So far my experiment on using chopped weeds in the aisles of our garden beds is a success. I have put a quite deep cover of this material.
No weeds are regrowing over the cover as long as it is maintained. When we have flash flood events it holds together and is not being washed away by the rain. The aisles are not flooded as they used to be because the soil was too compacted.
So because I did that on a small area to test this option, I will expand it to the whole garden.
Yeah...I had a big delivery of woodchip recently and have put a thick mulch on some of my beds. It seems though, that within the chip is a some fresh willow. Which is now sprouting all over the garden.
Thank you for your feedback, the issue I have with wood chips is that you really need a lot of them and often you do not know where they come from or if those trees have any chemicals on them.
Unless you have a good local supplier it is not that easy to work with and cover all of our needs.
@compost If you are close to any winery, check with them on the squeezings. Highly acidic and will overpower a garden but pathways and garden borders it is strong stuff. I had a friend with a winery in Las Cruces and he found out the hard way. 🙂
@compost Grass cuttings & weed cuttings are plentiful & very economical mulching materials. Combined with cardboard tamping, they've helped me control areas I'm remediating & it feeds soil once it breaks down. Win-win 👍
As it stays on the ground, it slowly turns brown and is digested by the soil food web. So if you maintain that and keep layering greens and browns you help your soil recover.
And honestly, it is not unpleasant to walk on, your shoes are not going to be nasty with it.
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