If you enjoyed this video, please “Like” and share to help increase its reach! Thanks for watching 😊TIMESTAMPS for convenience: 0:00 5 Favorite Mulches For Winter 0:50 Best Mulch #1: Old Straw Mulch 4:28 Best Mulch #2: Hardwood Bark Mulch 6:30 Best Mulches #3-4: Rot Resistant Mulches 8:51 Best Mulch #5: Pine Bark 10:57 Free Mulch Alternatives 11:43 Mulch Benefits In Fall & Winter 15:20 Adventures With Dale
Here in Australia we can get organic sugar cane mulch. It's much like wheat straw, but with ZERO seeds to germinate. You can buy it in big wrapped cubes at Bunnings (our big box hardware store). The mulch I laid in spring last year has fully broken down into the soil, which desperately needed organic matter. The only drawback is that it can be a bit "oily", so if you let it dry out completely it becomes hydrophobic. Also, when dry it's EXTREMELY flammable. If you don't live in an area at risk of bushfires/forest fires, it's excellent.
Omg Aussie here too literally bought one of those white plastic wrapped cubes of mulch today! Missed the sausage sizzle tho....also on at Bunnings they're selling large home brand seedlings for $1.99 a pot...some pots even have two or more seedlings. Great varieties available too, the more expensive brands also have great value cos some of their 'seedlings' literally have like 4 large tomatoes already. This was Bunnings Stafford.
Sunflower and bamboo mulch are good. I shred my giant sunflower stalks after they dry out completly. I shred my bamboo when it small and still green. ❤
I’m glad to see you’ve sounded up, Mr Engineer! Get everyone built up for winter! I’m going to build a clear plastic house over my wicking beds soon to try to get plants through the winter. My PVC trellis did well through the storms with the mesh cover and now it’s going to convert for the winter. Cypress mulch is the best thing I could find in Oklahoma to use and have it ready to go. Thanks for your videos. Keep on plugging!
As much as I don't like the short days of winter, it is nice not having to worry about pests and disease. Getting to grow greens without any external issues except cold damage is a good break. I'm doubling down on cabbage this year. That's going to be my focus crop this winter. I recommend the hoop structures, but be careful with clear plastic. It will get very hot in there during the day and you'll have to vent them every day.
Interesting! We don't have many subterranean type around here (although they do exist). We mostly have the dry wood variety which don't build the mud tubes.
Professional landscapers will tell you any Mulch including cardboard, woodchips or gravel will create a bridge for termites to cross over onto your home's foundation and should be more than 2 feet away.
My neighbor has a couple of giant Sequoias in his yard that are constantly shedding. He is bringing me what he takes up and I'm going to try that for mulching material this year. FYI: here in zone 8b it got down to 33F last night, first frost may be a little early this year. I still have about a thousand or so green cherry tomatoes, so I found a faux raspberry jam recipe I'm going to try out.
Love your content. I'm so excited to try straw bale gardening here in coastal NE FL, but I might as well be asking for a unicorn when I try to find wheat straw bales. I've been shown mini-bales of straw for autumn decorating, plastic bags of straw with tackifier (typically used for grass seed), bales of hay, bales of bermuda hay, etc. This is at farm stores and feed stores. I'm going have to drive to a more rural area. I'll call first, but it's just not registering when I ask for a full sized bale of wheat straw.
Wow! Your yard is looking great! Question: Do you have the Asian "jumping " worm up in your area? I have discovered here in soflo and it's devastating my yard, to the point of I'd like to move out of the state😢 There's not much on this topic, anything you know that could help? Greatly appreciate ❤Love for Dale🐕🥰
Thanks. I’m trying to help it recover from all the storms. I am not familiar with that worm, but if it is truly a worm, Spinosad would be very effective against it. BT may work, but I’m not sure since I don’t know that pest. However, insect netting is basically 100% effective against all worms, so you can always cover up.
Dale has more personality than most humans. It's pretty wild. He is truly a person. I have gotten numerous bunches from my bananas over the years. However, our last 2 winters have been pretty cold. We had 2 winters in 2020 and 2021 where we didn't drop below the 20's, and I got 4 or 5 bunches of bananas during those two following seasons. In 2022, we dropped into the teens and had an ice storm, and the bananas took too much damage and nothing fruited. This last winter, we fell into the teens again, and only one pseudostem fruited for me this season. However, it must've taken cold damage and had some rot in it, so the bananas kept aborting unfortunately. After 2 great years, I had 2 bust years. Bananas are too marginal in Zone 8 to be reliable. They're great in Zone 9.
I have two two year old fig trees in pots. I brought them.inside last year because they were small amd I was afraid leaving them outside in upstate NY would kill them. I up potted them this spring and they are much much bigger now, no figs yet😮. Should I bring them inside again this winter or try wrapping them in burlap or something? I'd like to plant them in ground but I'm pretty sure they'd freeze in zone 5b
I am in zone 7b I have a Cyprus variety tree fully grown but first time this year I am seeing that 40% of the leaves r turning brown also in my backyard I have trees on property boundary either they r ley land Cyprus or thuja I can’t tell exactly have those for years fully grown n established but I am seeing some leaves turning brown which I had never seen before so any idea what can be done so the trees don’t die.
