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An organic form of mulch should be applied to the soil in the form of very fine bark chips, (preferably not all pine), mulched pruning's, pea straw, in fact anything that will break down. Devic Realms recommend using Cottage Mulch if purchasing mulch is required, but one of the best forms of mulch is freshly mulched up tree pruning's. If you know a tree lopper that operates in your area, and he is willing to sell you his mulching, take him up on the offer. Even if you have your own pruning's from the garden, put them back onto the soil as mulch. Anything that comes out of the ground should go back into the ground, to be composted and broken down to enrich the soil and keep it fertile. This means that if it grew from your garden, and you need to cut it off, or pull it out (in the case of weeds), throw it back on the garden. Even lawn clippings! This is highly beneficial to your garden as the energy that is within the pruning or weed is released straight back into the soil, and it breaks down in time to give nutrients back to your soil. And, you didn’t have to pay for them! You cannot get better mulch than what your garden naturally produces. If you have trees, and you rake up any leaf litter from the lawn, throw it back into the garden. Nature creates its own mulch, which it composts down to return much needed nutrients to the soil. If you take something that grew from the soil and dispose of it, those nutrients used to grow that part of the garden are gone, and the soil is that much less nutritious. So, if you pull a weed that grew in your garden, or prune a branch from a shrub or tree, put it back into the garden to compost down and return its nutrients back to the soil to keep the fertility cycle going. The only problem with pulling up weeds and then throwing them back onto the garden is that they look unsightly and can possibly grow back. But, they only look unsightly for a little while, and if you place them with their roots facing up, they will rarely grow back. Try to think of weeds as living mulch rather than as pests, because weeds are simply plants that people call pests. Mulch is very good for many reasons, including;
An important thing to remember when mulching your garden is to only apply the mulch to a thickness of about 50 – 75 mm (2 – 3 inch). If the mulch is thicker, you will find that watering by hand, or with a sprinkler (or even rain) becomes very inefficient. This is because organic matter is an excellent water retainer, and the mulch soaks up a lot of the water being applied, not letting it get down to the soil where it’s needed for the plants. Of course, once the mulch is completely soaked, the water will then reach the soil, but this can take an extremely long time. Another problem this creates is an excess of polysaccharides. "Living organisms within the soil produce polysaccharides as a by-product when they break down complex compost (carbon) material. Polysaccharides has a gumming effect within the soil, which holds soil particles together." When in excess, (caused by too much organic matter, lots of organisms, and not enough water to dissipate this waxy build up), this waxy coating on the soil can make it hydrophobic, preventing water from soaking in. I used to apply thick mulch in the order of 100mm myself, but I was finding that it would take at least 1 hour for the water to soak into the mulch and reach the soil. And that’s without soaking into the soil!! Watering times were far too long, so I reduced the amount of mulch covering by half, and found that the water from the same sprinkler would reach the soil in as little as about 20mins or less. These times are assuming the mulch is bone dry. It is for these reasons that we highly recommend installing dripper irrigation in your garden when using mulch, as the water doesn’t need to soak through, because the dripper source is already under the mulch. This makes for a far more efficient watering system than sprinklers or hoses.
