More Mulch Madness

More Mulch Madness

My readers will remember last year’s posts on wood chips mulch. I called a local tree service and asked for a truck load of wood chips fresh from the chipper. And this is what I got:

It’s now 16 months later, and my pathways have composted down to almost nothing, and all the garden beds need a new layer as well. So since last year I had way more than I needed, my neighbour, and friends of theirs, thought we could split a load amongst us all.

This is what came last Friday:

So besides re-doing all the pathways, adding 3-4″ in all planting beds (over top of foliage that will be soon be turning to mush anyway), I decided it was time to convert most of my back yard from lawn (ie, buttercup lawn) to… something else.

I used Doug-fir cones to mark out the curved edge of the new planting bed/ something else space. Then once I’d wheel-barrowed as much as I could fit, I cut out a 4″ edge of turf and moved bricks from their original location to their new location.

So I’m pretty excited to actually have a chance to “design” something in my back yard. As you’ll have noticed (and I’m sure I’ve said as much) my garden isn’t designed, it’s just a research lab for plants and projects. Now I think I’ll be more intentional about what I do in this new space. Stay tuned… Mind you, you’ll have to be patient while you “stay tuned”, since it will be most of a year before I can actually use this converted area. I left the turf in place (previously I’d dug it up from pathway areas and and turned it over elsewhere, then covered it with wood chips), so there’s a lot of composting yet to happen. Once it’s all raked over, the mulch will be 6-8″ deep.

But there are LOTS of wonderful beneficial bacteria and fungi in my mountain of mulch. Can you see the steam rising off this pile?

Questions? Comments. All welcome.