Wood Chips Quickly Changed My Soil - Organic Gardening
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- Опубликовано: 27 авг 2024
- Wood Chips Changed My Soil Quickly - In this video I show how I have used woodchips to completely change the soil in my Raleigh, NC garden. There has been very little fertilizer used. Be sure to watch the whole video to see how much it changes in one season.
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I shot this video in two parts that are 6 months apart. I wanted to show how much the garden changed in one season. The wood chips that went in the beds were used in Jan of 2020. I waited a few months to start planting in those spaces. I had good growth last year, but this spring is when things really took off. Very little organic fertilizer has been added. This is all being grown with Compost, Wood Chips, Hardwood Mulch, and the minerals in my native soil. Thank you for following along.
I was wondering why you were wearing a sweater at the beginning of your video and your garden looked a bit sparse. 😊 I started a no dig garden bed and picked up lots of free wood chips from our city recycling center to cover the entire new bed. I was concerned about the depletion of nitrogen but decided to use it anyway. All my plants, grasses and potato vines got established but everything grew small. So I hope everything grows at least to their normal size this coming spring. I am going by the 3 year rule wherein the first year they get established, the second year they grow and the third year they take off. Thank you for easing my concern about using wood chips.
@@Usernameblahblahnblah
🤣😂🤣🍷🍷🍷
@@marthaestrada8125 Same here. We planted a bunch of winter rye into our hard clay, then threw down cardboard, then added 8 inches of woodchips. That was in December. We recently added compost on top of some areas of the woodchips that we plan on actually planting into. I know it'll take time but was hoping it was months not years lol. When did you start getting good results?
@@cameroneverhart6443 I immediately planted once I put down some compost mixed with regular soil. Everything grew and got established. This spring all my perennials and Thyme have come back strong and healthy. In fact, many of them already started blooming (zone 8b) and they all look healthy. It sounds like your plot is ready for planting. Try it. You won't know what happens until you plant. However, I suspect you will have good results this spring, summer and fall. Best of luck with your new garden.
Omg this video is so spot on. I've put at least 20 chipper trucks of mulch around my yard and now I have better soil than any house in my entire neighborhood. The neighborhood is on a massive rock so no one has soil and I had to figure out how to get soil without spending a fortune. I literally can grow anything from rare conifers so luscious perennial gardens now in less than two years. I also never have to water one bit. The mulch is free draining, but water retentive at the same time and I'm in a zone 7b.
Jim…dang it! You gave away the best kept garden secret! Now EVERYONE will have healthy plants and gorgeous gardens! I am a certified PROFESSIONAL horticulturalist. I ran my own organic Design Landscape firm. One year I was given 20 yards of tree chips and I spread them throughout my garden beds. I actually didn’t like the look….the chips bleached out in the sun so it looked like a bag of potato chips exploded…but I stayed the course. The next year I covered the chips with a thick layer of compost. In my typically soggy, boggy clay based garden fantastic soils were born! That was 30 years ago. Now I can plunge a shovel up to the neck in rich soil. From a professional standpoint I always installed a commercial cedar tree chip in my customers gardens with concerns about transferring diseases like verticillium wilt, holly starts and so on. I continued to use chips for steep slopes, dog gardens, pathways on so on. Thanks for covering this. It is truly magic!
When I first moved to Raleigh I also noticed that people bag up their leaves in the fall. I needed to amend our clay soil and started loading up my pickup with bags of leaves. I crushed them up, laid out about 6 inches deep & watered them down. By spring I had something to plant in. I have also taken advantage of the chip drops & it’s so convenient.
Those are great practices!. Thanks for watching
One mention about fresh chips; I'm super sensitive to poison Ivy & it's possible for a vine left on a tree to go through the chipper & spread small amounts of oil on the chips. I just make sure to wear gloves, wash off afterwards & change clothes. I regularly wash tools if I'm at all concerned about exposure too. Seems silly but one body rash is too many if you're sensitive 🙂
Always helping us grow better , thanks Jim!
You are 100% correct.
The resilience of urushiol is awful and amazing at the same time.
Use precautions! Better safe than sorry!
I tried a snow shovel and a grain shovel for wood chips, but I quickly figured out that I'm a weakling! 😄For gardeners (especially women) without much hand/arm/upper body strength, you might try a 10-tine pitchfork, (along with a garden rake, and a 4 cu.ft. Gorilla dump cart) for spreading wood chips. I've found that I can handle a 10-tine fork without putting any strain on my body. It makes the job easy and it goes pretty fast.
