ᐅ Garden Photos Chat Corner

It depends. Plants have different needs.

I use bark mulch, wood chips, stones, straw, and grass clippings as mulch.
Straw for strawberries.
Vegetables get grass and wood.
Apple tree gets a thin layer of grass (too much is harmful).
Prairie garden and heavy clay soil get stones.
By the terrace, I use wood because I find it more attractive.
The rose bed has bark mulch except for the roses.
Magnolia, rhododendron, and table grapes get bark mulch.
When in doubt, I consult Google for expensive plants or I try it out myself.

And snails love every type of mulch except fine pea gravel. Even in the raised bed surrounded by bark mulch, the little critters are present. The visiting ducks do not eat the slug species.

Blueberries prefer bark mulch.

No more snails in the new house! What a relief.
The new "predators" are deer. However, they cannot enter the vegetable area thanks to the fence. They love the berry bushes and especially the young privet plants.

Well, some of the strawberries have been nibbled on by a bird, and the seeds are occasionally eaten as well. I can live with that. But those nasty brown things, uh

Our landscaper strongly advised against using the typical bark mulch you can buy in bags at stores. It’s far too acidic!

We will probably mulch our flower beds as well, but we’ll get the mulch directly from the landscaper. The last time I checked it out, I have to admit (I’m usually a bit skeptical about self-praise) it smells completely different—much more pleasant. Let’s see!

Besides that, yesterday I baked and cooked in the oven for the first time (ideal for slow-cooked dishes!). It wasn’t real sourdough bread yet because my starter won’t be ready until Thursday, but I made a “fake” sourdough loaf (using a kind of sourdough substitute from a packet), a baguette, baked tomatoes, braised onions, and a bean stew (which took overnight to cook, as the beans were quite large and somewhat old).

In bread heaven:

This morning, the right tool arrived by mail:

A fire poker will be coming soon as well!

Overall, everything tasted great, and the bread is truly phenomenal. It’s no comparison to a conventional oven, even if you use a pizza stone there.

I am jealous.

You can sometimes inquire about large quantities of bark mulch or wood chips from a timber supplier. For us, it pays off. Good quality, and if they are delivering anyway, the delivery cost is low.