Hi folks ... I'm new here and can't make sense of posting in the forums. So please give me the good old boot and redirect if I'm in the wrong place.
We had some tree work done our property almost a year ago and have a massive pile of oak wood chips nearly six feet tall. About a third of it is from a grey pine. We're in Redding, California where the climate gets unbelievably hot and dry. I'm new to gardening and am looking for a low cost way to acquire safe (untreated) soil and to minimize or annihilate the need for any tilling. And minimal water usage is important.
So I've mostly focused on above-ground garden beds and the wood chips. It seems, though, that wood chips can present some problems. I've read some of the discussions here and am now feeling quite uncertain. Someone has to buy our wood chips and take them off our hands. Would the tannin in oak chips be a concern? What about using year old chips?
Should I go ahead and let this guy have our wood chips? I'd really welcome some input on this. There's this thing called information overload, whereby my brain gets stuck and I become very unsure of myself and indecisive.
Thank you!!
