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Post by ladymarmalade on Sept 19, 2017 9:54:01 GMT -5
And what do you mulch with! I have mulched in the past with straw that DH gets from work. But some years it's not fresh, and I'm severely allergic to the mold that grows in old straw, so I stopped asking him to bring some home. We had municipal compost available for a while at the community garden. I used some of that when we had it, but it turned out that it was pretty much all the collected Christmas trees ground up into mulch. And of course, I'm severely allergic to pine trees as well. I do like to use the leaves in the fall to cover my gardens with. But the last two years, we've had these crazy windy days that literally blew all the leaves out of our yard before we could rake them up and use them. So in my community plot I've simply been using landscape fabric as a weed barrier, but no mulch. At home I've been using no mulch. What I'm considering is using newspaper, as I deliver them and have an ample supply at hand anytime I want. But I'm not sure of the logistics of that. I don't have a way to shred them, do I just lay the papers down flat and hope for the best? What about the ads inside? Do I need to go through and remove the shiny paper, because I suspect the wax used on those makes them break down less. If I use the newspaper do I want something else to put on top? Tell me how you mulch! Bonus points if you use newspaper.
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Post by paulf on Sept 19, 2017 14:05:53 GMT -5
The mulch of choice for me is newspaper base with straw on top. Since in my old age I still want a little spending money I work one day per week at the local newspaper. My job is to help print the weekly paper, mail out copies and other odd jobs...sweeping, trash emptying, etc.
I get the end rolls of newsprint, thirty-two inches wide and however long, usually forty or fifty feet. This is still on big cardboard inner rolls. Imagine an inch thick 32 inch wide toilet paper inner roll. I roll out the newsprint on the garden, usually three layers thick and pile on fresh straw about 6-8 inches thick. This works best on a calm day or with a second person holding down the paper with chunks of straw as it is rolled out. Water goes through the mulch and weeds do not come up. At the end of the season it all gets tilled into the soil and is excellent organic material and breaks down very well over the rest of the year. If you have newspaper that has ink on it, don't worry. All newspaper inks have been soy ink for the last forty years or more. Slick paper takes a while to break down but is still all organic. Try your local paper to see if you can get end rolls. They are usually glad to get rid of them.
A few years back I tried weed barrier and it was very good as a weed barrier. Mulch also helps keep the soil cooler, so I put straw, leaves and grass clippings on top of that. The problem I had was as I rotated the garden the barrier had to be taken up at the end of the year. What I had only lasted a couple of years before it deteriorated and new had to be bought. I like the idea of tilling into the soil the organic material. My garden had not been tilled or used to grow anything but brush and weeds since time began so I needed the soil conditioners.
I used to pile leaves on the garden during the fall and winter, but then discovered all sorts of disease lurked in the leaves, pests both animal and insect overwintered there as well. So no I either till the leaves under or use them in the compost pile. Oak leaves make great compost. Garden sanitation has helped my growing skills greatly. Fall tilling is all I do. In the spring everything is ready to rake and plant.
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Post by spacecase0 on Sept 19, 2017 15:22:37 GMT -5
I use tiles or rocks (broken tile works fine) once a year I pick them up and let the accumulated junk (usually grass or leaves) fall to the ground where I then cover them with the tile. I don't think anything can match the tiles for performance
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Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 19, 2017 22:31:18 GMT -5
I mulch several ways, depending on the plants. The garlic and shallot row I plant in Nov. I cover with all the leaves I grind up then, covering with 5 or 6 inches, which settles considerably by spring. Some weeds always get though, but it works fairly well. Peppers I always use a row of black plastic for, since they have a very long season, and much of the row is covered until August, so I can't weed too often. Winter squash and melons I mulch with landscape fabric, as I only have a few holes, compared to others, and eventually it is pretty well covered with vines! This year, however, the fabric seemed to disintegrate early, which I had not had happen before. It did this in the front, and under the squash. Does this stuff have a shelf life? I have tried straw, cardboard, and a number of other "natural" approaches, but the weeds always seem to win out. I still use straw on my tomato/bean rows, but it has to be really thick, and I still have to weed it frequently.
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Post by ladymarmalade on Sept 20, 2017 10:53:10 GMT -5
Try your local paper to see if you can get end rolls. They are usually glad to get rid of them. Ha! I deliver my local paper! And some not-so-local papers. Every week I have extra bundles of the freebie that I deliver to everyone, everywhere, and I'm thinking using it as mulch would at least put some of it to use. I might try it.
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Post by ladymarmalade on Sept 20, 2017 10:54:03 GMT -5
I use tiles or rocks (broken tile works fine) once a year I pick them up and let the accumulated junk (usually grass or leaves) fall to the ground where I then cover them with the tile. I don't think anything can match the tiles for performance I don't think I've heard of using tile before! That's an interesting idea.
