I want to remove the bark chips from my gardens and replace them with
compost. I usually get it by the trailer full and wonder if anyone has
found and easy way to spread it. I used a five gallon pail last year and
seemed to take for ever. I know there is a commercial blower, but it cannot
be rented and the cost to have it applied is quite high.

Thanks

--
Harold Veeder

I use a wheelbarrow to trundle it to the bed, then either dump and spread if
there's room to work, or shovel it around individual plants if there's room
to work.

Why are you removing the bark chips? If you don't like the look, you can
cover them with compost and they will biodegrade (rot) over time.

Sue

Zone 6, Southcentral PA


"city usa" wrote in message
m...
I want to remove the bark chips from my gardens and replace them with
compost. I usually get it by the trailer full and wonder if anyone has
found and easy way to spread it. I used a five gallon pail last year and
seemed to take for ever. I know there is a commercial blower, but it
cannot
be rented and the cost to have it applied is quite high.

Thanks

--
Harold Veeder

"city usa" wrote in message
m...
I want to remove the bark chips from my gardens and replace them with
compost. I usually get it by the trailer full and wonder if anyone has
found and easy way to spread it. I used a five gallon pail last year and
seemed to take for ever. I know there is a commercial blower, but it
cannot be rented and the cost to have it applied is quite high.

Thanks

--
Harold Veeder

Unless the bark is the biggest grade of chunks (& perhaps even if it is),
most of it could be churned into the soil. If it is a regularly watered
area, the chips will decay into nutrients within two years (or much
faster), & while in the process of decay it provides a medium for
beneficial fungus which all plants require to manufacture their sugars.
Only if it's a dry & nitrogen-poor area would the chips take way too long
to break down; otherwise, once the chips are churned into soil then
top-coated with compost they begin really to add to the organic component
of the soil, & will even help turn nasty alkaline soils into neutral or
slightly acid soils. When this is done on purpose it is done with shavings
rather than chips because shavings break down very quickly especially if a
bit of nitrogen is mixed with them, but chips work too, & for woody shrubs
(rhodies & vacciniums for instance) it results in some of the healthiest
soil you can provide for them.

As for how to spread the top coating, what's wrong with just dumping
wheelbarrow-fulls at intervals then raking it out flat? I wouldn't use
that five gallon pale method except to carry a small amount to mix deep
into planting holes, or when composting an established lawn & there's just
no getting around hand-broadcasting the compost thinly.

I love the name Veeder by the way.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

"city usa" wrote in message om...
I want to remove the bark chips from my gardens and replace them with
compost. I usually get it by the trailer full and wonder if anyone has
found and easy way to spread it. I used a five gallon pail last year and
seemed to take for ever. I know there is a commercial blower, but it cannot
be rented and the cost to have it applied is quite high.

Thanks

Lay down tarps in advance, have the compost dumped on them, then drag
the tarp(s) to the garden. Bark, incidentally, becomes compost
eventually.

On Fri, 28 Feb 2003 14:50:30 GMT, "city usa"
wrote:

I want to remove the bark chips from my gardens and replace them with
compost. I usually get it by the trailer full and wonder if anyone has
found and easy way to spread it. I used a five gallon pail last year and
seemed to take for ever. I know there is a commercial blower, but it cannot
be rented and the cost to have it applied is quite high.

I always thought compost was a soil amendment, to be dug in; and mulch
(plastic, bark, wood-chip, gravel) a substance to be spread around
plants to surpress weeds, conserve moisture, and even out extreme
temperature variations. Compost's value as a fertilizer is usually
minimal, but it *does* do wonders for less-than-perfect soils. I
imagine top-dressing with compost would provide a little benefit for
for desired plants, and an excellent starting medium for weed seeds.

I used big wood chips to cover an area about fifteen years back. Over time,
I have been rewarded with a wonderful layer of very loose material which
retains water and which acid loving plants seem to love. I agree with the
majority--leave it or till it in. Eugenia, zone 6, two towns west of Boston
"Frogleg" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 28 Feb 2003 14:50:30 GMT, "city usa"
wrote:

I want to remove the bark chips from my gardens and replace them with
compost. I usually get it by the trailer full and wonder if anyone has
found and easy way to spread it. I used a five gallon pail last year and
seemed to take for ever. I know there is a commercial blower, but it
cannot
be rented and the cost to have it applied is quite high.

I always thought compost was a soil amendment, to be dug in; and mulch
(plastic, bark, wood-chip, gravel) a substance to be spread around
plants to surpress weeds, conserve moisture, and even out extreme
temperature variations. Compost's value as a fertilizer is usually
minimal, but it *does* do wonders for less-than-perfect soils. I
imagine top-dressing with compost would provide a little benefit for
for desired plants, and an excellent starting medium for weed seeds.