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Garden Mulch Ideas

This week, we will look at some garden mulch ideas. We get a lot of questions about what is or can be used as a good mulch in the garden. What is your favorite mulch to use?

If you want to avoid the spring rush and order your seeds now, here is the link to David's Garden Seeds®.

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Garden Mulch Ideas 1/8-1/14/2024

Monday, January 8, 2024

Good Monday morning! It is windy and 62° at 6am. It is a bit chilly but not down in the thirties as it was for most of last week. We know one employee will not be in today. I hope the other one will be here because we need some help.

Yes, the other one is here. Nacho and his helper are here as well. They are painting the kitchen area, turning it into an educational classroom.

The pecan coffee has brewed in the Farm Store. I am busy sending out a ton of orders. So far, I have two mailbags full.

The wind picked up and blew all afternoon. Nacho and his son painted the new educational classroom and did some other things. I continued with orders. A friend stopped by to chat with us at the end of the day which was fun. Then I went in to make some pork ribs. Nacho stayed working out in Production until 9pm.

Happy birthday to Elvis Presley and to our current pastor, Jerry.

Verse Of The Day

For with God nothing will be impossible. Luke 1:37

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Garden Mulch Ideas

So what is mulch? Mulch is something you lay on top of the garden area to help the soil retain moisture. Here are some of David's garden mulch ideas. David used to like to use cedar pieces that he would buy in bags in San Antonio from Walmart back when we first built our home there. Every year he would buy new bags of those cedar chips to cover all of the new garden beds. Yes, as the children grew and played in the yard less, he would take over more of the yard with his raised garden beds.

One year, he bought a wood chipper and made his own wood mulch from various tree branches he cut down that were coming into our yard from the vacant woods behind our house.

Mulch helps to cut down on weeds, keeps the soil moist for a longer period of time for your plants, and it protects the roots of your plants by helping to keep the sun off of them. If it is laid down right, it also looks very attractive. You can buy bags of it at any garden center or discount store with a garden center. They even have some of it colored to fancy hues like a red or dark brown. We have used them all when we lived in the city.

Out here in the country, we have used hay and wood from large branches that people have cut down.

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Tuesday, January 9, 2024

Good morning! It got down to 42° and the wind was blowing. It felt very cold. David and I left the farm at 8:30am for a doctor visit in San Antonio.

After that, we headed to Fanick's Nursery and bought four pecan trees and two more pine trees as well as some seed potatoes. I also bought three kinds of potatoes at the store that will be seed potatoes. We need to lay them all out tomorrow so they can start growing the chits. Here is a link to my how to grow potatoes page that I wrote last year.

Our teen helpers are still sick so they won't be in again this week. Hopefully, next week.

We came home and have been dealing with orders, customers, and business life ever since. It is now 4pm and it is still chilly and windy out. The spring seed orders are starting to come in.

It is now 8:30pm and I have some laundry going so I can get packed up for the tomato conference this weekend. We have been packing seeds and supplies all week long.

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Garden Mulch Ideas

Now that we know what mulch is, let's look at some more garden mulch ideas. If you have a pine tree forest around, you might want to consider using pine needles for mulch. You can actually buy bags of organic pine needles if you don't. We have four pine trees that are only four years old, but they drop a lot of pine needles. Rake them up and use them as mulch around your plants.

You can rake up falling leaves in fall or winter and use them as mulch around your vegetable and flower beds. I know, if you are back East, you don't have a garden in the late fall and winter but here in Texas, we pretty much garden year round. Also, here in Texas, it is January and our leaves are still coming down off of our trees. They don't fall off in fall because it is too warm. Shred the leaves and you are set.

Another good organic garden mulch idea is to use grass clippings in your garden. Shred them up and add them to your beds.

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Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Good morning! It is 6am and 31° Fahrenheit. I would imagine that whatever is left in the garden is dead by now. If not, on Monday, it is supposed to get down to 19° here so that should finish it all off. Yes, we are having some cold again. I hope all of our new trees are okay. They were not put in the ground yet but they were not put away in the greenhouse either.

Today would be my father's 93rd birthday if he were alive. He has been gone for over 33 years now.

I have 26 dozen eggs that are for sale at $4 a dozen in the Farm Store refrigerator. It should get up to 70° here so come on out for a nice drive to the farm and pick up several dozen farm fresh eggs in blues, greens, browns, and white.

David left a little after 11am for some sort of a business meeting that he was invited to down in the actual city of Poteet. He just texted me at 12:30pm asking if we still have power. We do. My guess is that they do not.

It has warmed up to 63° now that it is lunchtime. Matt is now taking all of the gourds we picked up to the classroom to lay them out to dry. They were picked because Monday morning will be 19° and that should turn them all to mush is they are left on the vine.

I printed and filled the orders. Then I laid all of our seed potatoes out to chit up in the classroom.The chits need to grow some before you plant them. Matt laid a lot of the luffa gourds out to dry but we need more tables so we can lay out the rest.

