Home » Home and Garden » Fresh mulch! Come and get it.

Fresh mulch! Come and get it.

posted in: Home and Garden

composting and mulching on Northway in Greenbelt

This was the scene this morning at the Northway mulch/compost/wood-chip operation. Very impressive!

composting and mulching on Northway in Greenbelt

So out came the smart phone for photos and a 20-minute video, too.

Mulch v. Compost

I drove up the hill toward the observatory to find plenty of fresh-chopped leaf mulch and, just to the left, last year’s leaf mulch that has thoroughly decomposed. That decomposed stuff is now compost, which offers many but not all the benefits of mulch.

Both mulch and compost conserve water, moderate soil temperature, and add organic matter to the soil, but only mulch (organic matter that hasn’t decomposed) prevents weeds. Compost, while an excellent ingredient IN the soil, might as well be soil to the neighborhood weeds – it provides an excellent place for them to sprout.

This year I’m using wood chips, too, on my paths. Looks great.

Follow Susan Harris:
Susan started blogging about Greenbelt soon after moving here in 2012, and that blog has grown into this nonprofit community website. She also created and curates the Greenbelt Maryland YouTube channel. Retired from garden writing and teaching, she continues to blog weekly at GardenRant.com.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *