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Old 12-07-2016, 08:22 PM posted to alt.home.lawn.garden
Moe DeLoughan Moe DeLoughan is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Oct 2012
Posts: 84
Default Christmas tree mulch

On 7/11/2016 5:53 PM, Snuffy "Hub Cap" McKinney wrote:
One of the local tree lots mulched the left overs and left them for
anyone to pick up. I brought home few five-gallon buckets. I
didn't see the trees, but most likely fir and cedar from the
smell.

The plan was to spread it around flower & veg gardens, and maybe
over some newly seeded parts of the yard.

Any comments about where to use or not use this?


Where I live, tree trimming services and municipal yard waste
collection sites provided shredded tree mulch free for the taking. It
tends to rot down very quickly indeed, never lasting beyond a single
growing season. For that reason I don't find it useful as an
ornamental mulch, but it's fine in the annual or vegetable gardens,
where what little remains at the end of the season can be tilled in.

You don't want anything too coarse for using over grass seed - if the
pieces are too large and heavy, the grass seedlings would not be able
to push it aside. So inspect it and use your judgement. You needn't
worry about small amounts of mulch changing the soil pH; it usually
takes regular use of such materials over time before there's a
noticeable effect on pH.