Straw To Create A New Growing Space

The other day the farmer who's been having the hay dropped off his load of muck as payment and also a large straw bale.

This I wanted for the chicken bedding and a few wet patches where I walk daily. I find that even though I produce loads of shavings they work best when I put down a bed of straw first, otherwise it'll just sink away. 

Sheep's Wool As A Garden Mulch

It's fairly common knowledge that sheep's wool is a pretty low value commodity in this country, the cost of the wool only just covers shearing and that's not including your won time or taking it to the wool yard. 

It's a shame when you think that much of the wealth of this country was built on wool hundreds of years ago.

So I've been trying to think what to do with what I've got left from last year and one idea kept popping into my head - a garden mulch.

Covering a 4ft by 10ft bed

Reading about it there seems to have been a few people that have tried it and they all say good things. 

Here are a few of it's characteristics that will make it work well as a mulch - 

 It's good at suppressing weeds, 

Has good water retention, 

It's 100% natural, 

It'll bio-degrade over time, 

It'll hold the heat of the day and warm the soil, 

The lanolin in the wool acts as a natural slug deterrent  

It'll be great for the local bird population who'll have the best nests for miles around

As it rots it'll also put nitrogen back into the ground. 

Mulching between some newly planted Rosemary

I think this is worth a try so I've got a few fleeces out and set them in place and I've also added a few to sell on Etsy to see if other people are willing to give it a try.

What do you think? A good idea or not? anyone have any experience with using wool in this way?