Mulch blitz

-
This week I scored another massive windfall (read about previous).
I have a friend who had a huge invasive bamboo patch that they finally got rid of. The chipped pile was too large for their yard and they offered me some of the mulch.
I took several loads and now it's spread over most of the property.



I've had a couple of comments along the lines of "but what about seeds?" so I looked it up.
Bamboo flowers every 150 years (give or take) so I reckon there is a good chance that there is no bamboo seeds in there.
The shredded bamboo I applied a couple of years back has had no issues with random sprouts.

      


A posting on the FB gardening forum reckons bamboo encourages micro organisms.

  

Comments

Post a Comment

You also might like...

Piccalilli 2019

-
Image
I learnt a lot making the practice run of piccalilli las t year ( read here ).  This year it's full steam ahead, with much more output. Mostly veg I've grown my self and local apple cider vinegar. I'm beginning to experiment a bit with  the recipe. Adding more veg, trying different things with the mustard.
READ MORE »

The caterpillars were out of control!

-
Image
The thing about gardening, is that you never know what the environment is going to throw at you. A problem arises, you fix it, and learn something while you're doing it. I don’t know that you can ever have everything ‘under control’. This year I thought I had tomatoes 'sussed'. A bumper crop was packing out the raised gardens, Then a few holes started appearing in leaves. 'not a prob' I thought. Like last year, must be a couple of caterpillars lurking amongst the leaves. This week holy armageddon was unleashed up at one end of the bed. I could almost hear the munching rising up from the plants. Day by day, it was definitely working its way down the lenght of the garden. Up until now, I’ve been squash’n them between fingertips. One at a time, search and destroy. In the past I’d feel a bit sorry for them, as some would pop fully formed, straight out of their skins. Last week I was over it. After the last couple of years of battle I’m immune to empat...
READ MORE »

STIHL Electric chipper (in depth)

-
Image
In the past I’ve accumulated material, then hired a chipper and spent a day reducing the pile to mulch ( click here to view ) This is a hassle because of the room the accumulating pile takes up and the potential fire risk. And there is the time wasted driving to another town to pick up the hire. The Stihl 355 is really light weight so it can be rolled most places in the garden. Nice big wheels. As I detailed in the previous blog entry ( click here ), this chipper has some quirks. The shredded material is deposited inside a shroud where it sits, and builds up until it blocks off the exit chute. Most of the blade clearance issues I have are when this backed up material jams the blades. Last week I did some more mulching into one of the raised gardens. First lot I had to mulch was a softwood tree. Softer than willow. When the shroud fills up, I drag the chipper back a bit clearing the exit chute and creating a trail of shredded material. I swapped between the ‘leaf’ and ‘branch’ settings,...
READ MORE »

Friday work day

-
Image
Using a variety of Arbortech tools, I’ve used a slab of pohutukawa as a practise piece. Click here if you don't see the video above This slab is going to be a sculpture next to the driveway, down by the gate. I’ve started to remove the bark and clean it up. Click here if you don't see the video above
READ MORE »