Your statement about wheat straw not being sprayed as often as hay is not supported by my experience. The straw in my area is mostly used to feed horses and is often sprayed with persistent herbicide to reduce thistle and other under desirable weeds. Good tip about aging the straw brother, I have made the mistake of planting wheat before
It depends how much you use. Soil depth is effectively infinite. You're not going to see much of a difference if you apply two inches of mulch once. You need to constantly add mulch. If you're consistently maintaining a 3-4 inch layer for years, it can make a difference.
They spray it before harvest to ripen the entire crop at the same time. They spray the GMO BT Corn the same way. I saw them spray the corn field across from our home three days before they harvested it. I know it was herbicide because all the ditch weeds and Morning glories died. They call it chelating. The farmer told me the Company recommends doing (poisoning us) this. Sad for humans and all living things.😶
I heard you last year on this. I tried mulch you suggested. Mulch just doesn't work for me. Even 2-3 inches as you said. Still dries out....in pots and ground. Only thing it really does for me is to keep weeds down. 3 diff years I've tried. Dont think I will mess with anymore
We mulch and it's very effective - but we have a 1.5-acre former horse pasture we're keeping mowed, so we get enormous quantities of lawn clippings when we want it. So when we bed things down, it's like a FOOT deep. Squelches weeds, keeps the moisture in, and (for some strange reason) has become a favorite "restroom stop" for the gray foxes and raccoons that prowl through the yard at night (perhaps obviously, we're out in the country).
Everything will dry out eventually if there is no rain or irrigation. It simply reduces evaporation. If you live in a semi-arid or arid place, you'll still need to irrigate regularly. You also have to look at the value it adds in terms of improving soil. It takes years of mulch application to transform soil. Using it for only one year isn't enough to see a significant difference. I've been doing this on my property for 5 years now, and it's only now really showing results. As for your containers, your containers are always going to dry out. Container gardens are high maintenance. Using the largest pots you can muster and also placing plant saucers under them is a good idea.
Warning about straw or hay bales. Make sure the farmer did not use grazon or other herbicides on the fields. That also goes for manure mulches about what folks feed the animals.
This is discussed in detail in the video. The chances of Grazon being used on straw is extremely low since cattle don’t graze on grains. A video is linked in the description that shows how you can easily test.
@TheMillennialGardener Isn't Grazon simply a weed killer though? Used to kill weeds in large crop fields so the money crop can grow unhindered by the weeds. I'm rather nervous about using anything these days that I don't 100% know how it was grown.
Awesome fall soil preparation multch is key here to retain some heat especially in winter the garden get over 8 feet of snow every year😮😊 the last tomatoes are the last to grow here still thanks for all this nice info
I'm not sure what you mean. I'm at the timestamp right now. The plants on the left behind me are bananas. The trees on the right behind me are figs. There are no gaps in between. I have them all spaced 6 feet apart, so they've grown in well.
I've limited finances so can I use the wood shavings from my local wood merchants as mulch instead of the bark shavings you've mentioned in your video? Its mainly to keep the weeds down not for growing eating plants.
Here in the midwest, Lowe's sells fine size aged pine bark. The fact that they are aged means they are less acidic, and being fine size, means it is an excellent material to make your own potting mix if perlite is too expensive. I like adding it to my grow mix.
Contaminated straw is very common in the Midwest and becoming more common everywhere. Farmers are now sold the idea if they want to get there wheat out at the optimal timing they can spray it so it dries better. The end result it herbicides in out wheat products and garden. Just be careful I’ve been dealing this for years in Nebraska and have turned to almost 100% leaf mold for my compost.
@@jacoberickson6028 contamination with what, though? There is no reason to spray something like Grazon on straw. Roundup, maybe, but that doesn’t matter. By the time you buy the straw, it will be weeks or months since the last spray, and Roundup has to be applied to foliage to be effective. It isn’t absorbed through roots, so even if there was some trace contamination that didn’t degrade fully, it won’t hurt a fruit tree.
✝ The Christians say ➜ Jesus Christ is the way, the truth,and the life 🕋 Muslim Response ➜ Jesus was a Prophet of God, therefore he was the way ✝ The Christians say ➜ We Must ask Jesus for help 🕋 Muslim Response ➜ But Jesus asked God for help
@TheMillennialGardener I am about to put together a 10x6 polycarbonate greenhouse, but I'm confused on which direction to place it. I see different answers online. I'm in 7b. Please help! Thank you 😊
It's easier to find cedar mulch here. If you're on the west Coast and you can't find it you're blind. Drove by 6 different garden centers and they have piles of it. Most of US cedar mills are on the west Coast
I put straw on my raised beds given to me by a neighbor which was purchased at one of the hardware stores. My onions didn't grow at all so suspect the hay was filled with chemicals. Should I remove most of the soil from my raised beds and start over or is there a way to save the soil?
