@GardenGekko, your garden beds look really nice and neat. My own approach is much more haphazard.
Not much to add one way or the other on which mulch to use. The big rough partially broken down chucks from the compost pile are what I use for the most part. If the plants are growing well and throwing some shade, I don’t use any mulch at all as it becomes a pest habitat. I also use a pretty light Nitrogen hand in all of my growing, mostly compost and organic water insoluble fertilizers. I found high N fed plants to be more attractive to pests. All gardening is local, so your mileage may vary.
MES111 - I consider everything i do in the garden to be about improving the soil over multiple years - including applications of compost, mulch or wood chips. I think my takeaway from this trial and some of the comments is that it is wise to compost or age the chips for a year or so. That seems like a better outcome than applying too early and loosing a growing season.
I was pretty surprised as well. It definitely could be something bad in the chips. For context, it was approximately one tractor bucket load spread over a 4x10’ bed.
One of the articles I’ve seen agrees with the vegetative growth comment, noting statistically significant increases in trunk diameter. No citation on that… sorry.
In my situation, I NEED the moisture in the soil. When I put in the posts for my orchard fence, maybe sometime in July, the soil at 3.5-4’ depth was seemingly bone dry.
My soil type is “mineral” with less than 1% organic material. I have a looong way to go before my apples become water balloons.
Yup, the thing about horticultural studies is that there are far too many variables to fully take into account for entirely reliable guidance. Species, varieties, root stocks, soil type, weather …And then there is the researcher’s natural tendency to exaggerate the significance of their research (more funding please).
As long as one takes this kind of info almost the same way as anecdotal evidence, it’s helpful.
Whats good for the orchard is not necessarily good for the garden. Old Hay works wonders in the garden. Years ago i dug out two feet of soil in a 15x 10 area and filled it with wood chips and chicken manure. It took years for the chips to break down. The area is very rich and it now grows things like kale very well. It maintaims high levels of moisture even though the wood chips broke down years ago. I covered the top with loam soil and clay soil. Wood chips are not what i recommend applying year after year for the garden
My experience here is unlikely easily reproducible by everyone. My daughter has a bunny and my compost pile collects large amounts of bedding and bunny poofs (what she calls them). I plant my garden, surround everything with a good layer of still pretty identifiable bedding a poofs and then mulch to a depth of 3-4 inches with wood chips. My tomatoes and peppers are going like gangbusters (almost 3 feet tall with flowers already).
The woodchips for me help with moisture and this encourages the breakdown of the bedding and poofs faster (I find lots of worms each time I peek under the chips and they are fat and happy)
maybe our high rain amount makes it break down quicker here. literally 3in. of wood chips is nearly gone by the next spring. maybe snow cover has something to do with it as well. been doing this every spring for 6 yrs. now . if i dig down there is 4-5in. of black soil full of worms on top of my red clay. the mycelium in there is incredible. in my raised beds, i just turn in the wood chips that were on top in the fall. i also add some blood/ bonemeal at the same time to prep it for next growing season. in spring i dig down in there and theres no sign of the chips. maybe a piece of a stick here and there that hasn’t fully broke down. just nice black soil that has only gotten better over time. idk but ill keep doing what I’m doing until i see poor results but so far its only getting better and better. every environment isn’t the same but here in the northeast it works well.
if you add more every spring they will stay weed free. I’m lazy. i hate pulling weeds! its a win/ win situation. eventually as my trees get bigger and shade more grass ill stop putting down the chips but under my cane fruit and bush fruit ill always keep them mulched to keep weeds out, hold moisture and feed my plants as it rots. its worth the few hours to do it to save you days of weeding and fertilizing. this year my pile is mostly cedar, so it will keep the bugs away near ground level and last longer under the trees. used occasionally its ok but i wouldn’t use it every year as it can start to stunt growth if the oils build up in the soil.
I wonder if having a bed with a rich healthy fungal ecosystem from years of mulching with wood chips helps to rapidly break down the next annual batch.
Do you remember if your first growing season was that successful?
yes it was and seeing how much mycelium is in there id say thats whats going on. i also inoculated my wood chips with wine cap mushroom mycelium about 5 yrs ago. and I’m still getting some come up here and there all over the yard.
I’m surprised that the straw bales you purchased had grain seeds in them. By definition, straw is the stalk and chaff left over after the seeds are removed during harvesting of the grain. Some straw has more chaff than others, but if seeds got through to the bale then the farmer lost a valuable grain when harvesting. Perhaps what you’re seeing in addition to the stalk is the husk from around the seed (chaff) and not truly seeds?
I use a deep straw mulch every year on my raised beds and it’s wonderful–maintains soil moisture, inhibits weeds, props up small new plants and protects them from wind (I pile it 2-3 inches high around each transplant). It breaks down over the winter and, over time, is creating a light, loamy soil that gets better every year.
I’ve never had a volunteer wheat, rye, or any other type of grain growing from the straw I use as mulch. (With that said, if the straw was harvested from a grain field full of other kinds of weeds then you could be getting weed seed that way.)
Agreed! Half the straw mulch I use on my garden each year is leftover bedding from our goats. Their manure and urine is so much “cooler” than our chicken bedding that I can use it directly on the garden. I have to let the chicken coop clean-out compost down a full year before applying that.
Interestingly, I also let our goats graze in the yard and I’ve learned they stay away from plants growing in their former bedding so it acts a deterrent from the voracious little scavengers.
wow, can i move to your fairyland of seed-free straw?
I’ve never NOT had wheat germinate and grow from store-bought straw bales.
If you buy a bale and just set it out in a sunny spot where it gets rain, it will sprout wheat grass all by itself.
You’ve never seen this on, say, a construction site or somewhere someone put a bale and forgot about it?
I’ve seen this…they did the interstate near here years back…all new concrete/etc…afterwards they had to redo the sides with heavy machinery (moving dirt/etc) and then they laid down some fabric crap…it looked like a wheat field after a couple months. I thought it was intentional? It was actually pretty cool. The wheat did really well. Probably a million rodents in there.
If I buy regular baled hay it has tons of seeds. Around here they sell what is called salt marsh hay, which has much smaller diameter and is pretty much seed free. It is more expensive but I only buy a couple bales a year so it is not a big deal for me.
yes with wine cap mushroom spawn 5 yrs ago. I’m still getting them popping up all over the yard. i made a starter bed 5’ x 5’ in a shady spot with 6in. of fresh hardwood chips. mixed in a bag of spawn and covered with 6in. of straw. the next spring i took those chips and mixed them into my chips i was putting around my plants. by the end of the summer i had shrooms coming up everywhere. as long as you put down fresh mulch yearly they will keep coming.
