"David Hare-Scott" wrote | Look carefully at the
material and where it came from. It is possible that
| it contains seeds and rubbish that you don't want, it is also possible
that
| it is fine, there are no hard and fast rules. Consider straw, it depends
on
| what crop the straw is derived from, how well it was taken off when
| harvested and what weeds (if any) were cut along with it.

I always get wheat straw for mulching. It's a little more expensive but
worth it in the long run. There's not as much 'junk' in it as regular
straw.

For mulch I use discarded household leavings (fruit, veggies, egg shell,
coffee grounds) along with pecan and oak leaves. A few layers of newspaper
and some wheat straw on top.

Kimberly

In article ,
cloud dreamer wrote:

[snip]
Mulch does so much for a garden. It [snip] repels slugs and snails,... [snip]

Really? What do you use for mulch that repels? Mine always seems to keep
things moist & cozy for slugs -- though I'd agree that the positive aspects
of mulch usually outweigh this serious problem.

-f
--

g;day g.s,

my favourite mulches are the green types ie.,. spoilt lucerne hay &
pasture grass hay, i use these all the time and never need to
fertilise, never weed mygardens and minimal watering, but then i lay
it around 8 to 10"s thick.



On Wed, 14 Jun 2006 17:52:40 -0400, General Schvantzkoph 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

In article ,
George Shirley 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.


We use newspaper, three layers, covered with grass clippings and chopped
up leaves. Straw should work fine but you should check the pH of your
soil before adding peat moss, peat moss is pretty acidic. HTH

We've started using newspaper and it works great.
You do have to put stuff on top or the wind will blow it
around. We normally just shovel dirt off to the side,
put down the newspaper and sprinkle the dirt on top.



George



--
---------- Henry Cate
"Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you'll understand what
little chance you have in trying to change others." -- Jacob M. Braude
Our blog: http://whyhomeschool.blogspot.com/

Frank Miles wrote:

In article ,
cloud dreamer wrote:

[snip]

Mulch does so much for a garden. It [snip] repels slugs and snails,... [snip]


Really? What do you use for mulch that repels? Mine always seems to keep
things moist & cozy for slugs -- though I'd agree that the positive aspects
of mulch usually outweigh this serious problem.

-f


It definitely repels slugs and snails. I caught them at night having a
buffet on my flowers last year before I put a layer of mulch down...then
the flowers flourished. I've yet to find one in the mulch.

I have my raised beds surrounded by mulch and usually put landscape
fabric under it. I'll find the odd slug under there but the fabric is
stabled to the raised bed, so they can't take the tunnel route.

..

Zone 5a in Canada's Far East.

"gardenlen" wrote in message
...
g;day g.s,

my favourite mulches are the green types ie.,. spoilt lucerne hay &
pasture grass hay, i use these all the time and never need to
fertilise, never weed mygardens and minimal watering, but then i lay
it around 8 to 10"s thick.

good one Len, get the cheap/free stuff an use it thickly. I nabbed a load of
free spoiled hay and went back for more but found someone else had flogged
it.

rob

OmManiPadmeOmelet said:

In article ,
"TQ" ToweringQs AT adelphia.net wrote:

Leaf mold is good mulching material and it/s often free for the hauling,
but you still need a truck.

Nah. ;-) People throw out bags of leaves all over town all the time.
Just cruise the ritzier parts of town where folks pay to have people
rake leaves. The bags are on the curb and you can toss some in the
trunk, back seat and passenger side.

I can get at least three bags in the trunk, three in the back seat, and
one on the passenger side, and I drive a compact sedan. The best
bags are full but not really heavy. (So not only do I drive around
picking up other people's bags of leaves, I'm *picky* about it.)

These get shredded each fall and compressed and bagged. Then I mix
them with a small portion of cocoa shells before mulching everything.
Yes, the cocoa shells are pricey. And as a solo mulch cocoa shells tend to
mat up and mold. Leaves can sometimes mat when used alone, too. But
mix some cocoa shells into the leaves--no matting. Plus, the cocoa shells
will persist as the leaves dissapear.

(If I'm mulching where I've been having trouble with cats, I up the
proportion of cocoa shells in the mulch--the cats don't seem to like it.)
--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

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

In article ,
(Pat Kiewicz) wrote:

OmManiPadmeOmelet said:

In article ,
"TQ" ToweringQs AT adelphia.net wrote:

Leaf mold is good mulching material and it/s often free for the hauling,
but you still need a truck.

Nah. ;-) People throw out bags of leaves all over town all the time.
Just cruise the ritzier parts of town where folks pay to have people
rake leaves. The bags are on the curb and you can toss some in the
trunk, back seat and passenger side.

I can get at least three bags in the trunk, three in the back seat, and
one on the passenger side, and I drive a compact sedan. The best
bags are full but not really heavy. (So not only do I drive around
picking up other people's bags of leaves, I'm *picky* about it.)

snicker I know what you mean. Sometimes the heavier bags contain junk.


