Evening all, thought I would start a new thread about the wonders of mulch, recommendations, etc.
I had the opportunity to drop in at Veg Gardener’s place last week (he was at school but I met his mum, she’s lovely btw) and noticed his vegies aren’t mulched.
All input for the ‘L’-plate gardener welcome :)
Yeehah said:
Evening all, thought I would start a new thread about the wonders of mulch, recommendations, etc.I had the opportunity to drop in at Veg Gardener’s place last week (he was at school but I met his mum, she’s lovely btw) and noticed his vegies aren’t mulched.
All input for the ‘L’-plate gardener welcome :)
thanks yeehah i have 2 beds mulched thats it. is that a start, did you look at the chooks i heard what you said about my room and the door hanger.
Is VG in tropical climate?…as cold climate you’re supposedly better off without mulch for winter, as the soil warms up a bit at least during sunny weather. anyway, have to be careful about mulch in cold/wet so it doesn’t spread rot and it does attract lots of snails. i have no snails…poor duckies.
regarding mulch in general (for vegies and fruit trees), the ultimate in quick nutrition is lucerne hay. But then cost/availability or other factors may make other mulch more practicable at the time.
i don’t buy as much mulch as i used to…as i get a fair amount from cleaning out duck and chicken enclosures, which gets composted with other materials, and then used as a top dressing along with any extra manure and other fertilizers.
last time i bought a lot of mulch it was euc-mulch. looked great, spread easily, and initially was easy to wet. later i found that the local blackbird would easily dig it up (right next to strawberry plant roots) and it wasn’t wetting easily anymore. so when i got a chance recently i dug in loads of bentonite, b&b, and other goodies, to re-wet and help it start breaking down.
when summer heat hits…any open structured mulch is good. it must have lots of air space though, so watering gets through.
aquarium said:
Is VG in tropical climate?…as cold climate you’re supposedly better off without mulch for winter, as the soil warms up a bit at least during sunny weather. anyway, have to be careful about mulch in cold/wet so it doesn’t spread rot and it does attract lots of snails. i have no snails…poor duckies.
regarding mulch in general (for vegies and fruit trees), the ultimate in quick nutrition is lucerne hay. But then cost/availability or other factors may make other mulch more practicable at the time.
i don’t buy as much mulch as i used to…as i get a fair amount from cleaning out duck and chicken enclosures, which gets composted with other materials, and then used as a top dressing along with any extra manure and other fertilizers.last time i bought a lot of mulch it was euc-mulch. looked great, spread easily, and initially was easy to wet. later i found that the local blackbird would easily dig it up (right next to strawberry plant roots) and it wasn’t wetting easily anymore. so when i got a chance recently i dug in loads of bentonite, b&b, and other goodies, to re-wet and help it start breaking down.
when summer heat hits…any open structured mulch is good. it must have lots of air space though, so watering gets through.
i am down at newcastle.
Leaf litter is nature’s mulch. Bare earth is a rarity in nature. Generally native grasses fall over at the end of their growing season and cover the ground.
Mulching has several benefits
- weed control – it smothers small weeds and robs them of light.
- temperature control – it corporates air and therefore keeps the ground cooler, reduces evaporation and maintains soil moisture in summer.
- composty soil – over a long term it absorbs nitrogen and becomes humus then worm food and eventually gets incorporated into the soil as compost.
- looks good – it hides everything and looks uniform and neat.
Mulching with straw is best when combined with high nitrogen manure.
Hoeing is a form of mulching – incorporates air (air is 80% nitrogen), suppresses weeds and makes everything look uniform.
I’m getting some wooden pallets from a friend of Bimbo’s (I met last night)…. staggered home at 12.30… only went to the DVD shop…
Been in his house 5 months and has a very smart vegie garden out the back.
He has some pallets with pavers on them… told him about making a compost bay with them and how I’d love to be able too…hence the offer of the pallets maybe this Saturday…when he comes to see my garden and hopefully collect worms for his worm farm I have convinced him to start up again:D
Lucky1 said:
I’m getting some wooden pallets from a friend of Bimbo’s (I met last night)…. staggered home at 12.30… only went to the DVD shop…Been in his house 5 months and has a very smart vegie garden out the back.
He has some pallets with pavers on them… told him about making a compost bay with them and how I’d love to be able too…hence the offer of the pallets maybe this Saturday…when he comes to see my garden and hopefully collect worms for his worm farm I have convinced him to start up again:D
Forgot to say…. enough pallets for him to have a compost bay as well…… I impressed him as he didn’t think of it himself.
Lucky1 said:
I’m getting some wooden pallets from a friend of Bimbo’s (I met last night)…. staggered home at 12.30… only went to the DVD shop…Been in his house 5 months and has a very smart vegie garden out the back.
