Mulch piles doing all the work for me.

Phil Bauman
by Phil Bauman
I continue your read all your posts about gardening with wood chips. I am grateful to have such a wealth of knowledge and experience, shared on HomeTalk. I have plenty of room and time to let the woodchips turn themselves into composted mulch. I am going to pick a spot this spring, were I have hard clay soil and weeds, and cover it with 8 inches of wood chips. Then I will leave for 1 year, and monitor and document its progress, for weeds, and soil conditioning. I want to see if it can transform soil composition.
Apollo ensuring everything meets with his approval
the piles are begining to add up.
AFTER 20 LOADS IN MY PICK UP, I HAVE BARELY MADE A DENT IN THE PILE.
1 ONE 2 BEDS WITH ABOUT 200 BUBS IN THIS ONE, ABOUT 400 IN THE OTHER.


I REMOVED THE EARTHEN SANDSTONE AND CLAY DOW 6 INCH REPALCED IT WITH SAND, PEAT MOSS, AND RECYCLED WOOD CHIPS 2 YEARS OLD.
I ALSO HAVE 4 ROSEMARY BUSHES 2 NEW AND TWO ESTABLISHED ONES, THE CLOSEST ONE IN THIS PIC, IS DYING SLOWLY, GETTING ABOUT 4 INCHES SHORT EACH YEAR, DOWN FROM 4-5 FEET TO ABOUT 20 INCHES.
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
Comments
Join the conversation
3 of 8 comments
  • Louann Crum Louann Crum on Apr 14, 2014
    I moved into a new house last spring and found a huge pile of what we assumed was leaves and pine straw someone had left after raking. A few weeks ago while burning a pile of fallen limbs we thought, hey...lets burn some of the leaves and stuff pile. WELL...lo and behold....it was pile of composted wooden chips. I was so excited!! So far have used in my new flower beds and garden boxes!!! What a great find it was!
    • Phil Bauman Phil Bauman on Apr 26, 2014
      @Louann Crum I am happy for your find. I am going to being usingthe wood chips for the first time. The Cuttings have had 1 year to sit andcompost. I plan to use them to add to my 6 inches or so already in my butterflygarden, as mulch a around my trees and shrubs, and I going to use the bottom ofthe piles to plant veggies, and see if I am able to have some success with thistechnique. Again, Awesome Find
  • Phil Bauman Phil Bauman on Apr 26, 2014
    After a fairly long hiatus, I am able tobegin doing some landscaping and gardening. I am looking forward, to gettinginto some dirt, and wood chips. I havepruned, back my blueberries, blackberries, and most of my butterfly bushes. Witha very unusual winter in NC, it was tough not knowing if I was pruning at theright time or not. We had Shrubs andtrees begin to bloom in January this year.
Next