Compost as mulch.
mybrownthumbz6
2 years ago
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Comments (18)
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
2 years agomybrownthumbz6
2 years agoRelated Discussions
Compost and mulch
Comments (11)Ruth, I am getting rid of about a dozen plant...maybe more. Nothing wrong with them, I just don't love them, and I have some new ones I am planting. Looks like I am going to have to have some sort of surgery on my knee, so I have been frantically working out there. Donna Jack, Esprit de Corp, Ballerina Beautiful, Bubble Yummin Momma are some of the ones moving out. Kay...See MoreFall composting and mulching...
Comments (3)Chopped leaves are mulch so it really dos not make much difference in which order you lay down the different materials. However, wood chips on top of lighter material such as those chopped leaves would help hold them in place from the winds you may have blow through. That your mulch is all gone by the following fall means the soil has a very active Soil Food Web that is digesting the material, not that your neighbor is stealing any....See MoreCompost + Mulch - Does it get any easier
Comments (3)Just an aside but hummus is a Middle Eastern dish made of mashed chickpeas. Humus is the organic matter residual after decomposition of plant material :-)...See MoreUsing Compost as Mulch for Shrubs
Comments (16)Fortunately I'm not responsible for the flowers in my household, but agree too many variables to attribute to the mulch. But by all means try some other mulch. Stepping back a little, I think there's different points and goals going on here. One is mulch as a weed suppressant, and mulch as long-term soil amendment/enrichment. All organic mulches eventually contribute to a decent soil, once they've broken down. In thick enough layers, they deprive weeds below of sunlight, and generally make weeding easier, if weeds are less numerous and in loose mulch. Healthy perennials and annuals planted below that mulch do fine. Then there's mulch that doesn't provide a good environment for germinating (hence we bring seedlings in and plant through/below the mulch). This is where I think these ideas that e.g. wood chips steal nitrogen and pine needles are too acidic - they may well be environments that are hostile to germination/growth of young plants in the mulch above the soil. The points are true in a specific sense but don't generalise to e.g. compost made from this stuff or what it does to full grown plants. As a mulch, that may be true at the top mulch layer, but won't matter much several inches down if plants have rooted. If it was true when the mulch was first laid down, decomposition and time will deal with the imbalances (ph level tends to neutral, nitrogen "hungry' mulch gets colonised by fungi and bacteria that bring their nitrogen with them, some natural chemicals get broken down over time). So yeah, for example, under conifers with lots of needles underneath, not much else grows, and if you test that top layer, it may be acidic. So not much new germinates or grows under (some) big conifers - although that is almost certainly partly due to lack of light and the soil that the conifers prefer to grow in, too, not to mention their heavy consumption of nutrients in the soil and root systems, etc. (Also true under some other trees too so it's not just needles) Anyway, sorry for the verbiage, still comes down to 'if something seems to be working, keep doing that', perhaps supplemented by 'if something doesn't work, it doesn't mean the mulch you just tried was the issue' (although clearly didn't solve the problem either)....See Moreklem1
2 years agoklem1
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agofour (9B near 9A)
2 years agoklem1
2 years agocyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
2 years agogardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
2 years agofour (9B near 9A)
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoarmoured
2 years agofour (9B near 9A)
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoklem1
2 years agoarmoured
2 years agofour (9B near 9A)
2 years agoarmoured
2 years ago
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