December 18, 2014 | #76 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Florida (East Central Coast)
Posts: 78
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Quote:
Agreeing to disagree is a very civil position to take. |
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December 18, 2014 | #77 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Sterling Heights, MI Zone 6a/5b
Posts: 1,302
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Quote:
I do agree with you. I don't think it matters either. I could harvest pine bark, but it is too hard to do. My in-laws own an acre of pine trees, Lot's of dead ones. I do harvest the straw. It's nice too, Considered low grade, but it is soft an easy to work with. Here in the city I harvest pine straw from city trees. The straw is long and hard. You need gloves. I'm not sure what the trees are? Both are nice. I like using the product as a mulch and to protect my strawberries. |
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December 18, 2014 | #78 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Chicago IL
Posts: 857
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In my zone 5 leaves take a while to decompose, one- because they are whole, two- because our winters cold. So in the spring my leaf mold is nearly the same. By the end of the summer we are ready for new load. Interesting that amount of slugs have significantly decreased so my hostas are looking much better now. No watering or fertilizing has been nice time saving improvement.
this is what is looks by late spring and by late summer |
December 18, 2014 | #79 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Chicago IL
Posts: 857
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end of the summer
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December 18, 2014 | #80 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Ontario
Posts: 3,893
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Very pretty Lindalana! Love the Hellebore!
Linda |
December 18, 2014 | #81 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Sterling Heights, MI Zone 6a/5b
Posts: 1,302
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Yes, looks awesome!
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December 18, 2014 | #82 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2013
Location: New Mexico
Posts: 2,052
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That is a great looking spot to dwell in. Very very nice!
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December 18, 2014 | #83 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Posts: 2,593
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Something I love about this site is that nowhere else do people become as passionate about soil building. Good for you folks!
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December 18, 2014 | #84 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 4,488
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Guilty as charged.
__________________
Scott AKA The Redbaron "Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted & thoughtful observation rather than protracted & thoughtless labour; & of looking at plants & animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single-product system." Bill Mollison co-founder of permaculture |
December 18, 2014 | #85 |
BANNED FOR LIFE
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 13,333
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I agree Scott. It's good to read soil building in other places than your own gardens.
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December 30, 2014 | #86 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Chicago IL
Posts: 857
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This year experiment- one of the garden beds near the house- from Sep to Nov mustards growing as green mulch, in Nov wood chips, fresh manure and leaf mulch applied. Plan for spring to put landscape fabric over it early March for warming up soil and speeding up microbial processes, it will not be tilled, moved away from hole when planted and then moved back. I will let worms to do the job of composting. I expect it will disappear by the end of May when freshly composted batch will be ready to top dress. Have to add that soil was tested with Intl Ag Labs and adjusted in Sep.
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January 31, 2015 | #87 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: mobile zone 8
Posts: 83
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Its all one big experiment & enjoyment at the same time. Plus we reap the benefits of our labors.
__________________
Zone 8 Mobile AL |
January 31, 2015 | #88 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Posts: 2,593
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Just hoed in another 350 pounds of coffee grounds into the mulched leaves. The mulch mix is dark, wormy, and looking great. In 8 weeks, it will be ready to support my plants.
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February 9, 2015 | #89 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Posts: 2,593
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The uncomposted leaf mulch seems to be working well. 7 weeks after dressing the beds with several inches of leaf mulch, and hoeing coffee grounds into them once or twice, the leaves are breaking down into about 2-3 inches crumbly dark brown soil. I added several sprinklings of wood ash to the leaf mulch to bring up the pH and add some potassium.
This speed of decomposition seems a warmer climate result - I notice that there is little decomposition when temps are around freezing, but rapid decomposition when temps climb above 40 or 45. This is a great lazy man approach - no need to haul two thousand pounds of leaf and branch mulch to a compost pile and then back to the beds. Postscript: Rain seems to be essential with this approach. We have had 9.4 inches of rain in 7 weeks since I put down the mulch, and the mulch has stayed pretty moist. I don't think it would have worked if it had been a dry period. Last edited by ScottinAtlanta; February 9, 2015 at 06:43 PM. |
February 9, 2015 | #90 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 4,488
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Quote:
Remember when you posted all the hard work you put in trying to layer it in yourself? Much easier working with nature instead of trying to force isn't it?
__________________
Scott AKA The Redbaron "Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted & thoughtful observation rather than protracted & thoughtless labour; & of looking at plants & animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single-product system." Bill Mollison co-founder of permaculture |
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