Mj Lacey

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since Jul 07, 2013
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Recent posts by Mj Lacey

Timothy Norton wrote:From my experience, I have found that there is a critical mass that has to be achieved to get a good smothering effect from wood chips.

As you might of experienced with time, woodchips settle out and your initial layer goes from lets say 6" down to 2". I've done back of the hand experiments with a cardboard smother layer + 12" of chips, a kraft paper smother layer and 12" of chips, and a bed of just 5" of woodchip.

Both 12" woodchip layers have done remarkable with eliminating grass and weeds. No difference if it was thick corrugated board or just a layer of paper. The 5" bed has areas of grass/weeds poking through. It also didn't start until the chips settled with the rain down to a 2"ish layer.

Let me try to spitball some ideas that might help you seeing as getting more woodchips would prove difficult for you.

I too have wood chip pathways between my raised garden beds that I top off yearly. However it isn't always woodchips. It isn't the right season at the moment, but fall leaves work wonderfully. They might get a little slippery in rain but I tend to rake them in slightly with the chip so I don't have a slick walkway. I also have been known to rake back areas and spot add some kind of smother layer and recover if there seems to be an area that might be growing weeds. I'm not talking going DEEP, just enough to bury the smother lay.

Do you happen to have pictures to better visualize the space and where the weeds are popping up?



Thanks, yes attached here; apologies, I thought I had attached to the original post. 12" sounds superb, albeit that it would be the same height as the raised beds initially! Do you think adding another 6", though, would be enough, or now that some weeds have already made their way through, that they will, effectively, only be under the top 6"?
8 months ago

Christopher Weeks wrote:I have a pretty similar situation. Two things: I've found that weeding those deep roots out of the wood chips is much easier than out of soil, so that's nice even if it's not proof against weeds. And I'm also adding another six inches of chips. The beds will be a bit sunken-feeling instead of raised, but whatever works!



Thanks, yes - raising the whole area, as opposed to just the beds. It's just hugely expensive - it will cost at least £250-400 for enough chips to cover everything with another six inches.
8 months ago
I've built some new raised beds this year; 6 beds, each 10ftx4ft, each 1ft tall. They are on an area that has historically been grass, reeds, docks, creeping buttercup and alike, but it's the only flat, sunny part of our landscape. It's also very compacted, stony (really stony) soil, and gets very wet in the winter. I thought I would look to improve the soil, in order that in future years it has not only less compaction but also more life, so it can cope better when it's wet. The wet is also why I've made the beds a full 1ft tall.

I didn't have enough to cover the whole area, but I covered all the paths in cardboard and 6"+ of woodchips. In less than a month, the buttercup and plantain have already busted through in some spots.

I appreciate some will say I should have added more card (double cardboard in most of the space) and that I simply didn't add enough material (6" seems like it should have been plenty) but I am where I am now and wonder if anyone else has faced a similar challenge? What did you do if so? It's pretty impractical not to mention super expensive to add more woodchips (I'm in the UK, and free woodchips do not exist in my area). Massive labour in digging everything up again, I'm at a loss.

Any help appreciated.
8 months ago

Phil Stevens wrote:Don't underestimate sheep for tidying up rough pasture. Older ewes are best...they'll mow through all sorts of stuff. They don't root like pigs and aren't as troublesome as goats.



Thanks. I'll assume that 650sqm is a bit tight for keeping them though?
1 year ago
The southernmost point on our property is dominated by nettles, creeping buttercup, docks and a few grasses. Since I've been mowing it with a scythe and removing the cut grass, a few wildflowers are trying to come up, but the weeds mentioned above are fiercely pinning them back. 5/6 trees, willows and alder, but in bad shape, around a shady depression in the ground.

The whole area is obviously not big and fronts a river. I want to clear it of these weeds, spread some wetland meadow seeds, and plant more trees.

To reset I started mowing circa 4 years ago, but it is extremely arduous among all the other mowing to do (overall property about 1 acre), and hand pulling (particularly the nettles) is even more strenuous. There are seemingly more weeds each year. Exploring better ways, most advice is either spraying something nasty (even from rewilding / organic gardeners!) or black plastic for months. These are not only short-term but also massively expensive.

Livestock isn't free but would provide a yield, fertilise, and all the good stuff we already know. But given the limitations of location (by a river) and the small size, what would you pick for the best balance of resetting this space? I think it's either a couple of pigs or goats, but I do not know. I am guessing a window of circa six months from here until the other end of the year before the area's wetness would be a problem. Pigs might, I assume, dig out roots, so sound like the strongest contender to me, but I am not fixed in a view, just in trying to reset this space.

Other considerations? I have a terrier dog (training to be done there), who will need to adjust some, and a public woodland is nearby, so I have to consider smell and noise a little: UK, zone 9.