These get shredded each fall and compressed and bagged. Then I mix
them with a small portion of cocoa shells before mulching everything.

I use leaves mostly for winter mulching, and dump them as is. They rot
down nicely by spring. I am experimenting right now with a large number
of leaves doing "black bag" composting. They are about due. I wanted to
give them one year. The heavy mil' construction grade bags are good for
this.

Yes, the cocoa shells are pricey. And as a solo mulch cocoa shells tend to
mat up and mold. Leaves can sometimes mat when used alone, too. But
mix some cocoa shells into the leaves--no matting. Plus, the cocoa shells
will persist as the leaves dissapear.

I've never used cocoa shells but all the garden beds at work are filled
with a heavy layer of pecan shells! A few trees are coming up but other
than that, it seems to be working very, very well for weed control and
it's attractive.

And it's lasting forEVer!


(If I'm mulching where I've been having trouble with cats, I up the
proportion of cocoa shells in the mulch--the cats don't seem to like it.)

Makes sense. Cats would rather dig in sand instead of course organic
matter. I live on a busy street. Loose cats don't live long. :-( So sad!
I keep my own cats indoors.
--
Peace!
Om

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch"
-- Jack Nicholson

"OmManiPadmeOmelet" wrote in message
...

Nah. ;-) People throw out bags of leaves all over town all the time.
Just cruise the ritzier parts of town where folks pay to have people
rake leaves. The bags are on the curb and you can toss some in the
trunk, back seat and passenger side.


I guess that here, we are provided with large yard waste bins. Putting
leaves and other yard waste in the trash is illegal. Nicely bagged up piles
of leaves are unavailable. But I don't need them anyway. I get enough leaves
from my trees that I don't need any.

For those of us who compost, the yard waste bin is helpful for large
branches, and other woody materials that take a long time to break down. I
also toss pizza boxes in there.


--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
http://www.bicyclemeditations.org/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

Alan wrote:

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


The chips are solid pieces around three inches long and wide. The
nuggets are smaller versions of the chips...roughly an inch or more in
size. Mulch is the same stuff finely chopped up. You have to use gloves
to spread it cause it feels like its full of splinters and sharp edges.
The pieces can be as large as the nugget or ground up to feel almost
like clumps of hair (if it gets into your shoes and hurts...it probably
is mulch). The mulch won't stop caterpillars or ants but will dissuade
the slugs and snails. As I noted, I put landscape fabric down first (the
slugs don't like crawling along the fabric) and then put the mulch on
top. Since I staple the fabric to the raised bed, they can't go
underneath either.

The mulch needs to be a couple inches thick (not too thick...or the
stuff underneath will begin to rot and the buggers can get through). The
mulch also needs to be at least a foot wide...or wider if possible. The
wider it is, the harder it will be for the slug to travel over it.

If you want to find out what is munching on your plants you can go out
after dark with a flashlight. If it's slugs, you'll see them then. You
would also see their slimy trails in the morning. You can also try
putting out a tray of beer (something with a low edge). Put it near the
affected plants. If the slugs are the culprits, they'll show up in the
beer. (It's always possible that a slug or two get caught in the area as
you're laying the mulch....). All this varies depending on how you're
set up of course.

..

Zone 5a in Canada's slug-infested Far East.

"George Shirley" wrote in message
...
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.


We use newspaper, three layers, covered with grass clippings and chopped
up leaves. Straw should work fine but you should check the pH of your soil
before adding peat moss, peat moss is pretty acidic. HTH

George


In previous years I've put newpaper down with cedar mulch on top. This year
I'm trying to reduce the cost of my garden and have decided to just put
grass clippings down. So far it's working ok. And it's free. Will try to
save some seed this year too. The soild is finally where I like it to be so
no more major amendments are necessary. I had the soil tested by the local
coop extension and everything they tested for was great. I have yet to do
it, but for my strawberry patch I am going to use the dried, overwintered
cut seagrass (ornamental grass) from the property as a substitute for straw
since it's very similar in appearance.

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

Manure contains too many seeds, though I lay it before covering with
one of the other mulches here. So does straw.

These are generalisations that are just too broad, some manure and some
straw has too many seeds. Chicken manure contains no viable seeds. Some
straw is almost pure stalks from after the grain was harvested and contains
no seeds or almost no seeds. Even cow and horse manure can have no
significant viable seeds depending on what the beasts were fed on, the time
of year etc. If you want to be able to take advantage of all possble
sources of fertiliser and mulch you have to know your shit!

As fresh manure is often too strong to apply directly hot composting with
other material (eg manure plus straw plus garden clippings) will reduce its
strength and kill seeds if it has any.

Peat moss is for billionaires.

Absolutely.

David