So I accidentally started using Hapi-Gro organic compost as a mulch bc when I bought it I didn’t realize it was composted bark fines, I just thought it was going to be a normal compost. When I realized it was all bark I figured well I haven’t used a mulch yet lemme try this and I’ve been extremely pleased with the way it works. The pieces of bark are very finely chopped up. It’s also super cheap, but I think most mulch is cheap isn’t it? Lol anyway, I highly recommend using Hapi-Gro organic compost as a mulch. Super finely chopped bark fines.
What is your take on sawdust I am a woodworker with lots of pine and cedar sawdust I thought I would all of my container soils with sawdust and other compost to over winter for next year I am a beginner container gardener here in utah more hobby than anything I guess fun keeping busy retired electrician love your videos very helpful thanks any input appreciated
There's nothing wrong with it. It's very commonly used around here, because I live in a massive southern yellow pine forest. I don't use it personally, because I don't like dealing with it. It blows all over the place on windy days until it locks into place. It's also hard to spread and level. If you're good at placing it, it makes a fine mulch around landscaping and fruit trees. You probably can't use it in the garden because of how difficult it would be to manage.
What other options should I use ? The jumping worms are eating all my compost and mulch materials…I want to avoid feeding them . But in the meantime I have to do something….please help . Thanks again for ur response.
I left a straw bale in the rain and now it has a black mold all over the top side of it. Could I still use this straw bale for mulch around fruit trees? Thanks!
I use a few different mulches in my garden: sugar cane mulch , pea straw it adds nitrogen to the soil but it has stray peas which germinate and the birds tend to make a mess of it. Also Lucerne hay it also adds nitrogen. Wood chips draw nitrogen away from the soil. Greetings from Australia 🇦🇺 😊
I always top off my gardens with mulch in the fall to insulate my plants for the spring. But didn't realize I need to pay attention to the various types of mulch. Thank you for the wisdom!!!!
I live in the PNW. Bone dry in the summer and sopping wet in the winter. I love mulch! I buy it by the yard from my local landscape supply yard. This year I bought fresh medium shredded hemlock. The color and aroma are lovely. Since I began mulching, I’ve hardly had weeds in my garden beds, zero “bad” bugs this summer and my plants are happy! I’m in the process of planting my fall garden and fall clean up. I’m putting several inches of mulch down over all my beds. Mulch for fewer weeds and happy plants. 😊
I hate pine straw with a passion. We have these giant roach looking things in the south that we call water bugs. They mostly stay outside, but if you have pine straw (they like it) close to your house, some will come in. They are huge. I have the benefit of 2 house cats that will kill them or alert if they are too high. This house has zero pine trees or straw so they might get 2 or 3 a year.
I took it down. Or, rather, Tropical Storm Ophelia took it down for me. The storm was destroying it, so I had to run outside at 11PM and take it down to prevent everything in my garden from getting torn up! It's down for the year. At this point, the sun has become mild enough that sun stress is no longer an issue here.
I top my raised beds with mushroom compost and cover them with cheapest landscape fabric that I put slits in for winter. The wind can’t blow my compost away and seeds from the surrounding fields and woods cannot take hold. Zone 6b PA.
I do this as well. I have a few videos on that very concept for putting beds together. I cover them with dark tarps to keep the soil warm and alive all winter.
I'm wondering why my Thyme and Rosemary shows some spotting. They are planted in the same 1/2 barrel pot as my fig trees. I wheel my figs indoors because I can't sustain them here in NJ. I'm surrounded by strong winds, cold weather and farm land.
By spotting, do you mean a fungus? If so, you can try wettable sulfur as a spray. You could have mites. Thyme and rosemary often get overwhelmed by spider mites. Wettable sulfur kills spider mites and is a fungicide.
@@TheMillennialGardener It might be fungus. Doesn't seem like mites. The spits look like a small yellow circle. I would think they're still good to use in cooking. Both plants have a beautiful fragrance. Both plants are healthy and growing good foliage. I would think mites would cause more serious damage to the plants. I'm also wondering if the thyme and Rosemary prefers a more dry environment. The summer heat dries out the pots more often at the surface and I see wilting of the fig trees at mid day...makes me want to keep them watered. It's possible the bottom of these 45 gallon whiskey barrel pots are retaining moisture on the bottom (hard to probe down the far for moisture), and I should water less frequent to every 7 to 10 days in the summer? I do feed them every 2 to 3 weeks when fruit is present as well? Maybe I shouldn't grow thyme and rosemary in the same pots with the figs. I think it's fungus. How should I treat it, now being in the fall season with cool nights and 70's during the day heading into October?
Hi, good info on the mulch types. Would like to know if you drill holes in the bottom of the large buckets. If yes, how many and/or size. What are trying to catch in the animal trap near the rain barrels? Thanks!
