When it was delivered, I got the analysis of Wilby's mulch - along with a photo of it's upstream supplier, Wilby the horse. The bulk of it is material cleaned from horse stalls: straw and horse manure. It's balanced with sawdust and/or wood shavings to give a favorable C:N ratio. Then it's turned and seasoned for about three years. It looks and smells like good stuff. I feel very fortunate to have found it. I realize that it will disintegrate quickly, and I'm hoping that in doing so it will materially enrich the soil. I expect to use this mulch until most of my roses are well established. I guess that means two or three more years.
Until I read Zuzu's entry about her problems with wood mulch, I'd imagined that I'd use cedar or some other wood mulch once I thought the soil had been enriched enough and my roses were well established. Now I'm not certain what to use next. I guess I could just keep on feeding the soil, but for some reason this seems like it will require more mulch than would otherwise be required.
