Overat our Survival Gardener community , Brian asks two questions about using wood cow dung in the garden .
Wood Chips in the Grocery Row Garden
David , I have a duad of questions regarding woodwind instrument chip .
1 . You advocate for wood chip in your Compost Everything book around Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree . With the grocery row garden construct would you urge for Sir Henry Wood chips in the full bottom ( annuals , bushes , tree diagram , everything ) ?
Yes , if you have Grant Wood chips available . We use them in the layer and the pathswhen we have them .
When we do n’t , we mulch with other things , including sens clippings , non - sprayed hay , crepuscule leaves , chop - and - drop plants and prunings , etc . We ’ve even mulch with chopped paper , but it look ugly so we assay to avoid it .
There are time when we have n’t had enough wood chips usable , so we ’ve simply left the pathways unornamented .
It ’s not ideal , as eating away can take place , but it ’s dear than not growing ! With the stark path , we used a rack hoe to skunk .
Another alternative if you do n’t have any mulch is to plant your Grocery Row Garden and then cover - crop around the plant with something like Southern peas , mung bean plant , trefoil or even unfermented potatoes . This help intercept erosion while keeping the ground cool and keep weeds out . We ’ve also planted the pathways with clover and rye grass in previous winter .
Wood Chips in Row Gardens
2 . countenance ’s say you ’re fail new ground on a newfangled property and you ’re make a fairly tumid vegetable garden . The soil is clay , zone 9b . Let ’s say you till once and mound up the rows . How would you mulch this considering it is a large area , a new area , you do n’t have compost already made , and is just for veg ? apply Sir Henry Wood chips ? Some other strategy ?
I opt to habituate old hay ( that I make love is not spray with herbicide ) to mulch row gardens … if I even rile to mulch them . Sometimes it ’s just not deserving all the effort and manipulation of material , specially on a new holding or where you ’ve had to expand tight to produce more food .
This is what we did in 2020 when we moved back to the States during the pandemic :
The only mulch there is a few leaves that dropped from nearby oak .
I prefer to grow mixed layer of perennial and annuals with lasting mulch , but I have no problem tilling up an area or double - digging some beds and having naked soil if that gets me food tight .
How to Garden Without Mulch
In the case of a fundamental deficiency of compost or mulching materials , just :
This works fine in backbone and in Henry Clay – we ’ve done both .
Remember : the main percentage point is to grow food .
I prefer mulch as we grow a lot of long - term perennials and they really appreciate the soil improvement and slow eating that mulch cave in them :
… but do n’t worry too much about try out to follow a particular method acting perfectly .
If you have mulch , it ’s good . If you do n’t , you could still spring up food . Many farmers have grown plenty of food for thought without woodwind chip over the last 6,000 years . you may too .
do join the novel Survival Gardener community for answers to all your gardening questions –
Click here and sign up.
Related posts:
@The Prepper Project: The Pros and Cons of…
Updates from The Great South Florida Food Forest…
Making Hay With a Scythe
The Foundations for Farming Tenets: Too Narrow?
Growing Gardens under Oak Trees?
Urban Farming in Paris and the Lure of…
Double-Digging A Garden Bed
Huw Richards is Quite Reasonable
Starting a Food Forest in Clay
Easy Gardening Solutions for Lazy Gardeners