He has some pallets with pavers on them… told him about making a compost bay with them and how I’d love to be able too…hence the offer of the pallets maybe this Saturday…when he comes to see my garden and hopefully collect worms for his worm farm I have convinced him to start up again:D
better ask Bimbo to cultivate this friend :D sounds like a nice fellow.
bluegreen said:
Lucky1 said:
I’m getting some wooden pallets from a friend of Bimbo’s (I met last night)…. staggered home at 12.30… only went to the DVD shop…Been in his house 5 months and has a very smart vegie garden out the back.
He has some pallets with pavers on them… told him about making a compost bay with them and how I’d love to be able too…hence the offer of the pallets maybe this Saturday…when he comes to see my garden and hopefully collect worms for his worm farm I have convinced him to start up again:D
better ask Bimbo to cultivate this friend :D sounds like a nice fellow.
Oh he is and he only makes coffee from beans:) And a pattern onto as well:D
Very nice man…fireman too.
Lucky1 said:
bluegreen said:
better ask Bimbo to cultivate this friend :D sounds like a nice fellow.
Oh he is and he only makes coffee from beans:) And a pattern onto as well:D
Very nice man…fireman too.
is there a romantic interest for Bimbo here? or are they “just friends” lol!
bluegreen said:
Lucky1 said:
bluegreen said:
better ask Bimbo to cultivate this friend :D sounds like a nice fellow.
Oh he is and he only makes coffee from beans:) And a pattern onto as well:D
Very nice man…fireman too.
is there a romantic interest for Bimbo here? or are they “just friends” lol!
Bimbosays no….. she doesn’t want a boyfriend as she is looking at living overseas next year and working…less hassle leaving our country if single she says.
I dont want to side track this thread,but Lucky got me thinking about the pallets.In my travels i see a lot of unwanted used pine pallets (not treated) and not the large,heavy Chep ones.This begs the question…has anyone tried to put them through a chipper or shredder for mulch? If so,what results?……….Regards…AL
46150 said:
I dont want to side track this thread,but Lucky got me thinking about the pallets.In my travels i see a lot of unwanted used pine pallets (not treated) and not the large,heavy Chep ones.This begs the question…has anyone tried to put them through a chipper or shredder for mulch? If so,what results?……….Regards…AL
you use those small pine pallets (off building sites) for building the side walls of a compost bin. my daughter has one and they are an ideal size.
pepe said:
46150 said:
I dont want to side track this thread,but Lucky got me thinking about the pallets.In my travels i see a lot of unwanted used pine pallets (not treated) and not the large,heavy Chep ones.This begs the question…has anyone tried to put them through a chipper or shredder for mulch? If so,what results?……….Regards…AL
you use those small pine pallets (off building sites) for building the side walls of a compost bin. my daughter has one and they are an ideal size.
i’ve read that pine wood is not the best mulch material…as apparently it causes a large nutrient drawdown.
as for using pallets for compost enclosure, pine is not very strong, and will not last any number of years. in my view, if you’re going to all the trouble of constructing a good compost enclosure out of wood planks, they may as well be hardwood.
to all the trouble of constructing a good compost enclosure out of wood planks, they may as well be hardwood.
——-
i’ll build you one in 5 minutes. three pallets ($0), two stakes and a bit of twine. very cheap quick and no trouble at all. highly mobile. good aeration.
you don’t have to dissemble – just as they are, stand on edge, tie together.
I believe that pine adds acid to the pH of the soil.
Dinetta said:
I believe that pine adds acid to the pH of the soil.
aquarium said:
as for using pallets for compost enclosure, pine is not very strong, and will not last any number of years. in my view, if you’re going to all the trouble of constructing a good compost enclosure out of wood planks, they may as well be hardwood.
I made my first compost bays from free pine pallets. They did rot down eventually but I got a few years out of them first. If you can’t afford to buy, or can’t get your hands on, some hardwood and are prepared to rebuild them every 2 or 3 years then why turn down free wood. Since then I was able to get my hands on some of those plastic pallets and expect to get a much longer life out of them.
I have been toying with the idea of buying some pallets from the Tip Shop, and making either garden beds or compost boxes…the fact that they rot after a few years doesn’t faze me…although my late father made his raised beds out of hardwood…they lasted aeons….
i think you mean (especially) pine needles Dinetta.
=================
now that I think about it, yes I do mean Pine Needles…is there a difference between the wood and the needles?
pepe said:
to all the trouble of constructing a good compost enclosure out of wood planks, they may as well be hardwood.
