Mulch

It was such a lovely day today that I really had a set too in the garden. I cut large parts back then shredded it with a shredder borrowed from a friend.

I now have several bags of chaff. I was going to leave them to compost, but is there any reasom why I shouldn't use them as a mulch. They haven't rotted down at all.

 

As long as there's no moss,weed seeds or root bits that might grow. Good for the soil....the worms will love it. I've heard shredded holly can deter slugs....?

 

I didn't know that, Loofah. How does that work? Why does the BBC recommend lots of unrotted plant stuff in the bottom of trenches/raised beds.....especially for runners (which take out nitrogen) Is it because it'll rot down UNDER the soil? I've never had problems chucking woody shreddings over the garden but maybe the plants would grow better without? Food for thought....mmm

 

Definitely compost it first.

In the bottom of trenches for runner beans etc its purpose is to hold water that the plant's roots can find. I don't think I would put unrotted plant material in there though ... newspaper and so on perhaps. Actually, come to think of it I have seen grass mowings recommended.

 

We had trees taken down and I had a huge amount of bark. I was given a tip from my horticultural expert (my brother) to put down sulphate of ammonia first. I did then covered the beds in the bark chippings. Whoosh..............I have never seen my garden grow like it that year. There was just far too much of the chipping to compost.

 

My understanding is the Bark chip is good for a mulch (don't think it needs composting first), whereas wood chippings need composting first. The sulphate of ammonia would have given your plants a boost! (and made up for any Nitrogen lost to the composting process of the mulch)

 

I'm doing deep (18") raised beds for veg and was planning on using cardboard, piles of leaf litter (not all rotted down yet) and semi-rotted compost in the bottom to save money on top soil and retain water and nutriments.. The layer would be about 10 cms. deep. Would that be ok?

 

I think raised beds should (ideally) be:

Double dug, manure / equivalent worked in to bottom spit.

Built up a bit. Digging out the paths between, and putting that soil on the beds will achieve some / most of the extra height. Adding top soil may sometimes be necessary.

Rest of height is achieved by adding "compost" on top.

(and never ever walk on them once made - put a board across if necessar,y but better still reach from the side - which limits raised beds to about 4' wide)

In my case I just ploughed the area, didn't incorporate any muck, rotavated, piled soil from paths on to beds, didn't add any boards to retain the beds, and put some compost / well rotted muck on the top. It will be some time before the soil is really good quality - but I have other priorities for my time in the garden, so needs-must. Plenty of well rotted muck going on all beds except roots this spring (Year 2)

I think somewhere closer to the first method is better than emulating my method!! and as such I think some compost in the top part is equally as important as some muck at the bottom of the top spit. I therefore wouldn't put it all in the bottom.

 

Thank you for all your comments. On reflection I think I will compost the chaff first. I am aware that uncomposted material takes nitrogen, but was not too concerned as this will only happen slowly, and what the material takes this year it will give back next year. But its probably better to wait till it is composted.

Also as the chaff is very fine and dry and light, I fear it could get blown all round the place. Another factor in my decission was that at least one dandelion root was chopped into 100 pieces, and I didn't want to get into the sorcerer's apprentice situation where I ended up with 100 little dandelions. :D

So, overall, you have helped me come to the decision to compost it first.