So true! Pitchfork worked best for me too but husband preferred the snow shovel. 😊
Must be a gal thing, I'm a pitchfork fan too. There's some politicians out there who don't know who to look out for 😂
@@katiekane5247 🤣
Weight belt helps, too.
absolutely recommend the big pitchfork as well! I also use the same snow shovel Jim has if my husband and I are working together, but the pitchfork is the best!
Agree. Agree. Wood chips make the BEST SOIL. I have black gold on my property from a large amount of chips that have broken down over four years.
We love our wood chips
The past few years I have used chipped wood playground mulch. It’s a finely chipped mulch (a little expensive). But it makes a very nice finish that you dont have to rake out the big sticks as you do with the wood chips from the tree guys. I do love my “free soil” that has composted over the past four to five years. LOVE the dirt it makes.
In my zone 4 garden in Minnesota with clay soil I have 100% of my perennial garden wood chip mulched. I add a new 4-6” layer right on top every 3-4 years. To make it easier I have my garden sectioned off and do it section after section. I now have great soil. Only have to water when I plant new plants.
That's awesome!
How long did it take to break down ?! I just did this a few months ago ( MN 4B as well…). Was hoping it could be planted up next spring?
I have been in my happy place the past 2wks as we scored 2 dump trucks full. To see the piles cooking after only 24hrs was amazing!! I've been spreading them thickly on a few large section of our acre. Creating a food forest under fruit trees and covering a sandy weedy mess to create a perennial border for pollinators. I had such a large area that I didn't even put cardboard down first, so hope that wasn't a mistake. I'm already seeing some of the larger weeds finding the light so just throw more chips down. Woodchips are incredibly hard to find for free in my area anymore since Covid. Arborists saw an uptick potential to make money. Even our municipal landfill charges to take them when they used to be free. So nice to know we have a connection now to endless supplies of Woodchips to improve the soil and wildlife around us. 🙌☺️🦋
That's awesome!
I have used chip drops with cardboard to kill lawn/weeds too. A tip - if you're having trouble getting a drop, add $20-40 to the request. Even in a city, I wasn't getting any drops, until I added some money to it. It made it worth the time and gas to come out to me.
Yes, and don't forget about all those leaves and straw everyone sends to the yard waste centers every fall when they can compost it/shred it and have free compost!!
So true. You can see my leaves on the ground in this video. Super beneficial and free.
Jim is king of the mulch hill!
Yrs ago a friend dropped a dump truck load in my back yard, used them to cover the veg bed. I made a huge new flower bed last autumn and used them on it. My grandson helped me, I got really excited when we started seeing worms, he thought I was nuts.
I’m 3+ years in and started with 20 loads. I stripped out all the grass and planted the front and back yard. It’s a game changer for sure. Florida 9b
hi We have two horses and we use wood chips for the horses bedding in stalls…..It gets piled down on the back of the property and because we have the space we haven’t needed to haul any away….it constantly breaks down so need for that….we are digging a new flower, shrubs and two trees in a bed ….we have removed the grass…now and I should mention we have red clay ( it’s like digging into concrete! Not fun….so I had my husband dig at the bottom of the manure pile and it’s totally broken down…beautiful! So we are adding garden soil and mixing the clay, broken down manure and garden soil and mixing it together ….and the plan is to plant some of the shrubs and the two trees now….I left some small shrubs in pots and plan to put them in the ground say mid fall…only because its sooo hot. I live in Delaware…been 90 and up for last three weeks ! Does it sound like we are the right track? Any information would be much appreciated! Thank you for sharing this information😊kim
It's 90° in Charlotte right now. Is it weird that I'm loving the sweater weather at the beginning of this video?! Really cool video, Jim!
I have to tell you how much I appreciate that you often say where you garden. I get so frustrated with other gardening videos that never mention or have in there ‘about’ info where they are. I am trying to improve my 2 acres in Texas zone 8b and need all the relative info I can get! Thanks for your videos!
I just had 4 huge piles of wood chips dropped my my local electric company contractor that trims close to power lines.
I have 5 acres so I have plenty of room for the piles. I’ll be double mowing lots of leaves soon to add more compost bins.
I look at it like an investment for future garden projects and crops.
They smell amazing too!
Oh, and the guys were very happy to have a place close to where they were working to drop their load of chips. They told me they’d been driving a long way to dump them.
So when you see the power company or their contractor clearing the limbs from power lines in the summer stop and ask them to dump them at your house. They are free!!!
