Pine mulch

Each fall for the last three years, I have spread a 2-3 inch layer of
pine needles around parts of my perennial rock garden, mainly to
mitigate soil compaction and erosion from our 50-80 inches of rain
during the wet season. I don't work the needles into the soil because
I'm worried about the acidity. Maybe the acids are getting in anyway,
but the needles aren't breaking down very quickly. Often, I remove the
needles at the beginning of the dry season. In some places I replace the
needles with a composted mulch (see below). Regardless of how long the
needles are there, there have been no ill effects of using pine needles
as a mulch on a wide variety of native and non-native plants. It also
seems that my cats don't dig up pine mulch as much as other mulch. It's
prickly.

My best all-purpose mulch is the native black oak leaves and horse
manure, which I compost in a big wood bin made of pallets. I use a
commercial compost innoculant and somtimes my neighbor's lawn cuttings
to re-heat the stuff after each turn. It's a lot of work for a couple
months — about 10 square yards has to be turned over four or five times
— but the result is a fluffy, dark duff the consistency of wood
shavings. It's a great top dressing and general-purpose mulch to
suppress weeds, retain moisture and prevent soil compaction. I'm lucky
to have unlimited amounts of oak leaves and horse manure to use, so I
can't expect too many of you to be able to do this. But I think most of
you can get your hands on leaves and grass cuttings.

Anyone in California interested in composting might want to contact the
U.C. Cooperative Extension's Master Gardener program and find out about
the Master Composting course. I've heard one exists, but I don't know
much about it. There are also a lot of good books out there on
composting. It's really quite simple to do, if you have the green and
brown materials.

Paul Harrar
Nevada City, CA, USA
Sunset Zone 7
2,700 feet
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