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#1
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Mulches
I am putting in my lovely veggie bed this weekend. What are the pros and
cons of using hay, pea straw and sugar cane mulches? I'm interested in personal experience. Cheers Liz |
#2
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Mulches
"Staycalm" wrote in message
I am putting in my lovely veggie bed this weekend. What are the pros and cons of using hay, pea straw and sugar cane mulches? I'm interested in personal experience. I prefer pea straw or lucerne hay as it breaks down into good food for soil biota after it's done it's job of protecting the soil. I don't like plain hay - too weedy. Never tried sugar cane. Have used old leaves too and they work well. |
#3
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Mulches
Farm1 wrote:
"Staycalm" wrote in message I am putting in my lovely veggie bed this weekend. What are the pros and cons of using hay, pea straw and sugar cane mulches? I'm interested in personal experience. I prefer pea straw or lucerne hay as it breaks down into good food for soil biota after it's done it's job of protecting the soil. I don't like plain hay - too weedy. Never tried sugar cane. Have used old leaves too and they work well. Re Pea straw, this has the advantage of also adding a few peas to the mix, which flower nicely, as well as adding nitrogen to the soil...w\then you dig them in if you want to. Best shot to re liven up garden throw in a few hand fulls of peas in very late winterand dig them in before planting your summer crop to make soil even better for growing nitrogen loving plants. Has the advantage of worms being attracted... |
#4
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Mulches
Staycalm wrote:
I am putting in my lovely veggie bed this weekend. What are the pros and cons of using hay, pea straw and sugar cane mulches? I'm interested in personal experience. We jusy go with whatever is cheapest. Tend to prefer baled straw or lucerne as it is chunckier and has more structure, which shelters emerging seedlings a bit better The chopped stuff in compressed plastic bags seem too fine and dusty to me (lucerne). The fine stuff will probably break down faster. |
#5
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Mulches
"Staycalm" wrote in message u... I am putting in my lovely veggie bed this weekend. What are the pros and cons of using hay, pea straw and sugar cane mulches? I'm interested in personal experience. Cheers Liz I live in Esperance WA I go to the beach and get lots of sea weed to round my veges and then dig it in an apply more as needed. It is one of the best mulches and soil builders. cheers Nancy |
#6
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Mulches
g'day liz,
they should all be good mulches, my favourite is the grass hay mulches, have used sugar cane never used pea straw (never seen it available). got concerns about the amount of chemical used in growing sugar cane (plus around here some of the farms have been reported as having fire ants on them). my reckoning is that the fodder grass hays come from a variety of growing conditions so should have different elements available and maybe more elements than say mono-cropped cane. least wise i don't need to use fertilisers/manures in my gardens. On Sun, 22 Oct 2006 12:42:59 +1000, "Staycalm" wrote: snipped With peace and brightest of blessings, len -- "Be Content With What You Have And May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In A World That You May Not Understand." http://www.gardenlen.com |
#7
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Mulches
"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote in message ... "Staycalm" wrote in message I am putting in my lovely veggie bed this weekend. What are the pros and cons of using hay, pea straw and sugar cane mulches? I'm interested in personal experience. I prefer pea straw or lucerne hay as it breaks down into good food for soil biota after it's done it's job of protecting the soil. I don't like plain hay - too weedy. Never tried sugar cane. Have used old leaves too and they work well. We use sorghum SWMBO got 2 trailer loads yesterday. The bad news was that she had to get it, as the bales (300kg ea) have broken and so the good farmer no longer delivers at no charge for delivery or product. It got wet a few years ago and he could not sell it, but our small gardening community has been helping by lowering his stocks of it. Also breaks down well and conditions the soil beaut. Jim |
#8
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Mulches
Nancy wrote: I live in Esperance WA I go to the beach and get lots of sea weed to round my veges and then dig it in an apply more as needed. It is one of the best mulches and soil builders. Fabulous stuff, but be careful collecting it - I know someone who was fined for collecting seaweed. We use peastraw. It goes into the rabbit house for a week or two, then onto the garden. Fabulous stuff. You get peas coming up, but they are easy to weed. I don't use wheat traw much because of the weeds, and I don't think it has much nutrient value. I wouldn't use hay - you don't know what weeds you might get. |
#9
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Mulches
wrote in message
I wouldn't use hay - you don't know what weeds you might get. I agree. We bought in hay for the cattle one year and then got bloody Patersons Curse all over the farm. It's taken about 10 years to get rid of it. And stupidly, I used some of this same sodding hay in my garden - grrrrrrr! Never again. It's now fusspot time for all my mulch materials. |
#11
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Mulches
Terryc wrote: wrote: We use peastraw. It goes into the rabbit house for a week awww, cmom, your really useing rabbit fertiliser. which I'm told is great for roses. Marvellous machines for turning food into poo. The poo is pelletised, so breaks down slowly, while the wee gives a bit of an instant burst of nutrients. That is my theory, anyway. If you have rabbits or chooks it probably makes good sense to cycle hay or straw through the yard first. Do you have any floppsie, moppsie and cotton tail recipes? We'd be keeping rabbits as meat, but swmbo continues to thwart this plan by giving them names (not to mention the mixo every 5 years). Your wife gives the rabbits mixo? My dad has 5 acres down at manjimup and he has always wanted to keep rabbits for meat, but I try to discourage him. They really are charming creatures. I reckon he should eat chickens instead. With an incubator he could turn them out as fast as rabbits, and they eat less, and can scrounge for themselves. Besides, I doubt his wife will eat rabbit. |
#12
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Mulches
"Terryc" wrote in message
wrote: We use peastraw. It goes into the rabbit house for a week which I'm told is great for roses. Roses also love horse poop. I'd like to try bunny poo though. We'd be keeping rabbits as meat, but swmbo continues to thwart this plan by giving them names :-))) Never name your meals. |
#13
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Mulches
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#14
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Mulches
"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote in message ... "Terryc" wrote in message wrote: We use peastraw. It goes into the rabbit house for a week which I'm told is great for roses. Roses also love horse poop. I'd like to try bunny poo though. We'd be keeping rabbits as meat, but swmbo continues to thwart this plan by giving them names :-))) Never name your meals. Not true....my parents used to have goats, and we always named the 'meat' goats....BarbQ, Matty (they still have the rug) etc.....worked well. |
#15
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Mulches
"meeee" wrote in message
"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote in message "Terryc" wrote in message wrote: We use peastraw. It goes into the rabbit house for a week which I'm told is great for roses. Roses also love horse poop. I'd like to try bunny poo though. We'd be keeping rabbits as meat, but swmbo continues to thwart this plan by giving them names :-))) Never name your meals. Not true....my parents used to have goats, and we always named the 'meat' goats....BarbQ, Matty (they still have the rug) etc.....worked well. Well I was thinking more along the lines of names like 'Polly' or 'Clarabelle' etc but names like Sirloin or those you mentioned do work OK. Mind you, I also think it helps to grow up in an environment where it's well known that the cute babies all grow up to end up on a plate. |
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