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Post by ladymarmalade on Sept 20, 2017 10:56:02 GMT -5
I mulch several ways, depending on the plants. The garlic and shallot row I plant in Nov. I cover with all the leaves I grind up then, covering with 5 or 6 inches, which settles considerably by spring. Some weeds always get though, but it works fairly well. Peppers I always use a row of black plastic for, since they have a very long season, and much of the row is covered until August, so I can't weed too often. Winter squash and melons I mulch with landscape fabric, as I only have a few holes, compared to others, and eventually it is pretty well covered with vines! This year, however, the fabric seemed to disintegrate early, which I had not had happen before. It did this in the front, and under the squash. Does this stuff have a shelf life? I have tried straw, cardboard, and a number of other "natural" approaches, but the weeds always seem to win out. I still use straw on my tomato/bean rows, but it has to be really thick, and I still have to weed it frequently. Landscape fabric for sure has a shelf life. The longer lasting stuff is thicker and more durable. Usually when you purchase a roll it will tell you how many years it's rated for. I use the 5 year stuff because it's the cheapest, but I can't imagine getting five years out of it unless you're simply using it to line a yard landscape or something. I roll it up and throw it out at the end of every season, and then put fresh down at the beginning of the year.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 20, 2017 14:10:13 GMT -5
I never leave the fabric down for more than one season, and it works fairly well, though some weeds will poke through tiny holes. The stuff this year, however, seemed to disintegrate rather quickly, and this is from a roll I got several years ago, and have not had this problem with. It made me think that maybe this stuff is weakened by oxidation or something like that while still on the roll, and that the 5 year life of the fabric is from date of manufacture, not from the date it is put down in the garden. Usually, when pulling it up at the end of the year, it would come up in one strip, with the staples holding it down attached, but it's just falling apart this year. And this wasn't one of those biodsgradable types, though it seems that way!
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Post by spacecase0 on Sept 20, 2017 22:10:14 GMT -5
the big advantage to the tiles is they don't absorb water, so any water that falls gets into the ground, straw is about the worst, it absorbs way to much water.
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Post by paquebot on Sept 21, 2017 20:47:44 GMT -5
Leaves, preferably white oak. If not shredded when I pick them up at the curb, twice over with a mulching mower reduces 3 bags to one. Do that in the fall and store for spring use. Applied 2 inches deep, lasts all season in normal year but a bit less in an overly-wet one.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by ladymarmalade on Sept 21, 2017 20:58:02 GMT -5
Is there a reason you prefer white oak? I notice paulf mentioned oak leaves as well. We don't have any oaks in the neighborhood, but I know people with property who would think it strange, but would surely let me gather some of their leaves.
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Post by paulf on Sept 21, 2017 21:23:51 GMT -5
We have two huge Burr Oaks each over 100 years old in our yard and do they put out the leaves. I use a chipper shredder to reduce the volume and use as browns in the compost pile. Also they get tilled under on the garden for organic material. I think it helps; at least it makes me feel better.
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Post by paquebot on Sept 22, 2017 9:11:06 GMT -5
Horse manure is considered one of the best organic fertilizers. Average NPK value is 0.7-0.3-0.6 for a total of 1.6 pounds per CWT. Oak leaves are 0.8-0.35-0.15 for total of 1.3 per CWT. Note that those figures show more nitrogen in oak leaves than horse manure.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by Gianna on Dec 9, 2017 13:56:27 GMT -5
We had municipal compost available for a while at the community garden. I used some of that when we had it, but it turned out that it was pretty much all the collected Christmas trees ground up into mulch. And of course, I'm severely allergic to pine trees as well. I use municipal mulch. Around Christmas, they do grind the holiday trees, and you can get that here too. But most the rest of the year, it's ground green waste from curbside green bins. We can get it in two grades - ground up, and ground up and then sifted. The ground up waste is free (either we pick it up, or they deliver for a nominal charge). They also offer sifted/screened mulch with no larger wood chips. I got the screened stuff last time and really like it for all-purpose mulch. Its great for adding to the compost pile too. There is a small charge for the screening, plus delivery fee. It came to $75 for about 10 yards left on the front drive. This is the best mulch I've used.
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Post by paquebot on Dec 9, 2017 21:16:24 GMT -5
We had a great source of municipal compost for a number of years. It was a county operation and one person was in charge of turning the piles, sifting, and sales. $10 for a pickup load, about 1½ to 2 yards depending on the box. There'd also be a week or so each spring when we could get one free load per day. Then a private company contracted with the main city, Madison, and the county lost over half of the incoming material. No more. Rest of the communities in the county would not be able to supply enough material to warrant paying the employee and maintaining equipment. And that was such great stuff!
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by Gianna on Dec 9, 2017 22:49:12 GMT -5
Our free county mulch is one of the best things going. A number of years ago they were trying to get a compost making facility started, but didn't have enough money. Or land. or something. They did buy a large compost/mulch screener for that at the time. Now it's just used for mulch.
Apparently the city has a food-scraps collection for restaurants etc, but that material is shipped into the next county and they make compost and sell it. But that is not sold anywhere close-by.
Because of our on-going drought, our water district gives a rebate for 2 mulch deliveries per year up to about $150. That's why I tried the more expensive screened stuff this time. Now there is no going back to the more course mulch.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Dec 9, 2017 23:42:14 GMT -5
Ah, color me jealous. My county doesn't have any compost or mulch program.
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Post by brownrexx on Dec 10, 2017 9:13:30 GMT -5
We have a dumping area where anyone who is not commercial can drop off a truckload of any yard waste including limbs, leaves, clippings or shrubs for $10. They have equipment to shred it and have big piles of it available for free.
Commercial lawn care people also dump here but the fee is more.
You can pick up as much mulch as you want for free but you have to load it yourself with a shovel. No power equipment is allowed.
There are also community gardens in this area and gardeners can use the mulch for free. It's a nice thing for the community.
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Post by Gianna on Dec 10, 2017 10:26:26 GMT -5
Mulch distribution is truly win-win. Gardeners get a good product for free, and it keeps usable 'trash' out of the landfills.
Around here you can also call tree trimmers to ask if they have a load of chips. It's better if it's a company you have used, of course. Or if you have tree work done, ask them to leave the chips behind. I think there is also a program where you can call someone and register as someone who wants chips. I forget what it's called, and in what areas it extends.
I was watching a YouTube video, and someone said in his area there was a place where tree trimmers can dump their chips, and gardeners can go pick them up for free. If you dig around a bit, you could find chips already half way to compost.
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