LizinElizabeth said:Sorry Joey, you're absolutely right, what I'm referring to as pine straw is just dead pine needles. Great insulator and doesn't matt down as much as other mulches I've used, plus it's free to me from the pines on our land. I just try to take it from trees with few weeds under them! I used to get wood mulch delivered but it was expensive, heavy and was covered in pine needles within a year, anyway, so why fight nature?
Thanks Liz, I am very glad to hear this. I actually have a wooded area in my "back yard" and there are a LOT of dried pine needles. That's exactly what I used to mulch my peonies and also, because it looks so gentle, natural and good, all my bulbs (lilies, tulips and narcissus). Now, everything's covered in a few inches of snow so I'm very glad I did it.
Another thing that's in abundance back there is leaf mold. It actually smells fresh and so good, and the soil around it looks dark and alive. Almost no one with two legs ever goes back there so I'm thinking that, if I took some for my garden, it wouldn't have a detrimental effect. Does anyone use leaf mold and if so, how and for what?
