"The Watcher" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 24 May 2004 22:10:44 -0400, "Ray Drouillard"

wrote:


"The Watcher" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 22 May 2004 23:36:22 -0400, "Ray Drouillard"

wrote:

We are planting a garden on the land that we just bought. The
soil
is a
really sandy loam where we are putting the garden (it's a whole
lot
more
sandy than loam on most of the rest of the property).

We need some heavy mulch to make this work.

We have five or six acres of planted red pine forest.

If we rake up a bunch of needles and use them to mulch the garden,
will
that cause any problems?

One thing to remember is that pine needles are very flammable, so
make
sure you
keep them moist. I like using them as mulch, since they are nice
and
durable,
but they do burn fast and hot if they dry out. You might want to
keep
them away
from buildings, too, in case they do catch fire.

That might be tough. The majority of my property is covered with the
stuff -- and the trees that generate it.

They're not that big a problem, as long as you keep them moist(at
least the
bottom layers). I like to run them through a shredder and they make
pretty good
mulch. It seems to take a bit longer than a lot of other organic
materials to
break down, but the flip side of that is that it also helps protect
the soil
surface longer that way too.

I'm wondering if I'm going to have to set aside another plot for next
year's garden. If the stuff is still leaching chemicals that suppress
germination, I may have to let it sit for a couple years before planting
seeds again. I might end up using the entire plot for things like
tomatoes, peppers, watermelons, squash, and the like next year. There
is some lovely ground in that area in front that looks like a flood
plane (but isn't -- or it would be flooded right now). The orchard and
chicken range is going there, but a little chicken wire would be
sufficient for putting a garden there.


Ray