Wood Chip TRICK | How to Make Your Wood Chips Break Down Faster
Вставка
- Опубліковано 27 лют 2021
- I'm all about using simple, natural means of optimization. A little bit of forethought can pay big dividends down the road.
~
Try this trick for your wood chip pathways, gardens and landscapes if you want to speed up the decomposition process and invigorate the soil life.
~
Till next time!
~
Benj Meeks aka Gardenguy
Good to have your friend around
Looks good Benj! It oxygenates it too! I'll certainly follow your lead! I think my muck rake will be good for this too.
good job bro. looking for results on your patch now
God Bless
Great tutorial. Thanks for the advice! Hoping it warms up soon.
wood chips are 2 to 3 year compost material, leaves are 1 to 1.5 year, horse cow manure 1 to 1.5 years, fruit peal and grass clippings 3 to 6 months
Pile them up and add manure or coffee grounds for nitrogen; keep them damp. They will compost much faster than spread out drying in the sun.
You're onto something, there. Here's my experience with wood mulch. Before I get into it, it's not based on a veggie garden, rather, front yard landscaping. Wood mulch was spread over my front yard (about 4" thick) when we had native landscaping installed. Over the years, it took on a gray patina, just as you have in your garden paths. In my lazy hands-off experience, I noticed the wood mulch breaks down whether or not you move it. Aesthetically, I noticed "bare" spots in the yard appeared, where mulch should have been. I grabbed a rake an started redistributing the mulch. Underneath, I found some of that nice woody color -- like you show in this video -- AND underneath, some REALLY nice black soil. The depth of the mulch was considerably thinner. For what it's worth, I did NOT touch the mulch for a period of 5 or 6 years. :-) Yea - I took a very hands-off (lazy) approach to yard work. We used to have a lawn = more work than I wanted to do. In any case, here we are, something like 8 years later; and, the mulch is practically gone...ready to refresh...cuz...weeds. CONSIDERATIONS: wood chips as mulch == long-lasting material for pathways. That pile of green compost you have (leaves, twigs, needles, et. al.) for mulching around plants == nutrient-rich material...breaks-down much faster. BTW, I like your layered approach - cardboard and mushroom compost. I am in the process of installing a backyard garden and found free mushroom compost in our area. Thank you for sharing! I hope you'll keep us updated on how this process works. If I were a betting man, I'd say those paths have a few more years of life left in them. :-)
Hi, Benj! Thanks for the valuable information. God bless you!
Good info. Thank you. N looks different n handsome with his untied hair. God bless you both.
Yup
Yes I have the same experience. I use bark on the pathways and woodchips as mulch on my kitchen garden. The birds are always scraping around in the woodchips and therefore they brake down rapidly.
Last fall I tried to do a no dig raised bed in preparation for spring 2021 however I did it backwards. I put the potting soil first then fall leaves with grass clippings and wood chips and finally watered down cardboard on top of everything. The cardboard is breaking down under all the snow BUT what do you suggest I do in the spring before I direct sow my seeds? I live in Detroit, MI. Please help me.
Assuming you don't have rhizome grass or persistent vining weeds, just plant seedlings through what cardboard remains into the actual dirt. If direct sowing, pull back all layers to dirt & seed in & then move back the layers slowly as direct sown plants mature. This may not be the big problem you think it is. You will likely get some some heavier weeds for not putting the cardboard on the very bottom, but you can still plant it out.
How many inches of each layer did you put down? If you layered heavily, it will be a problem unless you plant into dirt. Plant roots need to make contact with the actual soil (dirt, not just the compost layer) to grow soil biology.
In the past, during the fall, I have put down 1/2 finished compost & then layered 2-4 ft of shredded leaves/grass clippings. I then raked-off what leaves didn't decompose down to acceptable mulch in the spring. Used NO cardboard at all. (But the grassy area was not rhizome, w/ only some dutch clover mix & the odd weed here & there) It worked just fine. Snuffed out most weeds.
dude do not walk on your no-till no-dig bed lol...don't you know why no till and no dig works?
if he walks on designated paths, it is ok