i saw Cottage Rose's thread and i've been meaning to ask this. i bought several bags of cedar shavings for my dog bed but we aren't going to use them. can i put them in the garden as mulch? other than blowing away, would there be a downside?
ok, now are cedar shavings ok to use too?
Cedar shavings are wood and they need Nitrogen to break down in the soil. If you don't add nitrogen (cow, chicken, or horse) manure you will stunt or kill you nitrogen craving plants. You can Compost the shavings with manure or a continually added source of inorganic Nitrogen. Urea, lawn fertilizer etc.
does this mean that the wood chip mulch i already have on the garden is a bad thing?
bark does not remove nitrogen but wood chips do. I have used them but I always add some nitrogen. Manure or inorganic is ok. IE urea, Amonium Nitrate, but you need to add this 3 to 4 times a year. Wood chips are one of my favorite to rototill into soil cause they add a good drainage to the clay I have here in Montana.
This picture is what I added to the soil yesterday. 6 month old compost + Pine needles + bark.
thank you so much for this info. this is my first time using the wood chips (some of it is more like chunks) and i never thought about the nitrogen. now this is a completely new garden bed and i first brought in a load of bottom fill (it's a sand/clay mix, mostly sand here) and then a load of good compost and i also turned alfalfa pellets into it and let the whole thing sit before i started planting. i put a layer of the wood mulch on to conserve moisture but also to keep everything from washing away when we get our summer rains. i also used a high quality bagged mix when i made planting holes and mixed that half and half with what i took out of the hole. sound ok? thanks again. debi
Debi you are right on. All you have done is good. Hopefully that is primarily sandy loam not clay. concrete will develope. I'm not into improving just the hole. I'm more into making all the soil better before you plant. But it all sounds good.
thanks again. yes, it's mostly sand and i used it as the base. this area was like a depression and basically i made a huge raised bed. the compost was beautiful and black and i turned it into the sand a good foot or so. the small amount of clay in the sand is actually a good thing here as it keeps the sand together a tiny amount. i think i will save the cedar shavings until i get my next load of compost and work it in then along with more alfalfa before layering it as a top mulch for the winter.
Cedar shavings used as mulch will only use nitrogen where they contact the soil, and very little at that. Unless you have brand new seedlings in the bed, your plants are getting their nitrogen from much further down in the soil. As long as you don't mix the shavings into the soil, your plants won't suffer, and the decomposing shavings will eventually return the nitrogen they use to the soil.
Blowing away is another thing entirely. I live on the water, and have a constant wind. I mulched a bed with pine and cedar shavings, and am constantly raking them back into the bed. They're just too light for mulch in a windy area. From now on, I'm further shredding them, and using them in compost.
hi donn, i, too, live on the water and while it's only a lake, there is a constant breeze and/or wind. that's why i thought of mixing them with the compost later on. it would give them a chance to break down. otherwise, i'm afraid it will look like i've littered my entire place! LOL
another thought, i wondered if the cedar would help keep pests away or maybe, at least, the dreaded voles.