When you say "buckets," do you mean my trees in 5 gallon Lowes buckets? Yes, you need drainage or your plant will die. Those 5 gallon buckets are only good for 1-2 years before the tree outgrows them, and the sun destroys them in 2 seasons anyway. They used to be $2/bucket back in 2018/2019. Now, they're $5, so it makes no sense to buy them anymore when a real nursery container is about the same price and will last 10-20 years. The sizes I recommend are linked in my Amazon Storefront under Plant Containers. Fig trees need a 15 gallon container to do best. I had mice living in the concrete blocks eating all my figs at night. I've caught 3 so far.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thanks, didn't know the Lowe's bucket had that short of a life span. I will get the real nursery containers. I was using a trap to catch squirrels, but instead caught 2 raccoons. 🙂
Not related to the topic. I have a jumping worms problem now. Therefore, I put mulch on the soil and wait until the summer, maybe May or June. I will use the mustard mix to water the garden to get the most of the jumping worms out of my garden. Do you know if anyone has experience? Thanks
Cover crops on raised beds don't really work. You'd have to till them somehow. The goal of raised beds is to disturb the soil as little as possible, and doing so would be very messy and difficult. As for the fruit trees, usually ground cover "living mulches" are used in a more permaculture/food forest setup. I have my garden set up as a perimeter edible landscaping arrangement. I don't intend to live here forever, so I need it to maintain resale value. I want it to be attractive for the average homeowner, so for that reason mulch is a much better option.
Thank you for this info. Dont have any fruit tress or figs. I put leaves in my raised beds and the rest of my garden. Never heard that termites like cardboard.. i cant even get my dog to go out when its raining.! Dale is such a character. Lol 😊 love him❤❤❤
Dale is a person. He has more personality than most humans I know. It's incredible how rigid, regimented and routine-oriented he is. I know what he's going to do before he does it. He's so predictable 😂 Dogs are amazing and not given enough credit. I'm convinced they have souls just like people. They're individuals. I have to urge you to get fruit trees planted! Gardening is great and all, but it's a lot of work every year. Fruit trees are set-it-and-forget-it. Plant it once, sit back and be fed for the rest of your life! The more, the better!
@@TheMillennialGardener , I planted for the first time, ginger and turmeric and I planned not to harvest them until December. This is why I’m thankful for sharing with us the best mulch so I can use that mulch to protect my plants until December.
If you enjoyed this video, please “Like” and share to help increase its reach! Thanks for watching 😊TIMESTAMPS for convenience:
0:00 5 Favorite Mulches For Winter
0:50 Best Mulch #1: Old Straw Mulch
4:28 Best Mulch #2: Hardwood Bark Mulch
6:30 Best Mulches #3-4: Rot Resistant Mulches
8:51 Best Mulch #5: Pine Bark
10:57 Free Mulch Alternatives
11:43 Mulch Benefits In Fall & Winter
15:20 Adventures With Dale
This is one of the definitive gardening channels. I swear by it.
Here in Australia we can get organic sugar cane mulch. It's much like wheat straw, but with ZERO seeds to germinate. You can buy it in big wrapped cubes at Bunnings (our big box hardware store).
The mulch I laid in spring last year has fully broken down into the soil, which desperately needed organic matter. The only drawback is that it can be a bit "oily", so if you let it dry out completely it becomes hydrophobic. Also, when dry it's EXTREMELY flammable. If you don't live in an area at risk of bushfires/forest fires, it's excellent.
Omg Aussie here too literally bought one of those white plastic wrapped cubes of mulch today! Missed the sausage sizzle tho....also on at Bunnings they're selling large home brand seedlings for $1.99 a pot...some pots even have two or more seedlings. Great varieties available too, the more expensive brands also have great value cos some of their 'seedlings' literally have like 4 large tomatoes already. This was Bunnings Stafford.
@@lizxu322 I highly recommend you watch his video on shade cloth. We're going to have a brutal summer... 😬
Sunflower and bamboo mulch are good. I shred my giant sunflower stalks after they dry out completly. I shred my bamboo when it small and still green. ❤
I recently learned about how detrimental sunflowers were to other plants. You may wish to research.
Best gardening videos on the Internet! Thank you!❤
I appreciate that! Thanks so much!
Excellent! Clear and concise. 👍🏻
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I learn something new each time I watch your videos. Thank you.
You're welcome!
I’m glad to see you’ve sounded up, Mr Engineer! Get everyone built up for winter! I’m going to build a clear plastic house over my wicking beds soon to try to get plants through the winter. My PVC trellis did well through the storms with the mesh cover and now it’s going to convert for the winter. Cypress mulch is the best thing I could find in Oklahoma to use and have it ready to go. Thanks for your videos. Keep on plugging!
