Mulch marvellous mulch

 Celebrate the Chip!

home-made wood chip mulch

After much discussion, research and attempts to find a solution, including the inevitable delays, 
Le Ripe now finds itself 
Rich in Mulch.

The mulch makers: it took two days to process all our prunings. Admittedly we used many litres of petrol to do the job, so the ecological validity of the enterprise is debatable; since burning off is also bad (the reason it has been banned in our area), one would need to measure the effects of each technique...

 As mentioned in a post earlier this year,
mulching is not a common practice in our parts. Only a change in regulations about burning off prunings etc effectively forced us to re-think our habits. For years I had harboured a desire to create our own mulch but was frustrated by local unwillingness to experiment. 

first woodchip pile of about fifteen

 There were at least 20 large heaps of cuttings and prunings. After two days of work with a shredder we are now the proud owners of at least 15 relatively small piles of freshly chipped wood mulch.
Our garden will be grateful over the years. 

heaps before

and after: the reduction in volume is astonishing

The soil will be protected from heat and cold and to some extent from weeds.

Lucky soil, lucky us.