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adding compost but bark on topsc
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Posted by
rouge21 5b (
My Page) on
Fri, Jun 8, 12 at 6:36
| I am sure I am missing something obvious but if one uses bark or similar 'harder' material as a weed suppressor and moisture retainer then how does one amend the soil below with such material on top?
Does one need to scrape back the bark (for e.g.) away from the base of each plant and 'sprinkle' compost or other such good stuff and then re position top mulch? Seems like too much trouble. Just wondering the mechanics of it all. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: adding compost but bark on topsc
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You should amend the soil before you lay down the mulch, but even after the mulch is in place, depending on what is is, how thick it is, and how active the Soil Food Web is no mulch should last so long that you could not amend your soil when that is necessary.
Normally I can put compost on my soil, that was well mulched last fall with shredded leaves, during August because the Soil Food Web will have digested those leaves by then and after the leaves fall from the trees I can put more in place for next summer. Wood chips are a bit more difficult but if I get the soil well amended before putting the wood chips down that soil should not need more until the wood chips have been digested.
This is kind of like manuring a field in a crop rotation which is not necessary every year if enough is put down the first year. Amend the soil in this planting bed right this year and you shoud not need to amend it again for several years. |
RE: adding compost but bark on topsc
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| The garden in question has been amended but I would like to add some of my compost each season...maybe twice but with larger bark chips on top putting quality amendments directly onto the bark will for sure interfere with the weed suppression factor of the larger heavier mulch. |
RE: adding compost but bark on topsc
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| Yep, you'll have to pull back the bark mulch to do that. If this is a bed you want to amend regularly, you might have to consider other mulches that break down faster and can be buried, as kimmsr suggested. I use a lot of grass clippings, or grass/wood shavings/leaf blend (basically a compost mix but not yet composted). It goes away by the end of the season. |
RE: adding compost but bark on topsc
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| Okay. In fact this spring I removed bark mulch from a smaller garden for this very reason. |
RE: adding compost but bark on topsc
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- Posted by pt03 2b Southern Manitob (My Page) on
Fri, Jun 8, 12 at 11:29
| I get at least twenty to thirty bags of discarded bark mulch or the coloured wood mulch every year from people removing this stuff from their beds. Usually there is landscape fabric mixed in with it. Pain in the butt to pick the fabric out. Lloyd |
RE: adding compost but bark on topsc
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| You could just rebag that and sell it. "Now with Built-In Weed-Block Technology!" |
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