Where to Find Cheap Mulch

whitr — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:00:20 +0000

A friend asked me last week where to get the cheapest mulch. It’s a pretty easy question but it really should be prefaced with a bit of background. We’re all familiar with the various colors and materials seen around plantings in front of businesses and in parking lots. Some of the common kinds of mulch are, shredded hardwood, pine bark, broken brick, , pinestraw, even crushed glass is sometimes used. Often hardwood mulch has dies added to turn it red or dark brown. It usually fades within a year to a light grey brown color. In my area pinestraw is prefered by many. By prefered I mean there is a certain kind of person here known as a straw-nazi. Straw-nazis can be very peculiar about the various nuances of straw mulch application.

Mulch is necessary not because it prevents weed growth, though enough of it certainly can slow them. It is necessary because without it myccorhisal fungi and beneficial bacteria cannot proliferate within the soil. In fact there is a complex ecosystem beneath the mulch layer without which we couldn’t have healthy plants.

Myccorhisal fungi form a simbiotic relationship with the roots of plants without which plants are unable to glean nutrients from the soil. Other fungi and bacteria break down organic mater and humus in the soil into constituents which can be absorbed by the plants. Humus (not humos although also great) is organic matter that has been broken down to the point at which it resists further decomposition . Humus in the top layers of the soil contributes to tilth or workability of the soil. Tilth makes the soil more hospitable to macroorganisms such as earthworms which make oxigen as well as nutrients available to plants. Humus also provides a long term reserve of nitrogen and phosphorus.

In order to create humus, organic matter must continually be added to the soil. This organic matter must be made available to micro and macroorganisms that can break it down. In order for this to happen a warm moist habitat protected from the sun and predators must be established. Thats where mulch comes in. The right mulch can create this habitat as well as return organic matter to the ecosystem. Thereby it continually renews the humus in the soil in the same way that the layer of leaves on the forest floor does. In fact when you mulch you are creating a simulated forest floor for your plants. So by mulching with organic matter such as composted leaves we not only create a uniform surface beneath out plant but we introduce organic matter to the soil and create a habitat for the little critter plants need to survive.

However this process can be complicated by the contents of the mulch you use. Hight tannin content in organic matter such as shredded wood mulch or pine bark can cause protiens in that material to sequester nitrogen and remove one of the most important nutrients from the underground ecosistem plants need to survive. Mulches with high acid content such as pine straw can lower the PH of the soil. This may be desireable in the case where mulch is applied around acid loving plants such as azaleas.

So as a general rule I try to stay away from shredded wood mulch. In fact in my oppinion composted leaf mulch is the only game in town. Since we now understand what mulch does and which mulch to avoid where can we get the stuff cheap.

Most municipalities now have several kinds of compost available, shredded yard waste, biosolids and sometimes leaf mulch and even crushed glass. Check with your cities or counties landfill. Also check with the environmental department. Compost businesses are popping up all over. If you don’t have a truck or trailer you can sometimes have them deliver. If they can’t then they’ll know someone who can. Another source could be neighbors. One idea is to offer to rake a neighbors leaves and compost them yourself. Personally I’d use fresh uncomposted leaves from my own yard rather than wood mulch. That would certainly be the cheapest rout.

If you want to spruce up you mulch you can combine mulches. One mixture I like is three parts leaf mulch and one part pine bark. This mixture gives you the look of pine bark and the leaf mulch helps the soil and holds the bark in place during rain so it doesnt end up all over the place.

Here are two links which can help you find your next mulch;

http://www.carolinacompost.com/

http://www.p2pays.org/compost/

My seed starting setup.

whitr — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 15:12:40 +0000

I’ve always had a hard time starting seeds. Last year I bought a bunch of seed from Seed Savers Exchange. Nearly everything I planted died of damping off. Everything else stayed small all summer and “sat there looking at me.” It was terrible waiting month after month. Finally near the end of july I took my four inch tall pepper and tomato starts and planted them outside. Slugs ate most of them. By the time what was left had fruited it was time for the first frost. I didn’t see any signs of blight though and in this tobacco producing area that’s great.

Well this year I think i’m finally doing it right.

First of all I built a box for propagation. Its about 2 x 4 x4. It’s tall enough that I don’t have to bend over too much or I can place a stoolbeside it to sit on. There is a platform built into the middle that ‘s deep enough to hold seed trays so that the outside of the box comes up to the lip of the trays. The platform has about four inches of space on the long sides so that heat and airflow can come up around it. I didn’t plan it to be but its just the right length so that there are about two inches of space between the trays.

The space around the trays is important because of airflow. Damping off has been a problem for me every year. It ‘s a fungus that attacks the bases of seedlings, just where they meet the soil. Moisture at that spot gives the fungus a place to take hold. Ample airflow helps to keep these microorganisms from effecting the young plants. After I placed the seed in the cells and covered them with potting mix I dusted over all of the cells with a little vermiculite. This will also help keep the base of the plants dry.

I left an opening at one side of the box to place a fan heater. The fan is set to around 75 degrees. It’s important for this heat to come from below the plants to help them germinate. The fan is on full speed and the airflow coming up between the trays seems to be enough to keep the above ground portions of the seedlings nice and dry.

The seeding soil mix I made was two parts pete, one part vermiculite, and one part pearlite. I wound up buying miracle grow pete and I’m not totally satisfied with it. It seemed to have allot of large chunks and bark in the mix.

The reason my plants stayed small last year was because I have them in a north and west facing glassed in porch. The afternoon sun wasn’t nearly enough for them to produce the energy they needed to grow. So this year I got a grow light for Christmas (thanks Mom and Dad.) In general a grow light, preferably full spectrum, is recommended for starting seeds. Later I may add a shelf and another light. The shelf will have a light on the bottom of it and plants on top. Another light will be above on the wall probably where the light is now.

I’m keeping the water level in the trays constant. About a week after the seeds have germinated I begin watering them weekly with compost tea. I make the tea by first putting aged compost (you can use plantone if you don’t have a composter) in an old sock and tying the end off. I place the sock in a black five gallon bucket and set it in a sunny spot for a couple of days. Once I have vermiculture started I’ll use a dilute of the tea from that.

Well, so far, so good. Wish me luck.