As much as I don't like the short days of winter, it is nice not having to worry about pests and disease. Getting to grow greens without any external issues except cold damage is a good break. I'm doubling down on cabbage this year. That's going to be my focus crop this winter. I recommend the hoop structures, but be careful with clear plastic. It will get very hot in there during the day and you'll have to vent them every day.
Cypress is nice! It decays much more slowly. It's pricey here.
Termites love cardboard so don't lay the cardboard down if u aren't sure if you have termites.
I wonder if they can get to it if you bury it deeply enough, though.
@@TheMillennialGardener yes because they are subterranean. I learned the hard way. Chickens have been good about cleaning them up
Interesting! We don't have many subterranean type around here (although they do exist). We mostly have the dry wood variety which don't build the mud tubes.
Professional landscapers will tell you any Mulch including cardboard, woodchips or gravel will create a bridge for termites to cross over onto your home's foundation and should be more than 2 feet away.
My neighbor has a couple of giant Sequoias in his yard that are constantly shedding. He is bringing me what he takes up and I'm going to try that for mulching material this year. FYI: here in zone 8b it got down to 33F last night, first frost may be a little early this year. I still have about a thousand or so green cherry tomatoes, so I found a faux raspberry jam recipe I'm going to try out.
my mother pickled green tomatoes with onions and they were delish. to my sorrow i never found a recipe.
Thanks for the great information 😊
Love Dale ❤
You’re welcome! Dale says hello 🐶
I’m loving the tree videos!
Glad to hear they’re helpful!
Very well done my man! Good info and wisdom. Thanks
Glad it was helpful! Thank you for watching!
Love your content. I'm so excited to try straw bale gardening here in coastal NE FL, but I might as well be asking for a unicorn when I try to find wheat straw bales. I've been shown mini-bales of straw for autumn decorating, plastic bags of straw with tackifier (typically used for grass seed), bales of hay, bales of bermuda hay, etc. This is at farm stores and feed stores. I'm going have to drive to a more rural area. I'll call first, but it's just not registering when I ask for a full sized bale of wheat straw.
try asking for 'straw" bales. The feed store may not know what kind of straw they have. I also use rice straw
Great information M G! Thank you 😊👍👍
You’re welcome!
Great video 💯. Thanks 👍
You’re welcome!
Wow! Your yard is looking great!
Question: Do you have the Asian "jumping " worm up in your area? I have discovered here in soflo and it's devastating my yard, to the point of I'd like to move out of the state😢 There's not much on this topic, anything you know that could help? Greatly appreciate ❤Love for Dale🐕🥰
Thanks. I’m trying to help it recover from all the storms. I am not familiar with that worm, but if it is truly a worm, Spinosad would be very effective against it. BT may work, but I’m not sure since I don’t know that pest. However, insect netting is basically 100% effective against all worms, so you can always cover up.
@@TheMillennialGardener they're ground worms like an earthworm but eat all the organic matter in the soil. Their castings make the soil texture bad.
Dale sure is a character ! I just wanted to ask gave you gotten any production from your banana trees?
Dale has more personality than most humans. It's pretty wild. He is truly a person. I have gotten numerous bunches from my bananas over the years. However, our last 2 winters have been pretty cold. We had 2 winters in 2020 and 2021 where we didn't drop below the 20's, and I got 4 or 5 bunches of bananas during those two following seasons. In 2022, we dropped into the teens and had an ice storm, and the bananas took too much damage and nothing fruited. This last winter, we fell into the teens again, and only one pseudostem fruited for me this season. However, it must've taken cold damage and had some rot in it, so the bananas kept aborting unfortunately. After 2 great years, I had 2 bust years. Bananas are too marginal in Zone 8 to be reliable. They're great in Zone 9.
I have two two year old fig trees in pots. I brought them.inside last year because they were small amd I was afraid leaving them outside in upstate NY would kill them. I up potted them this spring and they are much much bigger now, no figs yet😮. Should I bring them inside again this winter or try wrapping them in burlap or something? I'd like to plant them in ground but I'm pretty sure they'd freeze in zone 5b
I am in zone 7b I have a Cyprus variety tree fully grown but first time this year I am seeing that 40% of the leaves r turning brown also in my backyard I have trees on property boundary either they r ley land Cyprus or thuja I can’t tell exactly have those for years fully grown n established but I am seeing some leaves turning brown which I had never seen before so any idea what can be done so the trees don’t die.
My containers for peppers etc have to be food grade buckets, correct? Where is best place to get
Your statement about wheat straw not being sprayed as often as hay is not supported by my experience. The straw in my area is mostly used to feed horses and is often sprayed with persistent herbicide to reduce thistle and other under desirable weeds. Good tip about aging the straw brother, I have made the mistake of planting wheat before
Another gardening Channing I watch claimed acidic pine mulch had minimal/no impact on soil ph.
It depends how much you use. Soil depth is effectively infinite. You're not going to see much of a difference if you apply two inches of mulch once. You need to constantly add mulch. If you're consistently maintaining a 3-4 inch layer for years, it can make a difference.