My last chip drop load was a bit disappointing, the chips were much bigger than usual.
When I first moved into my home six years ago, I was sad to discover I had to buy a pickaxe to even make a small hole in the ground. It was brutal work. Now, four years later after spreading wood chips, that pickaxe hasn't needed to be used at all. Easy peasy to dig a hole and the soil is far richer and darker. I'm constantly accidently digging up worms. It's amazing and I need more lol. The only extra thing I'd add to this video would be if you live in a dry climate like I do (pretty sure I only get half the water you Raleigh peeps get, if that) it'll probably take a bit longer to break down. And it will break down better with nitrogen added. My front and side yard had grass I covered and killed and the soil there is far richer than in the backyard, where it had just been bare clay. Just to note. It's still absolutely fantastic either way
I am starting off my new garden bed - it’s bare red clay soil atm. I was thinking wood chips with coffee grounds spread sparsely amongst it for a little nitrogen boost. What do you think?
I will soon have a dead pine tree cut down and will request that it be chipped up, if possible. Never knew that wood chips (also) acts as jet fuel, for waking up the soil (like compost)! Very interesting about worms carrying wood chips down and breaking up clay!
That's great. My front beds are from the maple that was taken down. It's like it is still there in different form
A huge Poplar had to go at our place. Had the butt log pulled over to a slight slope & chipped the rest behind it. Instant semi- raised garden spot. I figure it will take 5 years or more for the log to break down & I'm making beds downslope. It IS like keeping the tree, what a great way to look at a loss.
Like following your channel Jim. Last year we took 53 loads, picture framed our 2 acre lot,an made 4 large piles too let compost. This year took 2 more loads. Had a backhoe an turned some in deep. Sold backhoe,an moving now with cart behind mower. ( tougher for sure) . Letting sit in piles,produces heat,an break down faster. Big difference in just 1 year ! Planted arrbivitoe where I dug chips in. Doing awesome. Best to keep away from trunk of trees. Also getting free composted horse an chicken manure on adding too chips. This NC clay will improve some day . We our on our 3rd year turning a very heavily wooded lot,into our forever home place. Like propagating an hope to have a pretty place like yours eventually. Thanks Jim for sharing your knowledge.
Boy you’re right on lately...re when to plant, “just get it into the ground” and now how to build the soil. West part of Prescott. “Soil” here is decomposed granite. I imported “top soil” (not) for big new front yard but will work it now. Mulching as I go along then will add chips from our local dump. My water bills are huge in summer. Maybe this will help. Thank you!!❤
Wood chips are like gold! I love it.
Another enthusiastic fan of arborist chips. My yard was lifeless clay - super compacted, no worms, nada - four years ago. Now I have crumbly clay under beautiful humus, and plants flourish. I even move my native soil around my garden once in a blue moon because plants do better in my improved clay than they would the best topsoil I could bring in. (I'm no dig unless necessary - some very modest earth moving is necessary on my lot for drainage and height.)
This was really helpful and a sigh of relief. I was starting to think it was a mistake spreading wood chips across my back yard when I had trees cut down. This confirms that that was a great thing! It's been almost a year now so it should be ready to plant in for fall.
JIM! The knowledge you’re sharing is absolutely priceless! My new home in north/central Kentucky is built on straight up mud/CLAY. I’ve been pretty intimidated & have wondered how i will be able to transform that land into gardens & beds. You really made it easy to digest! Thank you!
Katy a…Jim is spot on! This completely changed my garden that was a wetland with nothing but clay into a gorgeous half acre garden. It takes about a year to turn heavy clay around but the worm, the birds, and the plants love it!
Awesome video. The break in between shoots of like 6 months to highlight the real difference was fantastic, thank you for doing that!
Wood chips are the bomb. Snow shovel is the best (when they're dry, pitchfork when wet). Also leaf mulch on beds like I see on yours does wonders 🙂
I did this a couple years ago. Spread about half a dozen big truckloads of free wood chips. Planted around 100 shrubs, a dozen trees, and numerous perennials. The place looks great. Very few failures. One downside is that now I have a lot of stinkhorn mushrooms. They’re nasty and difficult to get rid of.
I live in a shrub steppe with blow sand as the top soil. I've been a free drop for chip and manure and my sand is now very rich soil.
I'm not even gardening a lot right now, but just building soil over the next 5-10 years
I’ve been using wood chips, along with the magnolia leaves and pine straw that are already in my yard. I’ve run into issues with “chiggers” or “red bugs” though! I haven’t been this eaten up by them since I was a kid. Wear long pants, tuck in those socks and apply bug spray!
