is to panic—did you do something wrong, did critters move in, or is your garden bed staging a quiet protest?
The truth is far less dramatic but far more fascinating. Leaf mulching, for all its benefits, sets off a chain reaction beneath the surface that most gardeners never notice until the soil level starts creeping downward. If your once-fluffy garden bed now looks like it’s slowly swallowing itself, you’re about to learn exactly why.