Almost all wheat is sprayed with glyphosate.
They spray it before harvest to ripen the entire crop at the same time. They spray the GMO BT Corn the same way. I saw them spray the corn field across from our home three days before they harvested it. I know it was herbicide because all the ditch weeds and Morning glories died. They call it chelating. The farmer told me the Company recommends doing (poisoning us) this. Sad for humans and all living things.😶
How can I get rid of Bermuda grass?
I heard you last year on this. I tried mulch you suggested. Mulch just doesn't work for me. Even 2-3 inches as you said. Still dries out....in pots and ground. Only thing it really does for me is to keep weeds down. 3 diff years I've tried. Dont think I will mess with anymore
We mulch and it's very effective - but we have a 1.5-acre former horse pasture we're keeping mowed, so we get enormous quantities of lawn clippings when we want it. So when we bed things down, it's like a FOOT deep. Squelches weeds, keeps the moisture in, and (for some strange reason) has become a favorite "restroom stop" for the gray foxes and raccoons that prowl through the yard at night (perhaps obviously, we're out in the country).
Keep repeating, after 30 years, very few weeds, just wish we had enough mulch for all our garden.
Everything will dry out eventually if there is no rain or irrigation. It simply reduces evaporation. If you live in a semi-arid or arid place, you'll still need to irrigate regularly. You also have to look at the value it adds in terms of improving soil. It takes years of mulch application to transform soil. Using it for only one year isn't enough to see a significant difference. I've been doing this on my property for 5 years now, and it's only now really showing results. As for your containers, your containers are always going to dry out. Container gardens are high maintenance. Using the largest pots you can muster and also placing plant saucers under them is a good idea.
💛
Warning about straw or hay bales. Make sure the farmer did not use grazon or other herbicides on the fields. That also goes for manure mulches about what folks feed the animals.
This is discussed in detail in the video. The chances of Grazon being used on straw is extremely low since cattle don’t graze on grains. A video is linked in the description that shows how you can easily test.
@TheMillennialGardener Isn't Grazon simply a weed killer though? Used to kill weeds in large crop fields so the money crop can grow unhindered by the weeds. I'm rather nervous about using anything these days that I don't 100% know how it was grown.
We have GRAZON in all the wheat straw bales:( WARNING!! Rural Ozarks
Awesome fall soil preparation multch is key here to retain some heat especially in winter the garden get over 8 feet of snow every year😮😊 the last tomatoes are the last to grow here still thanks for all this nice info
What are the space between trees behind you @11:10
I'm not sure what you mean. I'm at the timestamp right now. The plants on the left behind me are bananas. The trees on the right behind me are figs. There are no gaps in between. I have them all spaced 6 feet apart, so they've grown in well.
opening the bags and showing what you are talking about would be better than showing us full bags but thanks
I've limited finances so can I use the wood shavings from my local wood merchants as mulch instead of the bark shavings you've mentioned in your video? Its mainly to keep the weeds down not for growing eating plants.
Here in the midwest, Lowe's sells fine size aged pine bark. The fact that they are aged means they are less acidic, and being fine size, means it is an excellent material to make your own potting mix if perlite is too expensive. I like adding it to my grow mix.
We had a ginormous load of chip dropped last month. Getting ready to spread it around the garden. Great video!
Make sure you have no pesticides and herbicides in your straw. Often found in big industrial farming.
Straw is going to be very low risk. This is addressed in detail in the video and a link is in the video description for how you can check.
Contaminated straw is very common in the Midwest and becoming more common everywhere. Farmers are now sold the idea if they want to get there wheat out at the optimal timing they can spray it so it dries better. The end result it herbicides in out wheat products and garden. Just be careful I’ve been dealing this for years in Nebraska and have turned to almost 100% leaf mold for my compost.
@@jacoberickson6028 contamination with what, though? There is no reason to spray something like Grazon on straw. Roundup, maybe, but that doesn’t matter. By the time you buy the straw, it will be weeks or months since the last spray, and Roundup has to be applied to foliage to be effective. It isn’t absorbed through roots, so even if there was some trace contamination that didn’t degrade fully, it won’t hurt a fruit tree.
✝ The Christians say ➜ Jesus Christ is the way, the truth,and the life
🕋 Muslim Response ➜ Jesus was a Prophet of God, therefore he was the way
✝ The Christians say ➜ We Must ask Jesus for help
🕋 Muslim Response ➜ But Jesus asked God for help
I use pine straw under blueberry plants + sulphur to lower pH.
me too works great
@TheMillennialGardener I am about to put together a 10x6 polycarbonate greenhouse, but I'm confused on which direction to place it. I see different answers online. I'm in 7b. Please help! Thank you 😊
It's easier to find cedar mulch here. If you're on the west Coast and you can't find it you're blind. Drove by 6 different garden centers and they have piles of it.
Most of US cedar mills are on the west Coast
".... I just called, to say how mulch I care......"