Sawdust also works good, mixed of course!
Wish I'd known about this when I first moved in our house! This clay is killing my back here in WV!!
Great video.
I'll add a good manure fork. 10 tine of you can find one is the best tool to move wood chips. It doesn't matter how hard it's packed a pitch/manure fork will make short work of it.
Watched this again. Good reminders.
I got a huge load of wood chips from the company that trims for the electric company! They are happy to drop it off if they are cutting in your area. I used a pitchfork and wheelbarrow to spread it on garden paths, around fruit trees, around roses, and I added some to my compost pile. It’s awesome!
It's nice to see a fine gardener in Raleigh. I'm next door in Garner, NC and have been piddling with this so called earth for a few years now. I am definitely an amateur. I just received this very day a whole truckload of oak chips from my neighbors house. It's a blessing and of course/ what now? Lot of work. I've been laying mulch in my garden for years and now my next great adventure is turning the pathway into thyme. I planted the thyme last year and am so curious if it's going to explode. Of course oregano spreads vary profusely. I like growing herbs and heirloom tomatoes and a few other edibles. Your garden was so beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
Fantastic work.
Im getting my garden ready for woodchips, i have a arborist who has some chips that have been sitting around for a few years so they should be perfect for a veggie garden by now.
I wish i knew about this 10 years ago.
I was just outside today removing our landscape fabric and rocks, in the center of the garden. I am going to do wood chips just like I have learned from you Jim. Thanks! The garden is coming along.🌸
Awesome. Good luck with everything!
Yes Jim - thanks for this, I have seen the stuff about wood chips robbing the nitrogen, you made it more understandable, I use the wood chips quite a lot in my yard (cost effective and manageable for my little house) Regards from Ontario, Canada, zone 5.
Thanks for watching!!
My snow shovel barely weighs anything and is one of my fave tools for spreading additives around the garden. Now I need wood chips so I can have that cushy soil.
awesome update segment!
Thanks for watching!
Do you have any questions we should be asking (lingo) to avoid getting chips from trees that might be diseased or have pest issues?
Would it be not advisable to approach a tree trimming/arborist service about getting wood chips? I use a service that has done a wonderful job with our trees, great people!
Sounds amazingly great ❤. Changing my whole game plan.
Great tips for those of us with compact red clay. I often think about the roots of our plants and trees and whether they can even root well into this soil. Now I focus on the entire planting area not just the hole I’m digging at the time. Our neighbors recently planted a tree and they called in reinforcements bc a pic axe couldn’t get through the soil in their lawn!
You need a front end loader
How you order Chipdrop makes a difference. If you order in winter you'll avoid tons of green leaves if that's something that matters to you. You also have the option to exclude certain trees. I recommend excluding pine in your order. It's not because I don't like pine chips. It's because you might get a load that 50% plus green pine needles.
This is exactly how I did my beds when I moved in 20 years ago. I did place paper feed sacks down first to smother the bind weed. I have noticed some of the soil has gotten harder with more clay so I'm amending it with compost whenever I plant perennials. It has these deep cracks this year except where there is drip. Last year I added chipped leaves which have been amazing at eliminating the weeds and nourishing the soil.
Bindweed loves wood chips, but it's super easy to pull out. 😅
chipdrop is such a cool thing! I thought I wanted to do it, but the website scared me off. You don't know when the drop is coming, how much you'll get, or where they will drop it.....at least that's the impression I got. I live on a dead end street and I feared coming home to find a mountain of wood chips in front of my house or in my driveway so that I couldn't even pull into my garage. Anybody have advice on how to avoid surprises when using chipdrop?
For me it was a pleasant surprise! They do ask you where you want it dumped on the website. I typed all the information in and a couple of days I received an email saying they were on their way and when we got home, there it was… except I didn’t have my phone with me and didn’t notice the email until after got home …. Try it ! It was 20 yards so bring a pitchfork, wheelbarrow and some friends🤣
and all along I have been buying mulch to cover new garden beds area.... we had free wood chips at my town but I was afraid they were full of weed seeds but sounds like I should give them a try.
Thanks for this vid. It really helps. I’ve got a number of garden projects.
Love wood chips but a bit hard to come by. Chip drop has not worked. Been trying for years. I have a chipper and making my own but it’s a lot of work.
Love the practice of making humus in the paths.
What would you recommend for a novice gardener who is learning after the fact that they should have amended the soil first? I just realized how bad our soil is in a fully planted bed, and I’m not sure what to do now.
