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?

Cardboard Mulching

Cardboard mulching, lasagne gardening, call it what you will but I'm doing anything to keep the weeds down.

Our milder winters over the last few years mean that some of the weeds can grow steadily on and then with the first taste of spring they grow like mad and I'm back to digging over beds to remove suborn weeds instead of getting on with planting and other nice jobs!

Beginning to cover the dormant veg beds with cardboard.

This year I've been trying everything I can. From using my chickens (which worked really well and I'll do that next year) to using old carpet as a mulch (falls apart and is now a pain to get rid of - I know you told me so!). 

This autumn I've been covering beds with cardboard. I've been doing it just before it's going to rain, as once it's wet it seems to stay in place regardless of the wind. I've had a good supply of good sized pieces from different people and I've been doing it for a few months now and it seems to be working. The weeds are dying off and it should rot down fairly quickly ready for planting in the the spring, It saves buying any black plastic, which would be my other option, and is a good way of recycling. 

Anyone else using cardboard as a mulch over winter?

Mulching With Wood Chip

I've managed to stay somewhere near on top of my veg garden this year with weeds, but the soft fruit garden is another matter. It's full of nettles and docks. And I mean full 

There is a fruit garden here somewhere! Honest!

 So this week I've made it my job to tackle it before it all goes to seed. After a few people recommending a video I watched one over an hour long on the "back of Eden" system of gardening, I thought I'd try a lesser version of it and mulch the soft fruit garden with wood chip from my tree surgeon of a brother.

Laying newspaper down first once I've pulled the big weeds

 I laid a layer of newspaper or cardboard down first to try to suppress the weeds and then a good 4 inches or so of wood chip. I always thought that wood chip was meant to remove the nitrogen from the soil but apparently that's more when you dig it in, also you're meant to counteract it by adding manure to the surface when it's needed. Anyway I doubt it could use up more goodness that all the weeds!

Mulching the blueberries

Blueberries mulched and netted

I can now see what is fruit bushes instead of trying to find them in the weeds.

I'm about a third of the way there with the fruit garden now. There is another couple of loads of wood chip at the farm that I'm going to bring up and lay down on the rest of it. I could also do with finding a source of cardboard as I'm thinking the same system would be good with my willow coppice to keep the grass down.

Anyone else been mulching with wood chip?