Mulch??

[some_one]

Hi all, with the approaching summer I am planning to use mulch in the very little flower bed left, I have been to Hardware stores and the range is huge. I have been suggested Pea Straw mulch as it does not absorb much water on its own as compared to some other wood chip mulch, also it is less prone to be lure for termites? Any suggestions?

[scooter]

I'd look at pea straw, lucerne, & the like for mulch that will actually compost down relatively quickly and add plant matter to the soil.

Wood mulch, eg redgum & pine bark, are better considered as decorative mulches.

Maybe consider a combination of the two, eg pea straw down first then covered over with pine bark

Mulch can deplete nitrogen from the soil it sits on, some suggest applying blood & bone first then the mulch to counteract this.


Cheers....................Sean

[batcat]

I've been using sugar cane mulch.
I put a load down on a job about 12 months ago. It has suppressed weed growth well. Beat the mulch out the back of a chipper truck hands down, but it does break down quicker.
It worked so well I used it again last week to do redo the garden beds.

[some_one]

Just a silly question ..........does the sugarcane mulch attract too many ants?

[batcat]

nup no ants at all, it's dry sort of like straw, but smells like molasses when you first open it...

[Terrian]

Sugar cane, usually bought as a wrapped bale (small, easily handled), good for smallish areas, could be expensive for larger areas, lucerne is also a good one, again in bales (but not usually wrapped)

Personally I would avoid redgum chips, I normally (errr, when I do mulch!) use 'forest fines' / hammer mill bark, has lots of fines, retains moisture, stops weeds growing thru (put mulch 3" to 4" thick)

[China]

Make no mistake I am no gardener I have contracted a landscaper to completely start again on my front garden(sparky destroyed it with excavator) he is going to use mushroom compost,(15 cubic meters ) suposed to be a good weed stopper.

[Big Shed]

We have a 1acre home garden and have used 3 different mulches so far, oaten hay, pea straw and mushroom compost. Of those the mushroom compost is the dearest but by far the best, doesn't stop all the weeds, but pretty good. Also breaks down to a very friable soil and it is building up the garden beds very nicely.

We live 4k from a mushroom farm, so we get a trailer load regularly, usually finish up with a good feed of mushrooms from the bags as well!

[Chris Parks]

I live in a tree infested area and we rake up the leaves and stick it all through a mulcher. Its free apart from the initial cost of the mulcher and we always have plenty of material, too much in fact.

[fenderbelly]

I've used pea straw for years and find it does the job. A few handfulls of Dynamic lifter on for the nitrogen and a feed of peas is nearly guarenteed
because there is always a few peas that will grow.

[Chesand]

We last used Pea Straw and are forever sweeping and cleaning off the surrounding paths due to birds and wind disturbance.
Have used eucalyptus mulch (Eucymulch) before with good results.
Cheapest way is in wool bales direct from Wedderburn. About $110-00 per bale from memory.
Can find contact details if interested

[Geoff Dean]

Only used pea straw once, and ended up with a huge crop of peas everywhere. Took 2 years to fix that mess.

Use Lucerne now, with a layer of horse manure/wood shavings from local race track. Soil is coming along beautifully.

One downfall of horse poo is if they don't roll the oats that they feed, you can get a crop of it growing, however it is much easier to remove than the peas.

[Terrian]

Make no mistake I am no gardener I have contracted a landscaper to completely start again on my front garden(sparky destroyed it with excavator) he is going to use mushroom compost,(15 cubic meters ) suposed to be a good weed stopper.

15m3 !!!!! you must have a HUGE front garden ! (ie: you dig in about 1/4m3 per 1m3 of soil)
It is not a good product for stopping weeds. Better off with 100mm cover of pine bark IMO

Mushroom compost is great for bringing soil back to life, you do NOT plant straight into it
Treat it like a fertilizer.

As a vegie patch mix we use to mix 80% mountain soil 20% mushy compost, that give you an idea