[Tilted Irish Kilt]

Twinkie :" The topsoil in our yard actually does need to have theleaves left (& chopped up by driving the mower over them).
Rocky shallow soil."

The best addition to any soil is compost: it will build up the soil profile, add nutrients, and moisture absorbing fiber to the soil.
In the interim, you might consider either a 'raised bed garden', or supplement your own leaves with those collected by the highway department last fall.
Frequently, those over-wintered leaves from last fall have already begun composting and beginning to break down.

[Twinkie]

We’ve composted for the past 31 yrs. & have a raised bed
composted organic garden, have many big trees on the place
that produce tons of leaves without needing any more
(sixteen and a half acres, many of them forests).

When a storm blows one of the trees down, Fang cuts it up
for firewood. He has a log splitter, and it has been a good
investment.

[MightyMama]

I follow a guy named David the Good, who’s got some nice non-intimidating gardening books up on Kindle. If you don’t have snooty neighbors looking at your yard, his composting advice is *awesome*. Basically, put stuff on the ground and leave it alone; anything else is grand, but at least put stuff on the ground. (Bonus: he’s published by Castalia House, so every book of his you buy makes a liberal cry.)