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Bark or woodchip?

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  • I've got bark chippings in my raised beds and at the bottom of the garden. I love the look of it and I only had to pull a couple of stray weeds out the entire year. I replace mine in the spring which is a chore but needs must. 
  • I've got bark chippings in my raised beds and at the bottom of the garden. I love the look of it and I only had to pull a couple of stray weeds out the entire year. I replace mine in the spring which is a chore but needs must. 
    Yes I like the look of bark chippings too. Can I ask why do you replace yours in the spring? I'd have thought it would be better to 'top up' the chippings as the ones next to the soil breaks down into compost. Wonder if I'm missing something?
    Trying to be the person my dog thinks I am! 

    Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    edited February 2022
    That post by @priyagarg2402JKx03c3c is spam. They've copied my post [very badly]and they'll insert an ad, so please flag it.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Thanks @Fairygirl, the post didn't make much sense to me. 
    Trying to be the person my dog thinks I am! 

    Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    That's always the clue @Jenny_Aster ;)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • TopbirdTopbird Posts: 8,355
    @Jenny_Aster The best mulch / dressing I've used is pine or bark 'nuggets' .

    I have bought bark chippings from a DIY store and the bag was full of small chippings (plus random pieces of other wood - definitely not bark) and the whole lot looked a bit of a mess when applied and disappeared / rotted into the soil within a year.

    Bark nuggets are much larger, more regular sizes of bark. They break down much more slowly over several years. They'll probably get worked into the soil at some stage but are easy to top up.

    Large bags of nuggets are available from good garden centres (Scotsdales probably have them) or you can bulk buy a dumpy bag from the company I told you about.
    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
  • Thanks @Topbird, another bit of information re bark nuggets that I was unaware of. This is something I definitely look out for. 
    Trying to be the person my dog thinks I am! 

    Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
  • @Jenny_Aster The soil level in my raised beds always drops and needs topping up in the spring. Technically I could quite easily just put topsoil over the top of the bark and then put new bark on top of that but as I understand it, bark can increase the acidity of the soil so I don't really want it to be getting mixed up with it. In addition to that, the bark composting will make the soil level drop even further as it breaks down. I actually put a couple of bags of multi-purpose in when I was putting the beds together and the amount it dropped was staggering. Last year I only used topsoil and although it still dropped, it wasn't nearly by as much. Definitely not looking to add anything compostable! 
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I imagine lots of pine bark (acid) mulch added to, say, raised beds, over the years, change the acidity.
  • Balgay.HillBalgay.Hill Posts: 1,089
    I used to use bark as a mulch, but found it to be slug heaven. Since i stopped using it, my slug population seems to have decreased. Maybe just a coincidence, but i wont use it any more.
    Sunny Dundee
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