Mulch and Feed your Gardens for Free

In Today's throwaway society, there is absolutely no need to go out and purchase mulch material for your garden, unless it is for the particular aesthetic appearance, 'The Look', sake of the mulch material.

Were you aware that there are a number of mulching materials that you can obtain from around your own community that are free, and some of which can even be even delivered to you for nothing as well.

Impossible you might say. Well I mulch my gardens fairly heavily, and I never pay a cent for the mulch material. As a matter of fact, most of the mulch is willingly delivered to my home for nothing. As the former owners are only too glad to see the back of it, as it would cost them money, time and effort to find other ways of getting rid of it.

I also combine these outside sources of mulch with my own compost, weeds and other organic matter mixed through to achieve a great result in my garden, and so all that it costs me is time and effort.

So what am I talking about? While some of the below list is delivered free, other items I pick up myself, depending on time, circumstances, importance etc.

Grass Clippings from other people in the area or from lawn-mowing contractors.

Wood shavings from local wood turners and carvers, ( Do not use shavings from treated timber).

Small amounts of solid fill from friends who are excavating. This is to assist in raising garden beds, in my heavy clay soil.

Light prunings from shrubs which is shredded by me or put whole into garden

Heavier sticks and logs, which are turned into trellis, garden stakes, garden edges, seats, frames, log planters etc. while they slowly decay.

Newspaper, cardboard, non-rubber carpet underlay, and even carpet and carpet squares. Which is put under other mulch to prevent grass and weed regrowth

Animal manures sometimes mixed with straw from places like Racetracks and Showgrounds, Pony Clubs, Stables etc. I contact them well beforehand to see if any is available.

To this I also add my own weeds, throwing away some which can still be a potential problem, or burying them below the bottom most layer of mulch material to stop them regrowing.

Another item I add is any old potting mix from deceased plants or when repotting plants.

Being a fairly lazy gardener, I throw the material around a bit at a time, as they are available, and let nature mix them for me. On a couple of occasions I have received a bit too much wood shavings so these became path material between some of the garden beds, with a heavy underlay of newspapers. People even tell me that it looks and feels good underfoot.

Never put a large amount of fresh animal manure on any garden, as it will burn any plant around it. Be extremely sparing or let it age first for a few months before applying it to the garden.

I have been living in my new house for about fifteen months, and the mulch layer in all my gardens (there were no gardens originally), is about 10 cm or 4 inches deep. None of which I have paid for and little that I have had to even pick up for myself.

People are even starting to comment on how fast the plants in my gardens are growing in the local heavy black clay soils, and they are surprised when I tell them that I have never bothered to fertilise the plants. The reason for this is that the earliest laid mulch material, is now broken down into plant nutrients and is now feeding my plants as a plant nutrient soup aided by the soil life which has suddenly started appearing in my gardens.

Another benefit that has started to appear in the last few months is the arrival of insect eating wildlife into my garden. Predatory insects and birds are now visiting my gardens on a regular basis, where I saw none this time last year. Bees and butterflies are also starting to visit many of the plants, which have come into flower for the first time this year.

So what can you do to start locating your own supplies of free mulch material, well here are a number of suggestions.

Put a little sign near your gate, something along the lines of ‘Organic mulch required\', or ‘Lawn clipping wanted\'. There are sure to be a number of local people who are currently throwing theirs away in your community or even local area. Never mulch solely with grass clippings as they form an impenetrable layer that air and water cannot get through. Always mix it with other things to stop it ‘thatching\', just like a roof over the soil.

See if you can get into contact with local people who are into woodturning and carving, or even local sawmills. And come to some arrangement about unpreserved wood shavings.

Check the local phonebook for local showgrounds/racetracks/stables etc, to find out if any have stable or manure waste to give away, for people willing to pick them up

In other words, start talking around the place that you are after mulch materials and they will soon start coming to you.

The only caution with using other peoples waste material is the chance that you might also import other peoples pests and weeds. I have rarely found it a problem because of heavy mulch on mulch routines. But it is possible.

One point being that when you first start applying mulch to your garden you may see some nitrogen deficiencies occur in some plants. This is because the organisms that are breaking down the mulch material are using up all the available resources of it during the initial breakdown. Once you have gotten past this time the old composted material provide more than enough nitrogen for future processes.

Another thing to be careful of is not to bury or mulch up against the stems of wanted plants, as it may cause further problems for your plants in rot problems around the collar of the stems.

So get out there and talk around the community, find the contacts, believe it or not they will be as grateful as you to solve their particular problems of waste reduction. As well as that, you may start making some new friendships out of the deal; I know I have.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/mulch-and-feed-your-gardens-for-free-238675.html
 
About the Author
The Bare Bones Gardener is a qualified Horticulturist and a qualified Disability Services Worker. He hates spending money on stuff which doesn’t live up to the promises given. So he looks for cheaper, easier, simpler or free ways of doing the same thing and then he passes these ideas on to others.
Garden Blog - http://barebonesgardening.blogspot.com/

Queen Anne's Lace

Wild Carrots - Queen Anne's Lace

I've never tried wild carrots; I've read/heard the roots contain a quite hard, tough core. I decided to let these grow, however, at the end of the driveway - enjoying the plants' bonus blooms of Queen Anne's Lace after the 'digging season' has expired.
The flower head is a tuft of numerous mini-blossoms, with a single purple bloom punctuating its center. The blooms sit atop a long, slender stem. The leaves are much like the foliage of domestic carrots.
There is a danger of confusing the wild carrot with the potent poison hemlock. The distinguishing characteristic is that the carrots' stems are fuzzy ("hairy legs"), while its deathly counterpart has smooth stems.