I took eight large sweet potatoes, halved them, and stuck them in water to start sweet potato vines. They are taking up my entire kitchen windowsill where they are getting good sun. If you would like to do the same with sweet potatoes, here is how.

I am getting laundry done in the house so I can pack up tonight for this weekend's tomato conference. At least I don't have to pack much, just enough for one night in a hotel plus seeds and supplies for the day. Then our plan is to drive back Saturday evening so we can be at the church on Sunday morning for their annual business meeting.

I finally got everything all packed for our tomato conference trip. I fit our clothes and things all into one carry on for the both of us. No, we are not flying. The drive is about four hours.

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Garden Mulch Ideas

So far, we have talked about organic garden mulch ideas but if you go to a garden center, you will also see rubber mulch in various colors. Rubber mulch is recycled, mostly from old tires. It looks attractive and you don't have to worry about replacing it because it does not disintegrate. It will last a long time and keeps the soil from drying out. It also suppresses weeds.

However, it does not give the soil any nutrients and it costs a lot, especially if you have a lot of garden beds.

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Thursday, January 11, 2024

Good chilly morning. It is 6am and 36° Fahrenheit. It was supposed to get down to 41°. I have been noticing that it always gets colder than what the forecast says. It will be a bit of a deep freeze next weeks so we will have to put the plastic down for the animals that we keep rolled up on their houses for this type of weather. It keeps the cold wind out so the animals can stay warm. Heaters are not recommended for them as they are a fire hazard. Also, as long as the animals are dry and are kept of wind, they will be fine.

I have printed out the orders that came in overnight.

Now that it is light, I can see fog coming in. I went out to our Farm Store to get some older eggs and take new eggs. It was foggy. When I came out of the Farm Store, the fog had really moved in and visibility was very low.

Matt took the puppies to be groomed in the fog over to Pleasanton. He is okay though as I just got a text from him.

The well guy came out this morning because the well pump is not working again.

I picked a bunch of lemons from the greenhouse and some of them are no longer juicy. They have seeds that have sprouted inside the lemons. I collected some of the seeds to plant. I read online that lemon plants make your home smell fresh and clean so I will try it.

This afternoon, I transplanted 13 plants that needed to be transplanted. I started doing it out on my back deck but there were bees buzzing around. So I moved everything inside, got it done, made a mess, cleaned up said mess, and put a new tablecloth on my kitchen table where the big mess was.

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Garden Mulch Ideas

Another one of the garden mulch ideas that is popular is using tree bark that has been shredded. It is organic and tree bark breaks down slowly, providing nutrients to your garden. It also protects plant roots from the sun.

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Friday, January 12, 2024

Evening greetings from Brenham, Texas! We are here for tomorrow's Tomato Conference in Independence, Texas at the Antique Rose Emporium!

I got up early this morning and had every intention of starting my blog post. As soon as I walked into my office, I saw one of my new Christmas cactus plants strewn across the floor with a whole pot of dirt across the carpet. I had just transplanted it into a new pot yesterday. It turns out Sue Ellen decided she didn't like it so she pulled it off the shelf and dumped it in the night. I looked all over and could not find the pot.

I walked through the house and finally found the pot way back in the den. I scooped up as much dirt as possible and put the plant back in the pot. I had to get more dirt from outside to add to the pot. It is now sitting on my kitchen counter, safe from the harsh glare of Sue Ellen. Then I had to vacuum up the dirt. Unfortunately, some of it stained the carpet that was just cleaned by Michelle last Thursday.

After that, I made breakfast and got ready for the day. I started a load of laundry, fed the animals, loaded up the dishes and turned on the dishwasher, then went out and opened the Farm Store.

I pulled and filled orders and got them shipped out until 11:30am when David said it was time to hit the road.

Don't worry about our animals. Our son will be taking care of them and the place. He will have the Farm Store open tomorrow as well so come on by and purchase some beautiful farm fresh eggs.

David and I took off for a four hour drive up to a place we had never before visited--Brenham. Brenham is the home of Texas Gardener Magazine and every month, our ad for David's Garden Seeds® appears in this magazine and has since 2016.

On the way, we saw a Dollar Tree. I do not remember what small town it was in. We stopped and I went in to see if I could buy some fairy village things to decorate our Farm Store. I found a bunch of nice pieces, some of which were still in a big box. I casually opened and unpacked the box and got what I wanted. After I paid, I could not get my zipper to close. As I zipped it closed, the zipper opened and would not stay closed. I need to buy a new purse...this one's handles were coming off anyway. Then we went over to McDonalds in the same town to use the facilities and get a snack.

We checked into our hotel around 4:15pm. Then we drove out to where the conference will be held tomorrow. It is a lovely nursery with decorated gardens and several buildings. We found out that the red chapel is where the conference will be. We saw some vehicles out in the back of it so we walked back that way and guess who was out there...the Texas Gardener Magazine man himself, Jay White! He recognized us right away from Instagram even though we had not met before.