Probably surrounding the plants with compost would be helpful (except for irises, lavender, and other plants that prefer a very dry and well-draining soil).
I use a multi tined pitch fork to move my mulch. Works better than shovel; especially when the chunks are on the big side.
Wow Jim, you are showing me a new way to garden. This is amazing. What a transformation. Thank you
Ok you answered that previous question 🤔 if we missed the prep phase and have things planted already, we can still do this to improve the soil.... right?
It looks absolutely stunning 🥰 I love wood chips and the smell alone 🥰 excellent video Jim 🌸💕🌸
Chip Drop was awesome for my plot! Be aware of the absolute bulk of a 20 cubic yard dump!
Hello from Raleigh!
Wood chips are a gift to gardens. If they are free, so much the better. Now can you teach people to use the leaves that most people throw out?
I spent last fall talking about leaves. Weirdest gardening practice is putting leaves at the road and buying mulch
@@JimPutnam Exactly!
Called a company for chips they got right back to me to drop off a load. The man asked if I wanted another and I agreed. Second load came and by the end of the day a truck was outside my gate with a third load! I had to call the company and tell them enough. I have an acre and have uses for them. That doesn't happen with Chip Drop. They bring just one load per request. I called a large tree trimming company in my area for mine.
Always great information!!!
You might like how i compost. On my videos...lots of volume but no pile in sight!
9:53 I never see earth worms in the wood chip paths I have planted. All the worms I find are under the roots of weeds, grass and plants. I think wood chips attracting worms is a myth. Never ever seen it.
OH my Jim, LOL, that is the biggest wood chip pile I have seen besides at a recycling center LOL. It sure does work at your house. Your gardens are beautiful. :)
I still have some 6 months later🤣
As always, stupendous video!
Thank you for this video. I'm new at gardening and was wondering about the difference between wood chips and mulch. This video helped.
Thanks for mentioning ChipDrop! I just registered and look forward to using it!
What an amazing difference!
This is great video. I did same thing with great results helping my clay soil and I did this in Raleigh area as well
That’s a cracking looking wheel barrow/buggy for such materials!. Here in the UK you have to specify “ play bark standard” of bark mulch otherwise your 1 cu metre bag of it will be bark clippings padded out with chipped up wooden window frames, bits of glass and stones, very poor material quality but if you opt for play bark then you get the “ real deal”. Shame it breaks down very quickly and a 1 cu metre sack costs around £250 each including delivery
Love this! I’m having an arborist team come this week to open up my huge willow oak and. Maple and also raise the canopy on about 10 Leland (?) cypress. I plan to ask them for the chips. Shall I layer the wood chips on top of my large pine bark nuggets? Then wait until next spring to plant n it?
That's exactly what I would do!
Awesome information as usual! Thank you Jim!
As it cooks in the driveway it will stain it due to the tannic acid. Use it quickly.
More so in bark than chips. I never dumped hardwood on people's driveways when I landscaped
That 'shovel' you are using is called a scoop.
Great information, thanks.
Such a helpful video thank you! I'm trying to convert an ugly compacted gravel driveway into a big garden bed. Wondering if wood chips would help for this? I was planning to try to break up the gravel a bit then dump a layer of topsoil, some compost and a few inches of wood chips on top and wait a few months. Do I need the topsoil (it's gonna be expensive!) or can I get away with some compost and a thick layer of wood chips on top? Is turning a gravel driveway into a garden bed an impossible feat or should I stay hopeful?
I live in South Carolina and have found that fire ants love wood chips too.
🐜
I haven't seen a sunny location in clay, sand, or any material that fire ants don't like.
Thank you for this! I love using woodchips but folks freak out about the nitrogen theft to the point where I'm afraid to recommend them. I feel vindicated!
That's exactly what I need for a few of my neighbours front yards just to initially get on top of their weeds. Best part is, there is a guy two houses down whom gets picked up and dropped off weekdays for work by a wood chippibg set up employed by our local council. Don't know why I didn't think of that myself. I knew I needed the thick mulch... This is even better... Thank you so very very much Jim x 🌺🌸💮🌷🙏😇🇦🇺🌷💮🌸🌺🕊️
Such invaluable information, Jim!! Thanks for showing us how to do this and explaining how important it is. Love the before and after!
Can you please tell us what kind of wagon you are using?
Looks like a Gorilla - well that’s what we call them in Australia 😊
Thanks for sharing valuable info, greatly appreciate 🌼🐝
Do you have to worry about termites when using wood chips?
