How do you know if my bark mulch is not chips? I know when I get the
mulch, that my gardener delivered, in my shoes, it hurts.

The slugs seem to be getting through though. I haven't seen them but
some of the leaves have those lines of munching. I have also seen a
few catepilars on the leaves, so maybe that is what is eating the
leaves and not the slugs or snails.

I used some insecticidal soap from Schultz but with all the rain we
had I am sure I need to do it again.

Alan

On Wed, 14 Jun 2006 19:52:49 -0230, cloud dreamer
wrote:

General Schvantzkoph wrote:

I've just put in a big garden, 60'x14', with tomatoes, peppers, herbs,
musk melons, peas, cucumbers, and strawberries. It's weed free at the
moment but that can't last. Any suggestions mulch? I'm thinking straw or
peat moss. I'm told that bark mulch is a bad idea.




Mulch does so much for a garden. It help retains water, prevents water
from splashing up on the leaves, repels slugs and snails, dissuades
weeds, promotes a better environment for beneficial insects...etc etc.

Straw would work great. Perhaps peat combined with the straw would be
better than peat alone. In order to stop the slugs and snails, you need
to ensure there are rough surfaces among the mulch (the rough surface
tears up the soft bellies of the buggers). Bark mulch is okay as long as
it's "mulch" and not bark chips or nuggets. The slugs would just make
houses out of them.

I use cedar mulch on everything. Awesome stuff.

..

Zone 5a in Canada's Far East