weeds/self seeders/mulch

21 years ago

Hi,

I live in SA and would love a lush informal looking garden with plants self seeding and lot of pretty flowers amongst the perennials and natives. I have mulched the whole garden to keep down weeds and moisture in in this very dry climate. I used a bark mulch as on gardening Australia Malcolm Campbell said in SA we need non porous free draining mulches so that what little rain we have isnÂ¡Â¦t absorbed by the mulch and goes straight through to the plants. Trouble is the mulch suppresses self seeding as well as weeds ÂÂ¼ when this bark has broken down would there be a better mulch I could use?

Shelley

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Comments (4)

wombat
21 years ago
I used to have a self seeding garden - but the drought has put paid to that. Not even the weeds are sprouting!!

Normally, I mulch with leaves (not natives because they don't tend to break down very well) and grass clippings (spread out and kept away from the trunks/stems). The council kindly supplies bags for leaf collections in autumn and I get a lot of leaves this way - I always ask first.

Any soft prunings/spent annuals/etc are run over with the lawn mower (although I have heard that some people have mulching machines for this purpose) and that also goes on as mulch.

I rake up the debris from under my pine trees and use to mulch around camellias.

I had a lot of small animal life leaving under the mulch which I believe adds to soil fertility (but they seemed to have died of thirst). Any leaves which do pop up are easily removed.

I might be a bit cynical but I think that the idea of pine bark mulch was thought up by some whizz kid in the timber industry who didn't know anything about gardening. Think about it - not even pine seeds sprout in it.

I also use the fine stuff from the bottom of the wood heap - and several kurrajongs and one peppercorn tree have sprouted. They are currently living in pots waiting for "better days" to move to a rural home.
shelleyvw
Original Author
21 years ago
Thanks wombat for your suggestion. I would agree that pine bark mulch is unnatural. It is what we used before I got bitten by the gardening bug. The last mulch I put on wasn't pine bark though I think it was gum mulch but I will be choosing something different from now on. It hasnt stopped weeds coming through nor the Californian Poppies which I quite like. But I certainly am looking for a finer mulch. Have you any suggestions for commercially sold mulches as my garden beds are too big for me to produce enough mulch at home. I do have a mulching machine but it takes a lot of clipping to produce only an small amount. And like you we have a drought here and need all the mulch we can get.

Shelley
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This is my third season trying to create a cottage garden out front, so I'm still pretty new to gardening, but here's my experience so far. For what it's worth. The first two seasons my beds were small and I mulched moderately with bark mulch. This year it's all just gotten so big that with two small children at home, I really can't afford to mulch! I'm sure my neighbors miss it, because it kept my garden looking very tidy and intentional...but I planted lots of flowers those first two years that I'd hoped would reseed, and hardly anything did...like bee balm and bachelors buttons, both known to be good self seeders. The only place I got lots of reseeding action was in a long stretch where I ran low on mulch and had spread it very sparsley. So this year I didn't mulch at all, and I have things coming up all over! Lol* A HUGE patch of poppies that volunteered, rudbeckia everywhere, bleeding hearts... It's a little irritating having to go through and pull weeds, but from what I hear, once you get a densley packed garden, the weeds should naturally decrease. (And in all honesty, I only pull the really out of control or big ones.) So that is what I'm trying...because truly, this year, I have seeds coming up from things I planted a couple of years ago, that I didn't get anything from last year. I do ammend my soil with inexpensive manure compost from Walmart, and I think it helps because I've planted at the end of my driveway which is essentially 70 percent gravel and 30 percent soil...but I added some topsoil and manure compost and the plants are doing pretty well. I do plan to leaf mulch in the spring, for looks and for the soil, but I have a feeling because it breaks down so quickly it won't cut the reseeding down too much. We'll see what happens. :) Good luck!
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Sparaxis
21 years ago
The reason pine bark mulch is not recomended for most gardens is that it is fairly acidic. Hence it is good around your camellias, and also in a fernery. I would think that, in a strongly alkaline soil, it would make a good additive to compost, even if not desired as a mulch. I grow all my pacific coast irises under the neighbors overhanging pine trees. I allow a reasonable amount of pine needle mulch to stay on the beds. They irises thrive there, but their native habitat is pine forest in california.
BTW - sorrel grows very well in pine bark mulch!
shelleyvw
Original Author
21 years ago
Hi Sparaxis,

My garden is on limestone so you are right I dont think a little acidic matter will harm it :-) I have no trouble getting plants I have planted to survive in. They aren't growing very fast but I think this is more to do with where I live and lack of rainfall. Thanks.

Shelley

weeds/self seeders/mulch

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wombat

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weeds/self seeders/mulch

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wombat

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Sparaxis

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shelleyvw
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