Mulching Day
As I have mentioned previously mulching has been a weak point in my gardening quests. This became very apparent when I read Mulching Day over at Urban Cultivation very early on in my gardening quest. Lee talked about the many benefits of mulching and chose to use store bought sugar cane mulch. I agree with the benefits of mulching and am primarlly concerned with the water conservation aspects. I was also keen to avoid having to purchase mulch, which after all is simply shredded garden litter and prunings.
So I had a look at how I could produce my own and decided that I needed a garden shredder. As luck would have it my company runs a rewards scheme that is linked to the Wish List site. Within the site was a Ryobi 2400w electric garden shredder that I had enough reward points to obtain. So after consultation with socko I placed my order and was waiting for its arrival somewhat anxiously.
On Friday my new toy arrived. After unpacking the box and assembling the unit, only a few screws, I set about mulching. Where the unit was assembled was near a stack of wood that is used during winter in the fire pit, or the traditional wood burning barbecue. As we have little intention of stoking either in the midst of summer I tested the unit with this material.
Within a half to three quarters of an hour I had a good supply of fresh mulch to apply during my watering run. So the mulch was applied to about 25% of the front garden. The capsicums, chillis, tomatoes, kangaroo paw, rosemary, egg plant, and frangipani’s were the beneficiaries on the run. The reason these plants were picked was that their pots always seem to be the driest upon inspection. Regularly requiring a good soak, and not just a casual maintenance watering. Also, many of these plants are currently bearing fruit, and I do not want to lose that valuable produce because the plants were missing out on the precious water.
Due to a wealth of prunings I intended to get back to mulching on Saturday. However, due to me having to manage several web site issues by the time I was in a position to resume mulching it was dusk. I decided that Sunday would be mulching day instead.
As such, I intended spending the whole day performing this task with my new toy, however the weather played havoc with those plans. First it was too hot to get enthused about leaving the air conditioning and performing such a physical task. When I checked the thermometer on the weather vane it read 41 degress celsius, this is a bit of a misleading reading due the weather vanes positioning is in direct sun. Then when the heat broke, it quickly turned into thunder storms and the reading plummeted to 29 degrees celsius in an hour. So all in all I got about an hour of mulching in. It was enough to mulch half the front garden. So there is about 25% of the front, and the entire back vegetable garden to do.
The Ryobi garden mulcher has lived up to expectations, and in some ways exceeded them. I can see that it is, and will continue to be, a valuable garden tool. As valuable as the Homelite Mighty Lite Line Trimmer. I would recommend this product to anyone looking for a home mulching solution. It will do most small prunings with ease and produce a great mulch to spread on the garden and protect from weeds and save water.
The rain in the evening has been a benefit to the garden, and the mulch will trap that goodness in. I also have a new product to trial soon that is essentially a bag that holds 1.2 litres of water. I will not be giving anything further away at this stage, but it looks like a really good true blue Australian product.
January 14th, 2008 at 2:54 am
I have to say I have a black thumb so growing anything is a challenge for me and mulching is never something I have had a need to perform. Still excellent post and even though I am not a gardener I can understand the benefit.
January 14th, 2008 at 3:05 am
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January 14th, 2008 at 3:08 am
Off Topic: It seems your CommentLuv plugin is not working, or at least I don’t see where it plugged in the latest post from my feed. Thanks for letting me find out about this great plugin I installed it on my blog.
January 14th, 2008 at 3:55 am
wow nice toy, what is that
. sorry, i like gardening, but i never see that kind of toy 
are that for fertilizer 
pandi merdeka’s last blog post..Follow the bridge along Bingkarai Hill’s
January 14th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Thanks for the product review!!! I’m been wanting to buy one of these for ages but haven’t known of anybody that had one to tell me what they were like… I’m a definate mulcher!!! I usually use the straw that is left over from the hay that I feed my sheep. It’s full of sheep ’shit’ and does a fantastic job at retaining moisture aswell as fertilising the garden. I’m on a farm and have an endless supply of twigs and sticks and would love to incorporate this mulch into my garden. A ryobi garden shredder is now on my list of things to buy next time I head to the big smoke…
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January 14th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
pandi,
This is a mulcher/wood chipper. It will chip small branches with ease, but will not do large branches and stumps. For that you would need to look to a commercial solution.
Mulch is a layer of organic material that when applied around the base of plants provides a slow compost, weed retardant, and evaporation retardant layer. All good for the plant as it helps to ensure that the usual pests are avoided and that there is sufficient water available to sustain life.
As for it being a fertiliser, I guess you could call it that. However, it is a long term slow release type. Not the kind you apply today and reap the benefits tomorrow.
For me personally I want to minimise the water bill. So applying mulch is a must for that reason. Perhaps when I get some useable land I will go with the weed retardant factor as well. Though according to some reputable resources that requires a rather deep 7cm mulch.
In closing thankyou for the question. I hope my answer helps.
January 14th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Jodie,
You are blessed to have such rich materials at your disposal, and the land to exploit the garden in.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:27 am
Great post, The Spouse of The House has been hinting for a shredder so he might be getting one of these toys lol.
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January 15th, 2008 at 12:51 am
Jayne,
The big kids toy shop Bunnings has this very model for around AU$250.
January 16th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Thanks for the plug for Urban Cultivation a site that I have neglected too much of late (which will change in the next couple of days) – I’m definitely going to get one of those!!! It’s a great way of controlling exactly what’s going onto the garden and a way of getting rid of your garden waste.
Lee’s last blog post..Mulching day
January 16th, 2008 at 2:32 am
My husband loves his mulcher which he uses every winter when he trims the fruit trees. It’s environmental friendly for all the sticks and twigs go back to the ground. We spread the mulch around our fruit trees and over the strawberries. We also use it on our flower bulbs.
We paid about US$100 for some odd brand but it has been working fine.
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January 16th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Interesting. We have just bought a house and have gone from a garden with quite bit of shade to one with almost no shade. Some of our plants did not make the transition well and accompanied with 40 degree days, they are being sacrificed. We need to investigate mulch if we are to have any luck in growing things that require a bit of water. I dug up two garden beds this morning with a rototiller. We are just planning to plant drought tolerant plants and cut down on the grass area. We have to think through what to plant and where. It will be a very different garden to the other one.
Thanks for writing this up.
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January 17th, 2008 at 3:28 am
I am not the best mulcher in the world either! Mostly I just do not feel like gardening when it is not spring or summer, and by then it is too late I need to be planting. Where I live the ground is so hard I need to keep mulching so I can make it a little better for growing.
Thanks for the inspiration, I should get at it!
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January 19th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
[...] was leeching quickly. Those plants that I had mulched in the two sessions I mentioned in my Mulching Day post were doing better than the others. However, it is fair to say that most of the plants were [...]
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:13 am
Mulching is pretty important in this day and age of being green. I have owned a shredder for a few years now and spread the mulchings over the bedding plants each time it is used. It does smell a little – but it also seems to keep the cats away too!
November 21st, 2008 at 3:45 pm
I really need to get one of these. I spent 2 hours last weekend breaking up a pile of small twigs and putting them into 2 yard waste bags that cost me 8$. Not to mention that I also bought mulch in a bag to put in my garden. With this little toy, I could have spent a fraction of the time and not spent a dime on bags and mulch. Thanks for sharing.
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