I put straw on my raised beds given to me by a neighbor which was purchased at one of the hardware stores. My onions didn't grow at all so suspect the hay was filled with chemicals. Should I remove most of the soil from my raised beds and start over or is there a way to save the soil?
Thanks for all the info.
Question what is that Black flooring you use and where did you get it?
So I accidentally started using Hapi-Gro organic compost as a mulch bc when I bought it I didn’t realize it was composted bark fines, I just thought it was going to be a normal compost. When I realized it was all bark I figured well I haven’t used a mulch yet lemme try this and I’ve been extremely pleased with the way it works. The pieces of bark are very finely chopped up. It’s also super cheap, but I think most mulch is cheap isn’t it? Lol anyway, I highly recommend using Hapi-Gro organic compost as a mulch. Super finely chopped bark fines.
Can I use seeding straw with tactifier as a mulch?
What is your take on sawdust
I am a woodworker with lots of pine and cedar sawdust I thought I would all of my container soils with sawdust and other compost to over winter for next year
I am a beginner container gardener here in utah more hobby than anything I guess fun keeping busy retired electrician
love your videos very helpful thanks any input appreciated
👍🏻
What I need is a mulch that deters squirrels. 😒
Fencing is the only solution for squirrels. They need physical barriers.
I appreciate this video so much!
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching!
thanks for all the information I have learned and enjoyed your videos 🙂🌻🌼🌹
You’re welcome!
Hi , love ur channel, I learn so much. What do think about pine straw..? I want to try different mulch this year. Thanks for your input.
There's nothing wrong with it. It's very commonly used around here, because I live in a massive southern yellow pine forest. I don't use it personally, because I don't like dealing with it. It blows all over the place on windy days until it locks into place. It's also hard to spread and level. If you're good at placing it, it makes a fine mulch around landscaping and fruit trees. You probably can't use it in the garden because of how difficult it would be to manage.
What other options should I use ? The jumping worms are eating all my compost and mulch materials…I want to avoid feeding them . But in the meantime I have to do something….please help . Thanks again for ur response.
Thanks!
Oh my! Thank you so much for your support and generosity! I really appreciate the love and support ❤
I left a straw bale in the rain and now it has a black mold all over the top side of it. Could I still use this straw bale for mulch around fruit trees? Thanks!
Most helpful information I’ve ever gotten from anyone. Thank you plus I love Dale
I use a few different mulches in my garden: sugar cane mulch , pea straw it adds nitrogen to the soil but it has stray peas which germinate and the birds tend to make a mess of it.
Also Lucerne hay it also adds nitrogen.
Wood chips draw nitrogen away from the soil.
Greetings from Australia 🇦🇺 😊
I always top off my gardens with mulch in the fall to insulate my plants for the spring. But didn't realize I need to pay attention to the various types of mulch.
Thank you for the wisdom!!!!
I live in the PNW. Bone dry in the summer and sopping wet in the winter.
I love mulch! I buy it by the yard from my local landscape supply yard. This year I bought fresh medium shredded hemlock. The color and aroma are lovely.
Since I began mulching, I’ve hardly had weeds in my garden beds, zero “bad” bugs this summer and my plants are happy!
I’m in the process of planting my fall garden and fall clean up. I’m putting several inches of mulch down over all my beds.
Mulch for fewer weeds and happy plants. 😊
I have lots of mature hardwood trees around me. My veggie beds get layers of grass clippings and leaves in the fall. Flower beds get pine bark.
I hate pine straw with a passion. We have these giant roach looking things in the south that we call water bugs. They mostly stay outside, but if you have pine straw (they like it) close to your house, some will come in. They are huge. I have the benefit of 2 house cats that will kill them or alert if they are too high. This house has zero pine trees or straw so they might get 2 or 3 a year.
This is very helpful! Thank you TMG for your words of wisdom. You have taught me a lot.
Should I put compost under my mulch and cardboard for my fruit trees, and if so how much. Btw love the videos of they help so much!
Very hard to get hay or straw in Phx I did not see available anywhere. I use leaves from our tree it falls daily all year round
Ooo. Your shade cloth is hung differently. Please do show 😊
I took it down. Or, rather, Tropical Storm Ophelia took it down for me. The storm was destroying it, so I had to run outside at 11PM and take it down to prevent everything in my garden from getting torn up! It's down for the year. At this point, the sun has become mild enough that sun stress is no longer an issue here.
I top my raised beds with mushroom compost and cover them with cheapest landscape fabric that I put slits in for winter. The wind can’t blow my compost away and seeds from the surrounding fields and woods cannot take hold. Zone 6b PA.
I do this as well. I have a few videos on that very concept for putting beds together. I cover them with dark tarps to keep the soil warm and alive all winter.
Great information! Thank you!
You're very welcome! Glad it was helpful.
I'm wondering why my Thyme and Rosemary shows some spotting. They are planted in the same 1/2 barrel pot as my fig trees. I wheel my figs indoors because I can't sustain them here in NJ. I'm surrounded by strong winds, cold weather and farm land.
