AngelsGarden's Blog

Mulch

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Apr 18, 2007 | 7:37 AM PST
Tag: mulch
The second saturday of each month there is a free mulch give away in town here. We had gotten some last summer and decided to get some to use to cover the garden. You do have to pick out the sticks that are too large and the occasion pinecone that wasn't completely chopped up, but hey, its FREE. Saturday I went and got the back of the truck filled. Two big scoops from a front loader, he just dumped it in. We laid newspapers in all of the aisles and between the plants, spritzed them with the hose so they didn't fold up with the breeze then covered them with 3 to 4 inches of mulch. If it packs down or settles we can spread more latter this summer. We did all of that last night and got about 3/4 of the way done. I'm just glad that we will be able to finish it with one truck load. Next month I will get another load (maybe just half full) so I can do all of the flower beds and some of the area around the chicken house.

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divaqs	Apr 18, 2007 \| 8:11 AM PST Does the mulch have a lot of wood chips, sawdust, or other kinds of wood fiber in it? If so, and you are putting this on your garden, I'd recommend adding some extra nitrogen. As wood fiber based mulch breaks down it pulls nitrogen out of the soil, which can impact your garden plants. For a couple of years, I've put wood chip mulch in my garden paths, specifically for weed control, though I haven't used it in my garden beds. In the Seattle area we can sometimes get free mulch by calling up one of the many arborist companies in the area and requesting a truck load, which they drop off after chipping up the remains of one of their jobs (stump grinding, tree removal, etc). Last edited by divaqs on April 18th at 8:17 AM.
sweetlebee	Apr 18, 2007 \| 8:30 AM PST I want to mulch next week too and am planning on using compost. I had wanted to use dairy manure but I'm not sure it's fully composted and then it'd be too hot. I know the compost here is woody, so if I do go that route, how do I go about adding nitrogen?
AngelsGarden	Apr 18, 2007 \| 8:45 AM PST I use Alaska organic fish fertilizer pellets or concentrate that is water soluable. I think that you can also use bone meal. If you look through the products that are for fertilizing the first number is the one for nitrogen. I think that bone meal is a more organic choice that is good for nitrogen. One place that I read on GG said that is takes awhile for that one to go into effect though.
divaqs	Apr 18, 2007 \| 8:45 AM PST I've heard mixed things about dairy manure. What I've heard is that manure already has a lot of nitrogen in it, though the sawdust in it can tie a lot of that up. So, I know of organic gardeners that stopped using it unless it had been composted for a long time. If it hasn't been well composted, you run the risk also of introducing a lot of weed seeds to your garden. The problem is that the longer manure is composted, the more nutrients are lost from it. But I've read this isn't necessarily a bad thing, since it can introduce a lot of salt as well. I tend to not use fertilizers, beyond a top dressing of aged compost. Though in the past I have used cottonseed meal (for acid loving plants) or a little blood meal. Blood meal is such a rich source of nitrogen that it is possible to burn your plants with it, though it is not as easy to do that as with the synthetic fertilizers.
sweetlebee	Apr 18, 2007 \| 10:21 AM PST Gee, thanks! Ann Lovejoy is such a huge fan of dairy manure. I think I'll just go with the regular compost though. I'd like to use organic in the bag, but I'll need about 2-3 yards to mulch!
claycitycoon	May 18, 2007 \| 10:01 AM PST you may already know this, but be careful with mulch- it can contain poision ivy, or have had poision ivy growing on the tree that was turned into mulch making other become very itchy. My church just came back from New Orleans, we helped with some of the houses still not rebuilt yet. We had a chance to see the city and take in the local fare- very nice. I liked it. Thanks for you tip on the recipe, Jas.

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