Who knew mulching could be so therapeutic?! As the days get longer, mornings earlier, I am having to change my days around. Pre-dawn is about My Shop work when at home. Then dawn and the ducks and cats want feeding (now!).
The garden beckons to myself and the ducks, with its shade and sunlight, wonderful transitions of cool yet warming air. They earnestly hunt for worms and bugs whilst I prune, mulch or wattle around them.
Cuttings for Mulch
I am in the process of giving my bay hedge that stands around 3/4s of the duck pond a very short haircut. It is well overgrown, by about double it’s size, so very in need. Last year I worked to tame it, this year I wish to make it healthier. There is an enormous amount to be cut off. A good severe pruning is necessary to a hedge every 3 or so years to stimulate re-growth.
I now have an enormous pile of branches to deal with. The larger will be used for wattling. The smaller and left over bits I will mulch. Why? One reason is because here in France I am not allowed to burn my garden waste. It must be taken to the village dump, where it will be dealt with ‘safely’.
Restoring my Garden
My restoration garden with its ivy covered walls, eventual patio clearing area and well, everything, has and continues to produce an enormous amount of detritus, both man made and natural. I could be spending all my time going to the dump to get rid of it. Instead, I decided to find a better alternative. If its man made, small broken pieces of pottery, tiles, etc are re-used as ‘gravel’ the entrance to my garden. Old large nails are re-used in my stone garden wall as hooks for teacups that house bird food. Other metal items that can’t be re-purposed go into the sack that will eventually go to the dump.
As for the natural stuff, depending on the size, what doesn’t go in the compost, I am using to build my trellis tunnels, wattle or mulch. One side of my walled garden is lower than the others, so it has a fence I am weaving branches through to enclose it a bit more. Currently I am working on my garden bed borders by making a wattling fence. Wattling is when you take long slender branches and weave them between stakes. You get a sort of basket affect. In fact it looks really nice, and natural.
Mulching
Alongside weaving branches comes mulching. The smaller pieces, too short to wattle with, get mulched. I practise permaculture now in my garden. As part of this I add cuttings direct to areas to create mulch in situ. A bonus about mulching is it helps to depress weeds.
Mulching, for me, entails sitting quietly in a chosen section of the garden, secateurs to hand, and cutting little branches (no more than a pinky finger in width), into tiny pieces. I slowly, ever so slowly, cover an area with tiny pieces.
I try to do an hour each day, if not more, when I am home this time of year, as it is actually such a peacefully enjoyable task. The mulch is put on paths, around strawberries or raspberries, or wherever there is a need to depress weeds and/or enrich soil. I think it looks pretty too.
More on …
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