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The best mulch?
Jess is in the Garden
Posts: 1,022
Back to the garden in southern France, where it is currently 30 degrees and lovely.
I'd like to mulch some areas that have bare soil around newly establishing plants - is there a best type of mulch to use?
The garden has to look after itself for many months in the year, which is when the weeds really take a hold, plus it is south facing and there is gardena in place for watering...that also feeds the weeds!
Bare soil is new compost, garden overall is on slightly chalky south of France soil but generally very much improved in the garden.
Free draining too.
Many thanks.
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I'm interested in this matter as well. I'm in Cambridge on a free draining soil that is mostly clay that seems chalky and gravelly. For a few years now I've bought two bulk bags of mini-bark mulch each year. The mulch breaks down into the soil relatively quickly. Apparently the process takes up nitrogen in the initial stages (depriving plants), but my thinking is that at some point (already reached) this no longer matters. The mulch suppresses weeds really well and locks in moisture. Besides that it acts as a slow releaser of nutrients and improves the soil structure. It's just what I do though, I don't know what's best. Recently I've been thinking I should try to get a cheaper alternative, perhaps wood chips from a tree surgeon. The two bulk bags cost a pretty significant 140 quid, although I may have reached the stage where I only need one.
Last edited: 04 July 2017 23:46:35
I'm a big fan of free wood chips from tree surgeons. The one near me was happy to let me come pick some up for free. Some sell for reduced prices. From what I've read (The Informed Gardener, Prof Linda Chalker-Scott is a HUGE fan of woodchips) , what you are saying about nitrogen, mice, is correct. That is what helps to suppress weeds. It is only a problem in beds with annual seeds or vegetables and fine for most herbaceous borders/shrubs/trees etc. She recommends quite a thick mulch. I don't think any mulch, no matter how thick, will keep your borders weed-free, but it makes the weeds much easier to pull I've found. For Jess...any chance of finding someone to come in monthly/fortnightly to pull weeds?