——-
i’ll build you one in 5 minutes. three pallets ($0), two stakes and a bit of twine. very cheap quick and no trouble at all. highly mobile. good aeration.
you don’t have to dissemble – just as they are, stand on edge, tie together.
thank you for the offer Pepe. i do plant though to replace my 2nd bin (the flatpack useless variety) with another Gedeye one day.
i was thinking/assuming “they” were going to construct the slotted type enclosure out of the disassembled pallets. if instead the enclosure is a quick job, then pine or not is good.
Dinetta said:
i think you mean (especially) pine needles Dinetta.
=================now that I think about it, yes I do mean Pine Needles…is there a difference between the wood and the needles?
it is indeed the needles that contain a lot more resin and other substances, which are in a much greater concentration than in the wood. that’s why you often hear of the recommendation to use composted pine needles under strawberry plants. the needles need composting as some of the resins (until leached out or transformed by composting) inhibits plant growth…..which is why straight under large pine trees there’s plenty of needles and no plants grow there.
the brick pallets used to have a $15 deposit and were hardwood – but these seem to be throwaways – they get burnt on site as part of tidy up. i presume they are being used to transport and off load whitegoods – stoves fridges etc.
the hardest part about a compost bin is not building it – but filling it with shredded material.
it is indeed the needles that contain a lot more resin and other substances, which are in a much greater concentration than in the wood. that’s why you often hear of the recommendation to use composted pine needles under strawberry plants. the needles need composting as some of the resins (until leached out or transformed by composting) inhibits plant growth…..which is why straight under large pine trees there’s plenty of needles and no plants grow there.
==================================================================================
Now that’s very interesting…my encyclopaedia of organic gardening is a northern hemisphere publication, and I guess they assume “everybody” knows this so they don’t explain “why” pine needles are acidic…and of course I assumed they meant anything pine was acidic…
thank you Aquarium
:)
Dinetta said:
it is indeed the needles that contain a lot more resin and other substances, which are in a much greater concentration than in the wood. that’s why you often hear of the recommendation to use composted pine needles under strawberry plants. the needles need composting as some of the resins (until leached out or transformed by composting) inhibits plant growth…..which is why straight under large pine trees there’s plenty of needles and no plants grow there.
==================================================================================Now that’s very interesting…my encyclopaedia of organic gardening is a northern hemisphere publication, and I guess they assume “everybody” knows this so they don’t explain “why” pine needles are acidic…and of course I assumed they meant anything pine was acidic…
thank you Aquarium
:)
to explain a bit more…or to complicate matters worse…as the case may be
ph or acidity/alkalinity is just a measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions in a material. certain chemicals or chemical reactions, cause a specific ionic charge to occur, which attracts (lots) of hydrogen (negative charge) ions to accumulate…which causes acidity.
to explain a bit more…or to complicate matters worse…as the case may be
ph or acidity/alkalinity is just a measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions in a material. certain chemicals or chemical reactions, cause a specific ionic charge to occur, which attracts (lots) of hydrogen (negative charge) ions to accumulate…which causes acidity.
==============================================================================
dinetta blinks rapidly, having read the above at least 3 times for comprehension
so how did hydrogen sneak into the scheme of things????/
no no don’t tell me….I need to work this out at my own pace…
Dinetta said:
to explain a bit more…or to complicate matters worse…as the case may be
ph or acidity/alkalinity is just a measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions in a material. certain chemicals or chemical reactions, cause a specific ionic charge to occur, which attracts (lots) of hydrogen (negative charge) ions to accumulate…which causes acidity.
==============================================================================dinetta blinks rapidly, having read the above at least 3 times for comprehension
so how did hydrogen sneak into the scheme of things????/
no no don’t tell me….I need to work this out at my own pace…
sorry to confuse matters :) just explaining a bit more about acidity. i think it’s fascinating that what we think of corrosive/acidic and which has a certain taste attributed to it, is just a greater concentration of hydrogen…which is also the most plentiful element in the universe.
pepe said:
46150 said:
I dont want to side track this thread,but Lucky got me thinking about the pallets.In my travels i see a lot of unwanted used pine pallets (not treated) and not the large,heavy Chep ones.This begs the question…has anyone tried to put them through a chipper or shredder for mulch? If so,what results?……….Regards…AL
you use those small pine pallets (off building sites) for building the side walls of a compost bin. my daughter has one and they are an ideal size.
Only thing I know about pellets is we are not allowed to take them. They are stamped with ownership. I have often thought they would come in handy though.
pepe said:
to all the trouble of constructing a good compost enclosure out of wood planks, they may as well be hardwood.
——-
i’ll build you one in 5 minutes. three pallets ($0), two stakes and a bit of twine. very cheap quick and no trouble at all. highly mobile. good aeration.
you don’t have to dissemble – just as they are, stand on edge, tie together.
Oh your getting me all egg-cited about compost pallets:)