Compost Below is an article taken from the book " No Garbage", written by Allen Gilbert and first published in 1992 by Lothian Publishing. It talks about the importance of composting, and I could not have explained it better myself. Some slight editing has been made, and some personal points have been included, which are shown in italics. Composting is one of planet Earth's natural biological processes by which micro and macro-organisms, including bacteria, fungi, yeasts, slime moulds, worms, beetles and bugs, consume millions of tonnes per day of rich organic matter in the form of animal and vegetable waste. The waste is converted into compost (or worm casts, when worms get in on the act). In ancient primordial forests, composting was continually initiated by fallen leaves, branches and twigs, dead animals and birds, animal faeces and bird droppings, volcanic dust or ashes, rock particles, and by rain, oxygen and sunlight. This potpourri of materials and conditions form the ideal composting situation. Why then, do we, as humble gardeners, have to worry about learning to compost, when it occurs naturally without our aid? Unfortunately, human beings are very wasteful, throwing everything out to the rubbish, or pushing buttons which flush things away and out of sight, never to be thought of again, without a care to the consequences of such actions. How many people worry about what happens to their waste after they press the toilet flushing button, or put the bin out? We all need to compost and recycle waste, to prevent pollution and poisoning of our environment, to improve our health and ensure that future generations will be able to exist upon this planet. We can act in unison as a species to clean up the Earth's environment in order that life can continue: Recycle our waste materials, grow organically, use permaculture and self sufficiency principles, compost all compostables, prevent pollution, improve soil fertility and create balanced ecosystems. There are many things that a home gardener can do to achieve these aims. For a start, many used materials and containers can be re-used in the garden; but paramount is learning the art of composting (or at least mulching with organic materials and letting the Earth naturally compost this waste). Nearly 80% of all kitchen waste is recyclable, and up to 100% of garden waste need not be wasted. Sewage waste is also coming under severe scrutiny, because at present we dump millions of tonnes daily into the river systems or into the sea. Once upon a time, when this system of centralised sewage disposal was first engineered, it was considered a godsend for human communities - mainly because of its contribution to the reduction of disease. But change is way overdue. Compost made from several ingredients will be the most useful fertiliser. Single product compost, such as grass clippings only, may have limited plant food value, but this can be enhanced by adding very small amounts of products such as zeolite, fruit and vegetable waste, herbs, herbal teas, seaweed powder or liquid, and many other organic materials which will supply the extra micronutrients to give a nourishing product which, in turn, will grow healthy, nutritious vegetables and fruit. Lawn clippings are an ideal addition to some mulches that have larger chunks of woody chips in it, as the they provide a source of nitrogen to help balance out the important C/N (Carbon/Nitrogen) ratio, giving more nutritious compost to the soil.
Fertilisers As a general rule most new gardens will not have the existing nutrients in the soil to sustain the new plants, and so we must kick start the nutrient cycle with organic fertilisers. Only use organic fertilisers (Neutrog Rapid Raiser is a recommended choice) as these will be fully biodegradable. "Continued use of synthetic chemical fertilisers will destroy living organisms within the soil, prevent the build up of humus in the soil, and indirectly destroy soil structure." It is all too common a belief that we fertilise because we need to feed the plants in order for them to grow. This is not really true. We actually need to feed the soil, and in turn the soil feeds the plants. The plants take their water and nutrients direct from the soil, so we need to make sure that the soil has everything in it that the plants need. This is only possible with 100% organic materials and fertilisers. Chemical fertilisers offer nothing beneficial to the soil, as all the nutrients in these fertilisers are synthetic, and are only available directly to the plant. They are basically useless to the soil and the organisms within the soil, but the plants look great because they have been fed by these nutrients. Then, a further problem develops. The plant has now grown, and is looking for even more sustenance. We have not put anything organic into the soil, so the soil has nothing to offer the plant. So what happens? The plant starts to look sick. What do we do? Add some more chemical fertiliser, and the cycle continues, however repeated use will eventually kill the soil, and it will be infertile. I cannot stress this point enough: Only use organic materials and fertilisers. Of course, once your garden has matured and established itself, you will probably find that you wont need to fertilise at all, provided that a good and varying supply of organic matter, like lawn clippings, mulch, vegetable and table scraps, pruning 's, etc is applied to the soil regularly, and you have a good range of plants within your garden. Trees are always good, especially a mix of evergreen and deciduous, because the deciduous trees give a good supply of leaf litter to keep the composting cycle going. If planted thickly, the garden will eventually look after its own composting needs, with a constant supply of leaf litter, twigs, branches, bird droppings, and other materials that may find their way into your garden. However, if you have a garden with one or two poor, little, tiny shrubs, planted metres from each other, you will be forever maintaining and adding to the organic matter in the garden beds.
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Living Landscapes : Be the envy of your friends and neighbours with a complete garden system from Devic Realms. Add interest and excitement for many years to come. Add adventure for the kids to enjoy. Create your own little piece of paradise today.Send mail to Darren
Bettens with questions or comments about this web site.
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