A mighty mulching

Such a small part of the garden; but I have the biggest smile now that it is done.

This is the hornbeam hedge I have been planting up this year. And surrounding each small tree is a mountain of mulch.

That was what I got up to today. And it is ever so satisfying.

I have been reducing the enormous pile of branches up outside the guesthouse  into the best ever ground cover / weed control / soil conditioner going.

And all from a recycled product from the farm.  A tidy farm and a weed free hedge. That’s the plan.

It won’t suppress all the weeds, but it goes a long way towards keeping down the maintenance on this hedge for six months at least.  And as anyone who has to battle with a large garden knows, that’s a huge relief.

And it conditions the soil by adding rotting matter to what was quite a bare bit of earth.

I had been ignoring this chipping job for ages. And as we have had not one but two floods of rain since I started stockpiling the branches things are a bit slimy and damp in the pile.

But the up side was that the branches went through the chipper blades so easily. My blades need replacing and are on the blunt side, so I was worried that this was going to be one of those tedious afternoons where you have to stop the chipper every five minutes, unplug it from the wall, unscrew the greeen cover, and release random bits of hard wood from the blades.

But it has just been a joy to work.  A bit messy of course from handling the slimy branches, but that’s what mucky farm clothes are all about. Just peel them off and shove them out of sight until they dry and you can get them muckier another day.  Strimming next methinks. Also a mucky job in this damp season.