Jen Fulkerson

Anne It's a bummer you can't get wood chips.
I have a little chipper that works well. It's small (what I could afford) so I can only shred small branches. It's a lot of work for not much wood chips. It might be better than nothing, but I'm not so sure about that.
I have a 15 page paper shredder. I use shredded cardboard for lots of things, It makes a great mulch for my plants. It would be a crummy alternative for paths because it breaks down quite fast.
Anne I wonder if you have a wood worker in your area? I have a planer, and it makes a lot of wood shavings that are larger than sawdust, those would still break down faster than wood chips, but might be an alternative, and the wood worker would probably be happy to get rid of what is a waste product.
Just trying to think out of the box. Good luck.

So sorry for your troubles Emilie. Nothing worse than putting all the hard work in and having loads of trouble. Unfortunately there is nothing that works for everyone in every situation. I find it hard to believe wood chips would be the cause of all of your troubles. Maybe try removing the wood chips from half your paths and see if it makes a difference.
Maybe talk to other gardeners in your area, and see what they do, ask about disease and such. I don't want to say bad things about Master Gardeners, I have considered taking the course myself, but I decided not to because a lot of the practices rely heavily on chemicals. A lot of the teachings at least in my area don't align with Permaculture. Also I'm just a regular person who loves to garden, and spends way to much time reading and on the Internet. I know a lady, very smart who recently became a master gardener, and she is always asking me questions about what she should do. I'm happy to share what I do, or give my opinion, but I have to admit I find it a little odd. I'm just saying I wouldn't discount what the master gardener says, but I also wouldn't think if they say it it's absolutely true either.
In my hot dry climate wood chips are a blessing. I have them everywhere. In the paths of my veggie garden, rose garden, in my foot forest want-a-be, used to help suppress weeds. I have even used them in the bottom section of a hugel beet.
Good luck

I always get my wood chips from the same tree service, there headquarters isn't very far from my house. One year I came home from work to a giant pile of wood chips. My family was fit to be tied. I thought it was wonderful, and was amused by there horror.  I sent a family text telling everyone I had an abundance of wood chips, and was willing to share. Ever since then they come get wood chips from my house. That was years ago, and my family has come around. They have seen the benefits and results of using wood chips.
Congratulations on your wood chip win. Maybe talk to the tree guys and let them know you may be interested in more chips if they are in your area.  The company I get my wood chips from will even ask if I have any requests or needs, and I ask for no poison trees, like oleander. Other than that I'm just happy to get what ever they want to give me.

I ended up removing the watermelon from the native soil bed. I dumped it out. the top 2" or 3" of soil was rock hard, the rest wasn't to compact. the roots didn't go very deep, and when I tried to remove some of the soil it popped right out. This may kill, or stunt it, but it wasn't growing anyway. If it recovers yeah, if it doesn't, well lesson learned. I repotted it, dusted the roots mycroiza and watered it well. I will remove some of the pumpkin vines around it to give it more sun, then wait and see.
Both the other watermelons are doing well. The earlier planted one has 3 little watermelon, and the later one has one watermelon.
Maybe this is the year, I hope so.

wow that's so cool. I don't even plant mine until May. I thought okra required pretty warm temps. Maybe I need to start a little sooner. Enjoy your okra.

I'm super happy I discovered Yard long beans. They thrive in our hot dry summer, and produce tons of beans. technically they aren't really beans but they taste like them. They also easily reseed themselves.  My only problem with them is aphids love them as much as we do. I don't use any pesticides organic or other. The predator bugs do a pretty good job of keeping the bad bugs in control, except for the beans. I spend a lot of time smashing and spraying them with the water hose. It's worth the effort. They are good, provide a lot of food, and are beautiful growing over the trellis.

A few years ago I had some crummy weedy wood chips. I put the giant pile in the chicken yard and made the chickens very happy. Then they made me very happy by spreading the word chips all over. Over the last few years any time I needed soil I would take it from the chicken yard. It was lovely stuff.
It's now completely decomposed. The other day I wanted some soil to add to the bottom of a pot. I went with my bucket, and came out empty handed. The soil was like concrete.
I don't have any compromised wood chips. I do have some good wood chips, but I need them for other spaces. I'm going to ask for more, but in the meantime I was thinking about buying a Bale of alfalfa. Straw would be cheaper, but I was thinking if I wet down the alfalfa I would probably get sprouts, and it would not only be entertainment, and ground cover, but also a little snack now and then.
I was wondering if anyone has tried this? I can buy pine wood chips relatively cheap from my work, and straw is pretty inexpensive for me. I just thought with the higher nitrogen, and possibility of sprouting that it might be the better option.  What do you think?

Ginger I have had so much trouble trying to grow ginger. I managed to get it growing well for the first time this year. Unfortunately The best one I put in the "perfect" spot or so I thought. It was looking so good, and I thought yes finally. Then it started to look crummy, and a short time later it's dead. I felt the first half that died, and rhizome felt soft, so I backed off watering it, but the second half died shortly after.  I have one more in another bed. It's alive, but pretty sad looking. It's kind of late, but I may try to sprout a new ginger, and put it in a pot with a light airy soil and see if that makes a difference. It's definitely a dent in my ego, to fail at a plant everyone one the Internet thinks is soooo easy. My mom always said ( I  know this is not her original saying, but its one of those things Mom's say) if at first you don't succeed try, try again. Some day I'll figure it out.

I have more volunteer tomatoes this year than I have ever had. It's wonderfully strange. I think of all the times I tried to direct sow tomatoes , with very limited success. This year there are tomatoes popping up all over. I don't know what kind they are, and I suspect it has a lot to do with the fact I planted my seeds outside this year, even the ones I started in the house were planted outside.  Two are under my planting table. The funny thing is this is the worst year for seed starting for me since the beginning. I transplanted a few, and left others where they grew. The strangest one is a tomato growing next to one of my tall raised beds. I was going to transplant it, then discovered it's rooted under the bed. I don't know if it gets enough sun where it's at, but I'm going to find out.
I don't normally save tomato seeds, but I would like to start, maybe this is the year.

Ok I see, yes the seedlings look the same.
I started roselle in January in the house and it did well, unfortunately I think it overheated when I moved it into the greenhouse.