This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

Re: bark mulch

I know that people say nitrogen depletion should be a problem.  If it has
been a factor in my garden, I sure haven't noticed.  What I have noticed is
that the whole garden, not just certain plants, does better with the bark
mulch.  However, I have clay soil here in zone 6.  It could be that other
soils would present more of a problem.  I also have raised beds which dry out
quickly.  This may be why the garden does better with moisture holding
ammendments.
I have tried cocoa hulls mixed in the soil and as a mulch.  The garden did
not do well with that mulch.  I regretted the day I ever tried that stuff.
I have tried shredded cedar mulch (but it wasn't fine shred).  I didn't try
mixing that into the soil.  I used it solely as a mulch.  The weeds loved
shredded cedar. They didn't root in the soil, they rooted in the shredded
cedar and hung on so tight, I had trouble weeding.  Never again will shredded
cedar mulch come into my garden.
I have tried straw.  It was embarrassing here in suburbia.  It looked
ridiculous and blew all over the place.  What a mess.
Well, I will stop running on.  This is all by way of saying that I highly
recommend finely shredded bark mulch and have had no problems with it.  I
don't use much fertilizer either.  I depend on compost (finely shredded bark
mulch decomposes quickly) and occasional foliar spray with FoliaGro seeweed.
 Oh, one more thing: there is one thing that I have found superior to bark
mulch--ground up leaves.  Ground up leaves are the very best.  I've read
people saying in the garden newsgroup that this also would bind up the
nitrogen.  But I've never noticed any such problems with ground up leaves,
either.  Also, I garden intensively.  Everything is planted very close
together.  I'm not even going to tell you how closely I pack things in.  You
wouldn't believe me anyway.  I think Mel's method of planting lots of things
in one space is excellent.
Sure hope this helps and does no harm.

In a message dated 97-04-03 01:02:24 EST, you write:

> Date:    Wed, 2 Apr 1997 23:09:10 EST
>  From:    Michael A Arnold <arnoldjm@JUNO.COM>
>  Subject: Re: bark mulch
>
>  Linda:
>
>  Thanks for the info. Do you find that the bark depletes the nitrogen in
>  your soil?
>
>  Mike A. (western Oregon, Sunset zone 8)
>  quincymike@juno.com
>

***********************************************************************
To unsubscribe from the SQFT list, send a message to:
listserv@umslvma.umsl.edu
with the single body line: unsubscribe sqft
To switch to digest mode, send to that address with the
body line: set sqft digest
For any other questions or problems, email the list admin directly:
               silvest@umslvma.umsl.edu
Answers to frequently asked questions can be found at:
     http://www.umsl.edu/~silvest/garden/sqft.html
************************************************************************
Follow-Ups:
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index