Subject: Re: Large wood chips

From: [email-masked] (Christine Owens)
Date: 5 Apr 1995 07:24:38 GMT

In <[email-masked]> [email-masked] writes: 

>
>The previous owners put down large wood chips around landscaped areas.
>Are these intended to be replaced every year?  Otherwise, how can you
>rake up leaves, pine needles, pull weeds, etc.  They seem to be more of
>a hassle than they're worth.  Am I missing something?
>
>Thanks for your insights.
>

No, you are supposed to let them rot in place.  You will have
to add more as time goes by.  You rake leaves and pine needles
by using a LIGHT grass rake, and gently pulling it over the
chips, removing the last remnants by hand.  You pull weeds
by pulling up the weed, and replacing the chips that get moved
aside.  BTW, one of the purposes of this type of mulch is to
keep weeds down.  If yours are not, the layer probably isn't
deep enough.

Chris Owens

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From: [email-masked] (Christine Owens)
Date: 5 Apr 1995 07:24:38 GMT

Chris Owens

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From: [email-masked] (Christine Owens)
Date: 5 Apr 1995 07:24:38 GMT

Chris Owens

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 04 Apr 1995 09:34

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 4 Apr 95 20:37:25 -0600

> a hassle than they're worth.  Am I missing something?

Nope, though they do rot and require replenishment from time to time.
Leaves usually blow out of coarse mulches around here, but then we
specialize in gusty winds this time of year around here (BTW, this
is the 21st anniversary of the Night of the Tornadoes... about 351
tornadoes spotted in the midwest in one night in 1974).  Pine needles,
I'd just leave.  If you have weeds coming up in the mulch, give it
a stir... if that doesn't uproot the weeds, the mulch isn't thick
enough to deter them, and you need to add more.  Or if you've just
got an occasional weed, hand pull.

Besides aesthetics, mulches help maintain soil moisture that might
otherwise directly evaporate from the soil, reducing water use,
they moderate fluctuations in soil moisture, which reduces water
stress on plants, they can help prevent soil erosion, and smother
weeds that might otherwise germinate.

Remember that rotting wood uses N that your plants would otherwise 
get, so fertilize!

Kay Klier  [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 4 Apr 95 20:37:25 -0600