I have seen a few when it is piled high, but never after they are spread out.
@@JimPutnam Thanks Jim. Would you ever use it around your house?
I did, but they break down super fast. I don't keep piling more on. Now it's just a thin layer of hardwood mulch
I live in oklahoma while don't know where you live the ants seem to be a real problem with wood chips but I still really like using them I don't think there's a better or cheaper way to amend the soil! Just know you might have to address an ant problem, my 2 cents.
How are wood chips different than bark mulch as far as how they break down and make the soil better?
Bark resists breaking down which makes it great for mulching. Wood chips are all parts of the tree and break down much faster
This is so cool! My husband and I purchased a 1+ acre wooded property in 2020 and we're working on restoring the property with more native plantings. We're also close to acquiring some neighboring land so we'll be closer to 3 acres. A few questions about the wood chips -- will you put the chips into the garden beds you've developed again ever, or just the paths? Do you leave a ring of space around mature trees, or bring the wood chips right up to the trees? Thanks!
I wouldn't put wood chips or mulch against the tree trunk. It could harbor vermin or get diseases.
@@deborah2768 thank you!
Great video, looking forward to trying it. Curious about what compost you use? The kind I've been getting is very heavy and would be hard to spread around. I would like to see how you do compost first....spreading woodchips looks easier than the compost!
Does the amount of rain that you folks get help in the breakdown of the wood chips? I ask cuz I have hardwood mulch in my Ca zone 10 garden and after 4 yrs, it's still in the same spot and my clay soil is still hard. The only worms I see are in my pots or the wetness under the pots. 😁🐛
Yes, it makes a big difference. In the east we should go thinner and more often. You should go thicker for moisture retention and just plant right in them once they are broken down some
Don’t see the chip drop link
Thanks. We had a lot of trees down after a big storm this summer and the city has offered the chips to anyone who wants to come get them. Two questions for you:
I want to replace my grass paths and thought of using those chips. Could I just them on top of the grass or is it best to remove grass first, or maybe put cardboard over it first like I see people doing these days?
Does it matter what trees they cut?
Thanks.
Cardboard would likely keep it from coming through. The tree types don't really matter.
@@JimPutnam Great, thanks.
I live in the triangle area, Oxford. What are sources for wood chips?
Thanks.
A couple of years ago I applied wood chips in my garden, they were kind of a red shade. Unfortunately, some time after that my garden was infested with small flying cockroaches, a rezl nightmare! Has anyone else had such experience? I would love to add wood chips in the garden of my new house but I am a little bit afraid of getting the insects again.....
Chip drop charges me $20/load and they get the money not the arborist that brings it. Hasn't worked out well for me. No show in years since I specified no logs or branches.
Are wood chips alright to add to exisiting beds sort of like mulch?
Yes, but I don't like putting them up against the plants. I use them in open spaces and in between rows of things. It breaks down some and then gets raked in everywhere
I live in Atlanta and I have a nice slope in the front yard. It is woodland with almost full shade (1-2 hr sun early afternoon). Builders used clay as fill dirt. I started some plantings but the ground is just saturated. I’ve been mulching with compost and pine bark for the past 4 yr but the few plants that survive have shallow roots and if I dig them up, basically standing water about 4-6 inches under the mulch. I prefer no till but what are my options? Should i try wood chips and how long will it take to improve the soil. Do I bite the bullet and till up the front yard and start over?
I started added wood chips and I'm having one draw back. Earwigs! They are thriving in the moist, shaded wood chips. I have hundreds of thousands now and they are chewing everything. What can be done to stop this. I don't want to spary insecticides.
I started dropping and spreading chips about the same time you started spreading them at your new house. It definitely has made a difference, but I still need to keep building/layering. It’s definitely not an overnight fix. I need to sign up for another chip drop. I’ve layered mine with leaf mulch, compost and pine needles. Is that too much?
Pine needles are used as mulch in Spring, because we like the aesthetics of it for Spring and Summer. My thoughts are the chips and compost are doing the job, along with the slow-release fertilizer that I apply underneath. Then, when it is time for more wood chips, the pine needles underneath will provide breathing space. Am I doing this right, or is this overkill? Thanks, Jim.
Beautiful garden and very informative video! Do I have to turn my mulch? Or do you let it be? I live in Central Florida and over the summer it rained a lot and now I have slime mold.
With all the rain we’ve been getting in SE Louisiana, would adding wood chips to my squishy water logged yard make things worse?