By spotting, do you mean a fungus? If so, you can try wettable sulfur as a spray. You could have mites. Thyme and rosemary often get overwhelmed by spider mites. Wettable sulfur kills spider mites and is a fungicide.
@@TheMillennialGardener It might be fungus. Doesn't seem like mites. The spits look like a small yellow circle. I would think they're still good to use in cooking. Both plants have a beautiful fragrance. Both plants are healthy and growing good foliage. I would think mites would cause more serious damage to the plants. I'm also wondering if the thyme and Rosemary prefers a more dry environment. The summer heat dries out the pots more often at the surface and I see wilting of the fig trees at mid day...makes me want to keep them watered.
It's possible the bottom of these 45 gallon whiskey barrel pots are retaining moisture on the bottom (hard to probe down the far for moisture), and I should water less frequent to every 7 to 10 days in the summer? I do feed them every 2 to 3 weeks when fruit is present as well?
Maybe I shouldn't grow thyme and rosemary in the same pots with the figs.
I think it's fungus. How should I treat it, now being in the fall season with cool nights and 70's during the day heading into October?
Hi, good info on the mulch types. Would like to know if you drill holes in the bottom of the large buckets. If yes, how many and/or size.
What are trying to catch in the animal trap near the rain barrels? Thanks!
When you say "buckets," do you mean my trees in 5 gallon Lowes buckets? Yes, you need drainage or your plant will die. Those 5 gallon buckets are only good for 1-2 years before the tree outgrows them, and the sun destroys them in 2 seasons anyway. They used to be $2/bucket back in 2018/2019. Now, they're $5, so it makes no sense to buy them anymore when a real nursery container is about the same price and will last 10-20 years. The sizes I recommend are linked in my Amazon Storefront under Plant Containers. Fig trees need a 15 gallon container to do best. I had mice living in the concrete blocks eating all my figs at night. I've caught 3 so far.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thanks, didn't know the Lowe's bucket had that short of a life span. I will get the real nursery containers. I was using a trap to catch squirrels, but instead caught 2 raccoons. 🙂
Not related to the topic. I have a jumping worms problem now. Therefore, I put mulch on the soil and wait until the summer, maybe May or June. I will use the mustard mix to water the garden to get the most of the jumping worms out of my garden. Do you know if anyone has experience? Thanks
This article may be of some value: extension.umd.edu/resource/invasive-jumping-worms
@@TheMillennialGardener yes. I did researches. The mustard solution is the only way. Thanks
You have cedar mulch in your background but I don't recall you mentioning it. What are your thoughts?
It's timestamped at 6:30 Best Mulches #3-4: Rot Resistant Mulches
@TheMillennialGardener I must have a 6min 29 sec attention span. I played this video twice. Thanks😊
Why not use a cover crop?
Cover crops on raised beds don't really work. You'd have to till them somehow. The goal of raised beds is to disturb the soil as little as possible, and doing so would be very messy and difficult. As for the fruit trees, usually ground cover "living mulches" are used in a more permaculture/food forest setup. I have my garden set up as a perimeter edible landscaping arrangement. I don't intend to live here forever, so I need it to maintain resale value. I want it to be attractive for the average homeowner, so for that reason mulch is a much better option.
Thank you for this info. Dont have any fruit tress or figs. I put leaves in my raised beds and the rest of my garden. Never heard that termites like cardboard.. i cant even get my dog to go out when its raining.! Dale is such a character. Lol 😊 love him❤❤❤
Dale is a person. He has more personality than most humans I know. It's incredible how rigid, regimented and routine-oriented he is. I know what he's going to do before he does it. He's so predictable 😂 Dogs are amazing and not given enough credit. I'm convinced they have souls just like people. They're individuals. I have to urge you to get fruit trees planted! Gardening is great and all, but it's a lot of work every year. Fruit trees are set-it-and-forget-it. Plant it once, sit back and be fed for the rest of your life! The more, the better!
Cardboard is cellulose, termites love it!!!
I used it as a weed barrier, never again. Everything is a lesson, esp in gardening.😂
How do you grow banana plants ? From seeds or cuttings ?
Can you send me some banana plants ! ?!?!?!
Neither. You will either need to buy a pup or a tissue culture plant. Bananas can be bought online for very little money.
Thank you!
You're welcome!
LOVE Cypress mulch!
It lasts a long time for a wood mulch.
@@TheMillennialGardener Yes it does. I have it in my potted fig trees.
Thank you for this information.
You’re welcome!
@@TheMillennialGardener , I planted for the first time, ginger and turmeric and I planned not to harvest them until December. This is why I’m thankful for sharing with us the best mulch so I can use that mulch to protect my plants until December.
Old content, videos from many months ago.....so boring
I filmed this 10 days ago.
@@TheMillennialGardener Yes, you did about 4-5 videos about "Best Mulch", 5 best mulch, magic mulch..... in the past....... lol.