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I recycled last years under my new blueberries. I put pine needles over it to hold it down. I saw it at Big Lots for $5 a roll, 3' X 50' . There was a playground near me that used cypress mulch around the play equipment and it was downright dangerous especially when they first layed it down. It a kid fell down in it, they would stand up with sticks poking out of their knees.
Maybe there is a "shredded" kind that is more smooth than what they used though. Check the wind forecast for Gunzenhausen when you search for the best travel destinations for your kiteboarding, windsurfing or sailing vacations in Germany. Or use our wind forecast to find the wind speed today in Gunzenhausen or to have a look at the wind direction tomorrow at Gunzenhausen. If you do have plenty pine straw, it will serve you fine. Just mix in some wood ash or lime to keep the pH to a decent level.
Does Cypress Mulch Keep Bugs Away From a House?
And 2" of this stuff really won't stop weeds? I thought it would. Arg. Drue Tibbits is a writer based in Central Florida, where she attended Florida Southern College. Her articles have appeared in Entrepreneur and Your Home magazines.
The only problem I have with it is that it often has bugs in it. Doesn't bother me...but the fiance doesn't like the bugs flying and crawling all over the enclosure... I ended up with coconut mulch blocks from Canadian Tire but they were over $5 per block-which seems a fair bit I thought.
What Are the Benefits of Cypress Mulch?
It is pretty good about detering weeds though, and is good around shrubs and other deep rooted things that don't care if the top couple inches of soil is devoid of nitrogen. Cypress mulch is made from bald cypress trees and pond cypress trees (Taxodium distichum var. nutans). Like most mulches, cypress mulch prevents weeds, helps the ground hold moisture and protects tender roots from temperature extremes.
Then in spring, I pull it away just enough to plant the tomato plants and other seedlings/seeds. No weeding necessary and your bed gets fed constantly. I suppose pine straw would have been better. Maybe I'll get bales of that from now on and add a little lime so it doesn't push my soil below 6 ph.
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Cypress mulch tends to wash away more easily than many other mulches. This makes cypress mulch a bad choice in areas subject to heavy or frequent rains. Because dry cypress mulch often repels water, it ends up floating on top of water and can be carried away during rains. When cypress mulch is saturated with water, it is heavier and does a better job of staying in place. This tendency to wash away means you would have to replace cypress mulch more frequently than other mulches.
Although some people like the weathered silver-gray color of cypress mulch, others prefer the original, darker color. Both pine bark mulch and pecan shell mulch may retain their dark color longer than cypress mulch. It doesn't eliminate the other problems with wood mulches but it does add to weed suppression and lets you stretch the wood mulch out further. I'm not advocating that you rip up all you have applied or already spent $$ on. Just pointing out that as the bag says, cypress mulch is "decorative" and that there are much better mulches to use in a vegetable garden. I mulch heavily in the fall with hay (not straw - no nutritional value) to smother my garden bed.
Why Cypress Mulch Is Bad
She has also been profiled in the Florida Today newspaper and the Writer's Digest magazine. In addition to writing brochure copy for local businesses, she helps new start-up companies develop a local image presence. Find more spots like this Look at our wind map to find more spots among our 160,000 spots. You'll find lots of discussions on various mulches over on the Soil & Mulch forum here and you might want to review them as well for better ideas. Just search 'mulch' there for many discussions on it.
I would think that the cypress mulch would be very useful as paths, but a pain in the veggie bed itself. I'd recommend that you go with your idea to rake the mulch to the edges before tilling, and then reset it as the walkways in your garden. Putting 10 layers of wet newspaper down and then putting the wood mulch on top of that makes for a very effective weed barrier, even with 2" of mulch. I will be most likely using the cypress blend on my tomatoes (it's $2.50 per bag). Under the mulch around the tomatoes I'll put on a couple inches of Black Kow. With the size of my garden, and the fact that I don't want a super-thick layer of mulch, I think I will only need about 3 bags of mulch and 3-4 bags of Black Kow composted manure.
Our soil has a lot of clay and without mulch, water sits on top of the soil for a while and spatters mud onto the plants. One of the purposes of mulch is to help the ground retain moisture. This relieves you from having to water your garden or landscape as often, and it protects plants from the effects of drought.
Much to my surprise as I dug down, no water went though the mulch to the tree roots. I will never buy cypress if I want my plants to get water. Ive been using newspaper/cardboard in the paths.
Unfortunately, cypress is a bad choice of mulching material due to the environmental impact of harvesting cypress trees and the detrimental effect the mulch can have on your yard. ;) All the politically incorrect arguments against it aside, cypress isn't an ideal mulch for a vegetable garden. It is primarily a decorative mulch best used in flower beds and landscaped areas.
But cypress mulch is not a good conveyor of water or moisture because its very fibrous. The mulch has such a high capacity for holding water that it may prevent available water from seeping below the mulch. When cypress mulch becomes dry, it tends to repel water rather than absorb it. This prevents water from reaching the ground below the mulch and the roots of plants. I am using cypress mulch in my garden only for a path way.
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