On 5/8/05 23:17, in article , "Mike Lyle"
wrote:

Sue Begg wrote:
[..]
Thanks to everyone for your replies. At £40 a cu metre I am having
to
do a lot of sweet-talking to hubby but at least I am clearer of
what
the options are now

While you're sweet-talking, consider why you want the stuff in the
first place. It looks awful, and has no nutritional value. Earth
should be covered with plants, not refuse the Forestry Commission's
desperate to get rid of.

Actually, we had a thread about this very subject (bark chips and nutrition)
a couple of years ago. We had visited a friend's beautiful garden in
Jersey, famous for its Camellias, only to find her wringing her hands
because the Camellias' leaves were slowly turning yellow. My husband was
able to point out to her that her gardener had put down bark chippings to
save weeding and that in rotting down, the bark chippings were leaching all
the nitrogen from the soil. In time, it will correct itself, or so I think
I recall Ray saying, but of course by then the damage is done. While
Camellias might recover at a guess, other, less woody or young plants might
not, I imagine. They could be fed, of course but that rather defeats the
labour-saving objective!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)