I need to mulch my garden for weed prevention.
I usually go out to a friends place and gather a few car loads of oak leaves and bring them home and shred them and use them for my winter mulch, but her husband had a massive heart attack the week before I was supposed to start the annual process of gathering leaves. She didn't need another thing on her plate at that time.
My second source of weed prevention mulch has been the utility company's chipping pile. We have had soaking rains since the end of September. I don't want to put wet wood chips, which are heavy, on top of very wet soil.
Since the rains came, the weeds have jumped out of the ground. At first, I didn't worry about it too much because usually we have a hard freeze by this time of year and they die back. Not this year. Lots of wonderful rain, but no below freezing night temps.
Yesterday between rain periods, I started cleaning the creeping spurge out of a ground cover rose as the spurge is no longer creeping, but growing up through the rose. I found a lot of dead growth and I think I am seeing a lot of canker. I don't want to leave the soil bare because I'll have even more weeds in spring.
I think I can buy dry straw or hay at the feed store to use as mulch. Will these suppress the weeds ? I know it will get wet with the continuing rain that is predicted, but I feel like I need to do something. I don't know if it will matt or how thick to put it down.
We have a couple of days predicted with no rain, so I know I can work out there.
Is this a good idea ??
Smiles,
Lyn