Jay showed us where we will set our table up in the morning. We left and went to Walmart for some seat cushions. The seats are wooden chairs and we know how that feels from experience. Then we went to a place right by the hotel called Pizza and ate a delicious pizza for dinner. We came back to this beautiful hotel room and I emptied out my old purse into a nice, new one from Walmart. I really like it.

The hotel room is very nice. We are staying at a Hampton Inn in Brenham and I love the layout. When you first walk in, you see the kitchen area, not the bathroom like in most hotels. In fact, then you see the living area. Turn and there is a nice desk with drawers on two sides and then the bed. Turn again and the bathroom is tucked off in the back like it should be.

The couch was hard as a rock but it looked nice. The bed was soft and cozy, very comfortable with good pillows, not too soft and not too hard. I never sleep well the first night I am somewhere different so I know I will have a hard time.

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Garden Mulch Ideas

Newspaper is a very good garden mulch idea. You should put about five newspaper sheets together at a time and put on top of the soil. Newspaper decomposes easily and quickly. Because it comes from trees, it is good for the soil.

Garden mulch ideas can also include landscape fabric. Water and air pass through this black cloth that we have used many times out here on the farm, especially in our orchard where we grow rows of vegetables between the rows of trees.

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Saturday, January 13, 2024

Well, good morning. As usual, I did not sleep well at all because it was the first night. Fortunately, I will be back home tonight.

We got up and got dressed. Went down to the lobby for breakfast at 6:10am. Every table in the place was taken up by kids in ROTC so we had to get plates and carry them back up to the room. The whole place is swarming with kids playing Army, including on our floor, jumping up and down and all around last night, well after 10pm. We saw them in the parking lot when we were checking in. They are all in town for a competition. They are kids. They should have had to eat in their rooms and leave the dining area for paying adults.

We went back to the room and ate our nasty powdered eggs. Then we finished getting ready for the conference and left the hotel just after 7:15am.

We got over to the venue and carried our boxes in. I set the table up and then we sat down in the audience. At every break, I had to man the table. We made a lot of sales. It was a great day for us. The only complaint I have is the cellular internet was so slow.

They served us a delicious tomato based soup, a wonderful BLT sandwich, and a chocolate caramel cookie for lunch. Then back to selling. We finished the day of selling, then loaded up the truck. We headed over to the nursery there and bought some mint plants. After that, we left for home at 3:55pm. We arrived home right at 7pm and partially unloaded the truck in the cold wind.

Matt left after that and Sue Ellen went into the den to give David a very special welcome home. She puked her guts out all over the floor in there. David stepped in it and then started calling for me. He got his foot cleaned up and then I got to clean up all of the puke. I didn't even get to use the bathroom before all of this happened.

Well, it left some stains on the carpet so I will have to deal with that later. I took a shower and then just sat on the couch and fell asleep. I finally got up and went to bed.

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Garden Mulch Ideas

If you are out in the country and you are not trying to win the prettiest yard award, you can use sheets of cardboard as mulch. Cardboard is great for the soil. It attracts worms and you want worms in your garden beds. They keep the soil loose and earthworm castings are so good for the plants.

If you get a lot of cardboard boxes, instead of throwing them away or burning them, try using them in your garden. First, break the box down so it is one flat piece. Remove all labels and tape. Overlap the edges of the cardboard boxes so weeds can't grow in between the pieces. Then wet the cardboard so it can start decomposing. This will be so good for your soil. This would be done best in late fall while preparing your beds for spring.

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Sunday, January 14, 2024

Good Sunday morning! It is 7am and 40° with an expected high today of 46°. However, the high was hit after midnight and now the temperature is plunging. By 8am, it will be 36° which means I will freeze when I feed the chickens. I took Ethel outside and it feels much colder, I guess because the wind is blowing. I slept really well in my own bed last night. I was so happy to be home.

This afternoon, it will go back up to 43° and be 33° by midnight. Then it will go down to 29° and it is supposed to start raining. Monday will plunge down to 19° with freezing drizzle in the morning so it should be a great day. Ha ha. Tuesday is not supposed to be any better with a low of 18°. So it looks like all the rest of our outdoor plants and garden are doomed.

We went to church and then had the annual church business meeting. After that, Matt picked up lunch for us from Charlie's Daughter On The Green and we watched the movie, Greyhound with Tom Hanks.

Matt went home and packed some clothes, then picked up a few things at HEB and came back over to stay the night here so he could be at work tomorrow morning because it will be icy.

In fact, around 9pm, he went out to turn on the propane heaters in the greenhouse and small ice particles were coming down. I took the dogs out and they were coming down. It was so cold.

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Garden Mulch Ideas

Here is a "don't" on the garden mulch ideas. Don't use rocks or stones as garden mulch. Why not? Because rocks heat up in the sun and hold onto that heat, transferring it to your plants. This, in turn, raises the temperature of the soil and causes your plants to be stressed and in need of more water. Remember that the main purpose of using garden mulch is to hold moisture in so your plants have water and don't dry out so quickly.

Also, using rocks as garden mulch elevate the pH in the soil which is harmful for some plants.

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Return from Garden Mulch Ideas to Year Five On The Farm

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