1 year ago

Nancy Reading wrote:Grass paths between garden beds are a perfectly fine idea. They have the advantage of creating a 'living root' and beetle habitat adjacent to your growing area. Check out this excerpt from the Garden Master course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fp0d6vVzQ8. Helen also mows her paths and puts the mowings straight onto her garden beds to feed the soil microbes directly, so there are lots of advantages.
As I understand your post, you are wondering how to keep the paths from getting too muddy and losing the resiliance of turf when trodden on more intensively.
I suppose the thing to do is to think of it as a very small lawn.
# Improve drainage: This might be awkward if you are going to have raised beds, since the paths in between will become streams in wet weather. however small ditches (I'm thinking just a trowel width/depth) between bed and path may help a bit. The traditional thing to do with wet lawns is to poke holes in them and back fill the holes with sand.
# Cut grass longer: Just slightly longer ought to give it a bit of resilliance to foot treading.
# Sow more hardwearing grass: There are different grass seeds available for lawns. Maybe you can find one that is more suited to a wet / high traffic area and oversow into the existing sward.
It will help if you make the paths the same width as your lawnmower will cut as well
You may find still that certain areas which get most traffic will still get too muddy, and you might want to strategically resurface locally as has been suggested above.



Really helpful, thanks Nancy!
1 year ago

Hans Quistorff wrote:

 how to maintain the paths between beds - The soil is stony clay


My suggestion is use stones.   That is a permaculture principle the solution is usually in the problem.
I have very wet winters so pathways close to my house are a problem.   My solution was to remove all rocks from my sandy/grave soil and use them in my pathways. [there is no rocks in my area of clay soil so rock had to be imported to make a road across it 100 years ago]
My suggestion is to double dig the pathways and reserve the soil and put the rocks in he path then double dig the bed putting the rocks in the path and the reserved soil in the bed with added composted material.  Possibly adding uncomposted  branches and wood in the bottom of the double dug trench to elevate the bed above winter water and provide water reservoir for summer drought.
I have a large field of grass  in the clay area which I mow and fill wet swales with in the winter which starts the composting action In the spring I gather that for compost which can be finished by miking with green clippings. dry grass clippings are used for surface mulch.
If you do not have lawn areas as a resource  then try to enlist neighbors who do and chouse not to garden.



Interesting idea; thanks. They are big lumps, not gravel sized, but might be worth considering. For the whole times we've been here, I've had piles of rocks around, with no purpose!
1 year ago
I have a spot on my property that is being set up as our kitchen garden. About 30 meters from a river and low, it is currently grasses, docks, creeping buttercup, and other wet area-loving plants.

Despite this, several considerations mean this is one of the best spots for a kitchen garden; near enough to the house, I can fence it (rabbit pressure is enormous), flat and finally, the area gets some of the highest hours of sun on the property. I've tried 3x kitchen gardens in other locations, and all have failed, either because I've been unable to keep pests out or there isn't enough sun. Accordingly, decision made.

My only remaining question mark is how to maintain the paths between beds - in the winter, it can get muddy or a bit spongy underfoot. Woodchips or other covering would be ideal but are often hard to come by where I am (south UK), meaning maintaining grass paths will be my best bet.

The soil is stony clay, so whilst woodchips aren't viable for me, I still think I would want to introduce organic matter to help it be more resilient. However, I can't work out how to effectively do that in this location and use case. Does anyone have any thoughts on improving drainage and increasing fertility and resilience for grass paths, without dumping loads of chippings on top? Hopefully, this makes sense
1 year ago
Chiming back in here. I am seriously considering using a part of this garden area for our fenced vegetable garden. The highest, most sunny part is mainly grasses and buttercup at the moment. There is sufficient sun, it's flat; it could work. My only concern is water if the river on the boundary comes up.

I've reviewed my notes from the time we've been here - its never flooded. However, the water table has come up, maybe 4-5" or so off the surface.

Given that it's never flooded on my watch - but did 23 years ago - would you consider that use?

1 year ago

G Freden wrote:It sounds like ecological succession going on, with the weeds preparing the soil for a future forest.  The buttercup is keep the soil from eroding, and the nettle is soaking up the extra nutrients, again to keep them from washing away.  Since a meadow isn't ideal for this spot, I give my vote for a little woodland with well spaced trees and perhaps a path or two throughout.  The willow and alder are good trees for this, and can be coppiced if needed for firewood/basketry/animal feed/etc.  I'm sure many other trees would flourish here, including some fruit or nut trees if desired.

Another thought:  it sounds as though some animals might enjoy this space too, particularly ducks and/or geese;  however, as you may be aware, in the UK we are under a housing order for all domestic birds because of avian influenza, so they obviously would not be able to access it until this is lifted (last year's ended in May).

Additional thought:  mentioned above, some people will simply mow paths through their meadows instead of mowing the whole thing, which would certainly save on effort for you, and still make the space useable for humans.  Have the kids build a den in the best hidey spot and mow an unexpected path to it.  Put in a bench with a view to a bird feeder and mow to these.  Mow a path to the best part of the river for stone skipping.  Let the rest grow to its nettle-y, buttercup-y, bramble-y potential.



Sounds like a possibility. I must admit, in prior years, I had considered a couple of weaners on this space. They would do a good job of rooting out nettles etc. I've also read that they will eat balsam, which would be a great deal easier than me pulling it over and over again.
1 year ago