12 Nov '06 7:51 am I find grass mowings to be an excellent mulch. A layer 2 inches deep will suppress the weeds and feed the ground while keeping the moisture in.
moosey
head gardener
13 Nov '06 5:00 pm Mulch is such a brilliantly sensible idea! I thought that when the Hazelnut Orchard is in full production the broken shells would be great. Then I thought I could eat and mulch in one motion - just think how long it would take to do one small garden bed! And how full the tummy would get...
Faith S
Perpetually learning gardener
Alabama, USA
Newspapers vs. Weed Matting
15 Nov '06 4:34 am Aren't gardeners wonderful! We can find the most mundane things totally absorbing. Now for my two cents worth. I have used weed matting before in an effort to keep weeds from growing in my paths. I found it totally unsuccessful. The centipede grass that we have here my area just creeps underneath it and pokes holes in it to emerge. When you try to remove it, you end up having to lift the matting (and consequently all the mulch above)to get out the long runners.
I have had much more success with newspaper or cardboard because it smothers small weeds, decomposes eventually to help build the soil, and it is much easier to remove offending grass runners. Whenever I want to build a new garden, rather than doing the backbraking double digging routine, I just lay down a thick mat of paper, wet it down, and then pile on a six to eight inch layer of compost (in my case it is usually composted mixture of horse manure, sawdust and spoiled hay; of which my horses ensure a seemingly never ending supply) and then mulch. I plant right on top of the paper. If the root ball requires a deeper hole, I just dig through the paper into the soil below. Presto, instant garden!
Faith
Dixie
garden enthusiast
Waikato-New Zealand
Lucky me
19 Oct '07 6:05 am O Lucky lucky me !
Yesterday we drove to my daughter's farm-an hour each way in the ute.
IN NZ the animals give birth outside.The calves are brought into warm,dry sheds as soon as possible,and they have beds of bark shavings.Now the calves are all grown,we are able to have as much shavings as we like.
Here is Smiley leaning on the shovel while our son-in-law loads the shavings from the barn-the big round one in the background.
dixie.
19 Oct '07 6:22 am When we got home,I unloaded barrowloads.
First I put thick layers of newspaper down on the gardens a la Moosey.
Then on top of that went all this lovely bark mulch.
I have just taken these photos early in the morning.
Golden sedum with perennial cornflour,and Penelope rose.I have freesias here and they have just finished flowering.
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Faith S
Perpetually learning gardener
Alabama, USA
Mulching
21 Oct '07 6:13 am Congratulations on a job well done Dixie! Don't you (and all gardeners) feel virtous after mulching a bed. It is such a rewarding task that shows instantaneous results. Especially when the mulch was free!
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