25 April 2016 Mulch

Discussion in 'Fruit and Vegetable Gardening' started by Durgan, Apr 25, 2016.

  1. Durgan

    Durgan Contributor 10 Years

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    http://durgan.org/2016/April 2016/25 April 2016 Mulch/HTML 25 April 2016 Mulch
    All vegetation in my garden is heavily mulched each year with about one year old wood chips. I purchase at $10.00 per yard plus $30.00 delivery and require ten yards to complete the garden area. It is transported via wheelbarrow to the required area. Each cubic yard is about 7 wheelbarrows full, so a total of 70 loads. The purpose of the chips in my case is to retain moisture. The main vegetable garden is completely covered when the plants get a reasonable size. After the garden is finished in the Fall the chips are rototilled in with a bit of urea, nitrogen, to assist in composting. The chips are almost completely composted come Spring.
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  2. Grooonx7

    Grooonx7 Active Member

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    In Vancouver, we use a smidgen that much mulch for our tiny balcony in winter, adding several inches of mulch to our crowd of containers. This past winter was very mild, but, even so, the mulch seems to make all the difference in blanketing our many fuschias, for instance, which continue growing in spring as though they never knew winter had even happened. We love the mulch and its protective effect.

    The only downside was in our resident Spotted Towhee (8 storeys up) and Dark-eyed Juncos, plus our two Song Sparrows, all delighting in foraging amongst the mulch. (These birds are here daily from Autumn Equinox to Spring Equinox.) "It's just bits and pieces of cedar, isn't it?" thought we ignorant humans. Well, no; it's apparently a veritable pantry for our winter birds, and the towhee particularly loves to see just how far his kick-backs can make the mulch fly. In fact he and the others succeeded in scattering tiny bits of cedar over the edge of the balcony and down onto a Toyota parked below. The Toyota belongs to a very first-world girl who was irate that her car would be subjected to detritus of any organic origin; she had previously complained of our watering our plants in summer, and the dripping water (this in Vancouver) similarly damaging her Toyota. So, just be warned, no matter how good an idea one person has, another person may differ in view somewhat. I was advised that "if I wanted Nature, I could walk to the park." However, taking my side (the Mulch side, you might say) I had the towhee, the Song Sparrows, and the juncos. And the fuschias, and the mock orange, and the hydrangeas, and the bamboo.
     
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2016
    Daniel Mosquin likes this.

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