Re: mulch

Graham Spencer wrote:

>Nancy does not say where she has her garden 

I'm sorry that I forgot to use my 'garden' signature. I'm in Ontario, just
east of Toronto, zone 5b.

advice - based on other perennials (we are zone 7/8 and generally do not
>mulch irises) - would be to draw the mulch away during mild periods to allow
>the irises to dry a little and get some air. In fact, it would probably be
>best to replace it with fresh straw in the next cold period.

Thanks for your reply. I'm going to do this tomorrow morning. I've never
mulched before but this year I divided a lot and thought I would protect
them. We get winter temps of -20 C, or colder, and then mild spells, so
there can be a lot of heaving. If there is good snow cover, it provides
its own insulation, but some winters don't have enough snow.

>Chipped pine bark is popular as a garden mulch in the UK, and offers
>excellent frost insulation properties. It also rots quite slowly and gently
>acidifies alkaline soils. 

Our soil is already acid because we are surrounded by cedar woods (or
maybe we are surrounded by cedar because the soil is acid <g>). 

If tomorrow is as nice as today was, it will be a pleasure to work
outside, even though I haven't finished my Christmas cards yet!


========================================
Nancy Coffey-- Bowmanville, Ontario-- Zone 5a


==============================================
Nancy Coffey			ncoffey@inforamp.net
	Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index