Project Wood Chip - composting and new paths скачать в хорошем качестве

Project Wood Chip - composting and new paths

When I established my plot I laid landscape fabric under the paths and then covered it with bark. This was expensive and I didn't appreciate how quickly the bark would break down and also blow away in the wind. Now 22 months on there are lots of bare patches and a few areas where weeds are breaking through, so it needs attention. I could spend another £100 on bark, which would give it a great finish, but instead, I decided to save money, or rather invest money in my poly-tunnel project, and went for wood chips instead. These come direct from a local tree surgeon and are a mix of chipped branches, shredded leaves, twigs and other green waste. It can be quite rough stuff, but it's free so I can't be too choosy. The mix that arrived today also had a lot of finely chipped wood and greens, well mixed together, so I decided to take a cubic meter of this for composting and the rest went on the paths. My working theory is that in two or three years time the chips on the paths will have rotted down nicely and I can shovel them off the paths and into my compost mix.This will add extra nutrients to the horse manure, green waste, and seaweed mix that I usually use. I can then put fresh wood chip down on the paths and start the cycle again, the paths effectively becoming a very large, slow composting bin. We are new to using wood chips in this way so any hints or tips are especially welcome! If you are new to my allotment videos you might find a bit of context useful. We have three allotments in my family, mine (Steve), my wife's (Debbie) and one of our daughter's (Jennie). We also have a small kitchen garden at home. They are all managed in an integrated fashion, so don't expect to see the usual mix of veg on each plot. On Jennie's plot, for example, we focus on potatoes, squash, alliums, and brassicas. This video provides an overview    • The big picture of our Allotment life and ...  . I do a monthly tour of each allotment, roughly one a week, you can find the tours here    • Tours  . Our approach to allotment life is to: grow as much as we possibly can, to be self-sufficient in veg all year round and in fruit in summer, to give away our huge surplus to friends and family, and to have as much fun as possible. My wife and I spend about 4 hours a day, 4 days a week on the plots (on average) and we keep nudging that down as we eliminate non-productive work: like grass cutting, weeding and watering as much as practical. We are both newbie gardeners, only starting the allotments in 2016. I'm a bit obsessive about the nutrient density of the veg that we grow and making the plots easy to work because it's through this allotment lifestyle and food that I've overcome a debilitating auto-immune disease. I'm always aware though that it might not last so I make sure that I don't work too hard, eat the most organic fruit and veg I can and design the plots so that I can still work them if I flare up again.