The hype on mulch and wood waste!

As I said last week, there is a lot of hype around mulch and wood waste but sometimes the sawmills cannot be trusted to provide safe wood waste.

Sometimes when you purchase soil, you get sawdust or shavings in it and if it is not the right type or not properly processed your plants behave strangely and sometimes die.

Tree trimmings can be used to make mulch and tree bark can be used to make wood chips.

20130908peggyWood chips are attractive and very useful for mulching around perennials, shrubs, trees and they provide several benefits.

Here are some of the main benefits:-

1.They help to keep the soil moist during the dry sunny days.

2.They help to keep weeds in check.

3. They help to keep the soil surface cool.

4.They enhance the surface of the plants and pathways in the gardens.

5. They prevent erosion.

Both wood chips and mulch return organic materials to the soil. So, is anyone ready to set up this venture? Here in Guyana, you can use fibre dust from the dried coconut shell as mulch and it is easily available.

Until next week, Happy Gardening.