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Old 03-22-18, 07:28 AM   #29
natethebrown
Apprentice EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: North Alabama
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jeff5may View Post
Ok guys, be careful with the free tree chips and mulch that you get from the community center pile. They're typically infested with the kind of thing that runs amok in the locality. Bugs, weeds, and bad bacteria are prime examples. Also, the stuff is ultra super fresh and green, so besides growing what you don't want, they leech from the site they're spread upon. I always compost the stuff first; sometimes I let it sit a year if the compost pile starts its own garden of woe.
Thanks for your concern, I will keep an eye out for any plant issues this year. Like I mentioned in problem 3, I believe you are correct about the "greeness" of the wood chips. I don't know that I had a problem with bacteria or bugs. Speaking of bugs, I saw a YouTube video recently that an Organic Mulch Producer said chunky mulch is a good thing because it also gives the predator bugs like spiders places to hide as well.

Anyways, the leaf mulch is still rocking. Very little in the way of weeds and grass so far. I picked a few blades of grass around the edges of the garden, but that is to be expected. I got my soil test results back.



Obviously, I was a bit concerned about the Phosphorous and Potassium, so I called the Auburn test lab and spoke with one of the Professors there. He said it is fine and don't do anything with the soil. He said, "you should be good to grow in the garden for a couple of years without adding any fertilizers." I'll call that a win in my book!

Here is an update on the blackberries. The thorny blackberries (I haven't determined their variety yet) are about half way done trellising. This is definitely the heaviest pruning I have ever done on them, so it will be interesting to see what my overall yield will be.

Before heavy pruning and trellising.


Halfway through pruning and trellising.
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