Yesterday, I reported on the pine mulch round the rhubarb. Today, the post is about a less successful kind of mulch: homemade compost.
When I moved the compost bin from the patch where I planted this year’s garlic, I left the residual contents on top of the soil. Now, I have tried to stop seeds getting into the bin but clearly there must have been quite a few, in view of what is starting to grow with the garlic.
Of course, I could blame the birds for depositing seed. Unfair and untrue, at least to this extent, as there are hundreds of seedlings of something. I can’t quite work out what it is but when it gets bigger, I’ll be taking it out.
On the Soil to Sky MOOC I did last spring, I learned that weeds are a good mulch. However, since garlic is purported not to like competition, their proliferation is not something I wish to countenance.
So, will I continue to use compost as mulch? Ultimately, it is inevitable, unless I stop moving the bin. That is a necessary evil, however, if I want to get the finished product out. And what else would I do with it?
Must try harder to avoid seeds going into the mix in the first place!
Maybe the birds had the runs
😃
At that stage and with this good weather, a quick hoe strike on a sunny day will kill them off nicely.
Yes, I think that’s the answer 😊
I agree with Jeff. Our compost is always full of seeds so I try not to use it as mulch but bury it or dig it in. No matter how hard we try we can’t keep all the seeds out and the heat in the compost bins doesn’t get high enough to kill them.
Glad I’m not alone with the seed issue!
🙂
Lucky garlic getting spoilt with compost. I have no idea how weeds get into compost but they do. Have you tried straw or hay as mulch? Garlic loathe sharing their space with weeds 🙂
I think the straw would blow away, unfortunately.
Shame, what about some hay? Or compost on your straw 🙂
The thing about compost is that it has the seeds in it, so it wouldn’t be solving the problem!
No good point! Hmmm
Thanks for trying 😊