"simy1" wrote in message
oups.com...

casabragg wrote:
A friend of mine had a stump ground a couple of years ago. Would the
ground
up stump be any good in the garden? My garden has a lot of leaves and
grass
clippings from over the years and I get a lot of great veggies, would
this
material help? Please contact me at

they will be a useful mulch that will save you watering and weeding and
will last a couple of years. Use them only in beds where you do not
plan to direct seed next year. In two years, I usually rake the remains
to one side of the bed and plant potatoes or squash in them.
They are quite acidic, and so will be preferred by veggies such as
potatoes, or veggies that tolerate acidity but like the mulching, like
garlic or tomatoes. Cabbage or onion like mulching, too, but if you
apply chips to them, amend them with wood ash and nitrogen. They
provide significant amounts of all micronutrients except nitrogen.

I use about one ton a year. I add about 3lbs of wood ash for 100 lbs of
wood chips (my soil is acid, if your soil is neutral add only 1lb) and
use as mulch on every bed planted with plants, except potatoes which
get only wood chips and a N/P fertilizer (no wood ash). For solanaceae
and cucurbitas, I add some manure before covering with the chips. For
brassica, greens, beets and onions I also add urea, and I top dress
with wood ash and urea a second time during the season. For beans and
peas, wood ash and chips, and more wood ash side dressing later.

wood chip can take nitrogen out of the soil if mixed in (microbes use
nitrogen as they devour the wood although they release it when dead but that
can be some time) so adding in manure or slow release fertiliser when using
wood chip as a mulch is a good idea. Alternately you can simply throw them
in your compost as layers between layres of nitrogen rich waste such as
grass clippings. I guess if you have a really wet compost turning in wood
shavings/saw dust would help dry the compost out and get it active again. I
have mulched around a tree with saw dust and a little sheep poop.

rob