Living mulch.

[cdCapehart]

I use wood chips as mulch but my neighbors all bag up hundreds of leaves every fall. I can't help but borrow a fraction of the free stuff.
Not to mention the old bales of straw from feed stores. I use all that I can find, even food scraps I bury, all in my veg garden. Heck, I even had saw dust from the high-school ag barn.
I water only once after planting and watch it go. Never till, just layer everything together.

Anyone else do something similar?

 

[DirtMechanic]

I use wood chips as mulch but my neighbors all bag up hundreds of leaves every fall. I can't help but borrow a fraction of the free stuff.
Not to mention the old bales of straw from feed stores. I use all that I can find, even food scraps I bury, all in my veg garden. Heck, I even had saw dust from the high-school ag barn.
I water only once after planting and watch it go. Never till, just layer everything together.

Anyone else do something similar?

Yep thats me. Throw it on top and walk away.One other thing you can do if you get some wood is burn it for char, quenching before its all gone to ash. The charcoal will not disappear like mulch and helps clay which we have in abundance. Our clay is acid though, so ashes and such work a little better magic than they would if the soil were alkaline.

 

[cdCapehart]

Nice, I have sand gravel soil, but the summer heat makes wood chips the best. I have a fire pit I burn wood for ash. Keep a higher pH.

 

[Tetters]

We have an old wartime gun emplacement ruin on our land, and it`s a great place for bonfires. Wood ash is therefore in plentiful supply. Zigs used the remains of last summer`s haymaking effort to mulch and feed his veggie plot. It surprised me how quickly it rotted down - better spread than left in a heap.

 

[cdCapehart]

Where you located?

 

[Tetters]

Kent UK - otherwise known as hellfire corner.

 

[zigs]

Yep, this is our gun pit where we burn prunings from the 4 acre site...

We made leaf mold a few years back too...

 

[LouisFerdinand]

I have put autumn leaves on my grandmother's garden.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Yep, this is our gun pit where we burn prunings from the 4 acre site...

View attachment 76137

We made leaf mold a few years back too...

View attachment 76138View attachment 76139View attachment 76140

I was rather enjoying visions of fire dancing and ancient ceremonial garb but that fire pit looks fairly practical.

 

[Tetters]

I was rather enjoying visions of fire dancing and ancient ceremonial garb but that fire pit looks fairly practical.

We will have to make efforts to do better in future - I believe all the ceremonial garb is in the wash at the moment

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Hi dirt mechanic, if you have lots of clay try what I do, collect those balls that accumulate when you hoe and throw them in your bonfire. It converts into terracotta, pretty rubbish if you wanted to make pots because it hasn't been pugged, but it breaks up and helps the clay drain. It is better than simply adding stuff like sand to it as well, because it actually takes some of the clay away.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Hi dirt mechanic, if you have lots of clay try what I do, collect those balls that accumulate when you hoe and throw them in your bonfire. It converts into terracotta, pretty rubbish if you wanted to make pots because it hasn't been pugged, but it breaks up and helps the clay drain. It is better than simply adding stuff like sand to it as well, because it actually takes some of the clay away.

I had not thought of this! Products on the market already are actually fired clay, such as turface, which are used on ballfields and for soil improvement for aeration and tilthe. I believe some forms of fired clay are used in bonsai and other potting medium formulas.