Re: CULT: mulch

Linda et al,

Sawdust as mulch rang an alarm bell from the past in my head.  My ex-
husband was a woodworker with a shop on our country property.  We 
thought our abundance of sawdust would make a perfect mulch for our 
nearly an acre of vegetable bed.

We were wrong.  It leeched all the nitrogen from the soil and all but 
destroyed our veggies.  After that first year, we used it only on the 
pathways, where it did a grand job of destroying all life.

However, I have found coarser bark mulch super for a winter mulch, 
scattered somewhat thinly to protect my beauties and hold down weeds 
without shutting out air to anything.  Naturally, I weed thoroughly 
first and remove any diseased/spent foliage so the mulch doesn't hold 
in problems.  But if it's rough enough, it not only protects, but 
breaks down during the winter to add to the friability of the soil 
when you dig it in come spring.

This year, I was introduced to Preen, which you can sprinkle over the 
soil once it's weeded, to cut down on seeds of future weeds setting 
in.  It works very well.  Doesn't eliminate all weeds, mind you, but 
sure cuts down on the pesky little things.  I sprinkled a good layer 
of the stuff before laying my mulch this fall.  We'll see.

Patricia Brooks
Whidbey Island, WA, zone 8-9


--- In iris-talk@y..., Linda Mann <lmann@v...> wrote:
> I try to keep newly planted rhizomes covered with a thin layer of 
soil
> .  This gravelly soil doesn't have drainage problems & they need
> protection from oncoming winter ups and downs.  Helps keep them from
> spidering out of the ground during freeze/thaw cycles, but if they 
do,
> rather than pushing them back down into my gravel (which I figure 
would
> crush/tear roots even more than the freeze/thaw) I just kick or hoe 
more
> soil on top or heap coarse creek sand on them.  Seems to work pretty
> well.  I''ve found that the sensitive cultivars die whether or not 
they
> have dirt on their rhizomes.
> 
> The following year the rhizomes will work their way to whatever 
level
> they seem to 'prefer' - some wind up with all but the roots exposed,
> some wind up nearly underground.  I don't cover the exposed ones.
> 
> I haven't added organic mulch to the soil mulch over the rhizomes 
except
> for the leafy twiggy teepees I described before.  But I am planning 
on
> experimenting with a small mulched bed next year if I get around to 
it.
> One of our local club members grows irises commercially (Sunnyridge
> Gardens) on a poorly drained clay soil, and they mulch heavily with
> sawdust from a local sawmill every year with good success, without
> growing in raised beds.  I will ask them for details and post.
> 
> Linda Mann east tennessee USA zone 7/8


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