About Natural Healing

Natural health is the result of a variety of different sources coming together, and using the best from various options available, in order to provide good health.  By building the strong points and preventing the weak ones, we can create a lifestyle that is naturally healthy.

Though terms like alternative medicine and natural health are generally associated with the Far East (modern additions to natural health that concern themselves with the body-mind connection are influenced by eastern alternative medical theories), most of the core concepts behind natural health are of European origin.

In times past, the only health care that was available was self-care. While rudimentary science existed, it was by no means useful for health care.  Most health care and guidance came from folk healers, their medical qualification being nothing more than a short apprenticeship under an equally-trained mentor.

“Natural health” is all about maintaining quality health and curing sickness by simple natural therapies, because the human body has complete capacity to heal itself from most forms of sickness, mostly through prevention. All healing is basically self-healing and this is considered to be a basic property of all things alive.

To Sleep. No More.

Anxiety and depression have plagued humanity for thousands of years, bringing about sleepless nights, and subsequent miserable days.

Insomnia herbs have been around just as long. With the advent of modern medicine, however, came an overabundance of drugs and sedatives to help give modern humans our much-desired rest. Unfortunately, these drugs also produce not-so-desirable side effects.

And so we have come full circle and turned back to the insomnia herbs of yore, and have rediscovered that old cures are often still the best treatments.

Valerian root is your best bet to help you rest. It is "the safest and most effective sleep aid with no side effects," according to British scientist turned herbalist Dr. Malcolm Stuart, who says the best time for a drink would be around 8 PM. Thirty minutes before going to bed, use one to two teaspoons of the dried root to make a sleep-inducing tea. Unlike sleeping pills, valerian causes no hangovers. And unlike its counterpart drug, which may trigger an addiction, you will not develop a dependency on this herb.

Similar to valerian root in terms of its sedative effects is catnip. Not only is this herb used as a cure for insomnia, but it is also thought to relieve nervousness, anxiety, and even migraines. Dosage for catnip is again similar to valerian:  one to two teaspoons of the dried herb for one cup of boiled water and set aside to immerse for about ten minutes. Do not boil the herb along with the water as this may destroy some of its active ingredients.

Chamomile is milder and is safe for children to consume, especially when the young ones are restless. The usual dosage is two teaspoons of dried chamomile flower for every cup of tea.

Lavender also makes for a very soothing brew at bedtime (three flower heads to one cup of boiling water, soaked like catnip), and inhaling a few drops of its oil or mixing it with your bath water has the same calming effect. It may also be rubbed onto your body during a massage and its flowers and seeds stuffed into your pillows.

In Chinese medicine, the longan fruit and sour jujube seed are both known to calm the spirit. The former is used to treat insomnia, while the latter complements stronger herbs.


While the insomnia herbs mentioned above may be taken on their own, you may also prepare an herbal cocktail if you wish. Try blending valerian with chamomile, catnip, or some other mild herbs like hops and passionflower. Add a bit of the natural sweetener stevia for flavor if you find the taste a tad too strong for your palate. Don't drink too much to spare yourself sleep-disrupting trips to the bathroom.

While there is nothing essentially wrong with relying on insomnia herbs, homeopathy, and aromatherapy to fall asleep, it is still best to let nature take its course and allow your body to fall asleep on its own, the way it's built to do. In order for your body to perform optimally, a lifestyle overhaul is in order.

To be free from sleep disorders, engaging in exercise, proper stress management, and sticking to a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables are the ideal solutions, aside from consuming your favorite serving of insomnia herbs. In the meantime, have a cup of tea. Cheers!


Resource Box: Help your plight against insomia with these relaxation CD's at Self-Help Street:

Thinking About A Storage Shed

The Place is in need of a new/improved storage shed. I need a new building, not only for storing items I use in the yard and seasonal items: I would like some room for a wood shop, as well.

I have two old sheds here, but they are dilapidated and unsafe. I hope to reuse materials from both existing sheds, for ecology purposes - and sentimental reasons, as the materials are from the original family house, built in the late 1930's.  Part slate shingle, part thick slabs of some kind of wood - hopefully, most of these old pieces can be salvaged.

I found these shed plans at a special discount price. Ryan Henderson, who has been building wooden outdoor sheds for over twenty years, offers this "step-by-step quality sheds plans and woodworking course" at a ten-dollar discount (as of this writing).

The detailed information in Ryan's course is phenomenal! I now have some idea of  the 'extraneous' materials I'll need - and specific instructions for a firm foundation, which is my fundamental (ha!) concern.

'I Forgot My Mittens'...

Well, I didn't accomplish a lot through the winter: it was one of the coldest - and snowiest - seasons on record.  Here in Alabama, we usually get one dusting of snow per winter; but this winter we received three fluffy white blankets.  I imagined the soil, cozy and resting, awaiting its busy spring.

I have heaped compost, and a few bags of organic soil. I have tilled and weeded some of the flower gardens.

Still, much to do....

A Place In The Sun

I'm planning on laying-out my spring/summer garden soon. I've decided on a plot in the southeastern corner of the property, as it gets sun most of the day. I'm thinking of staking a clear plastic tarp to kill the grass and weeds, then compost and a raised bed.

The spot is level, and I can build a compost cage nearby. For now, I will look into using the twigs from clearing the property's edge. It can't be too shabby: the garden will be near the road. White or green picket would be good. Add to list....