Killer Compost/Murderous Mulch

[frustratedearthmother]

I have always used hay as a thick mulch throughout my garden. It's always worked out well by keeping the ground moist, keeping the weeds at a more tolerable level and adding nutrients to the soil as it breaks down. But, about 3 years ago I was a victim of 'murderous mulch'.

Garden had a great start even though I was late getting my mulch down. Tomatoes were big and beautiful. When the temps were starting to get really hot I gathered lots of leftover bales of hay and started mulching heavily. A couple weeks later my garden was dying.

Fast forward to the next spring and I started my garden in a different location. Got my mulch down early that year. Garden just never took off. I blamed the weather, the rain, poor seed quality, lousy transplants...

While doing some research trying to find any information as to why I was having so much trouble when before I'd always had bountiful gardens that I couldn't kill if I tried. That was the first time I heard/read about killer compost and murderous mulch. Made perfect sense then.

Didn't really have a garden last year - even in raised beds the weather was just too cranky. It rained for months.

This year will be different! I've got 15 big empty mineral/protein tubs used for cattle supplements. I'm picking up 15 more today. I know it'll cost a small fortune to purchase soil to fill them - but I am determined. But, I'm also concerned about purchasing compost/manure. Who's to say it wasn't made with manure/compost that has herbicide residue in it? I'm also afraid to use the manure from my own animals because I know the hay that I purchased for them this year was sprayed.

I'm thinking about posting a craigslist ad in search of "natural" hay that had no herbicide applied. I looked for unsprayed hay last fall, but was so anxious to get hay that I took what I could get.

I've had the pigs in the area that had the worst damage and they've turned the soil and added their own fertilizer to it. After they're gone I may try a small test spot in there to see if anything grows.

Anybody else dealt with these problems?

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Found a garden picture before using "murderous" mulch.

 

[Mini Horses]

Since this is a thread about gardening, mulch, etc.... I'm going to throw this out there because it is something I've done in past and will do THIS year. It came up because Mother Earth News had a little article on my email today, reminding me to share for anyone not already doing this OR just not thinking "Spring Garden" yet. Many of us do this already but, begin the save.

Those multiple feed bags we get each week -- reuse them! The make a clean mulch and/or walk way cover, even to just warm up the rows. Now, they don't all decompose well, so cleanup can be a PIA unless you yank them out when the crop goes, then replace. At my farm there is a never ending supply!! So, trash bags and compost bags even....yep, shovel it in & lay in the sun. Breaks down and pretty easy to move & dump if not left tooooo long.

If you need a visual, here's a link http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/weve-got-it-in-the-bag-feed-bag-that-is-zbcz1701?

 

[chefsdreams]

you guys are incredible! thanks much. or as my dear old granny used to say: 'moo chaz grassy ass' she was a pistol.
this thread just percolated some old memories. my very first exposure to composting. my father's family came from canada and we would visit each year during the summer. i was quite young and visiting my grandmother's sister in a little town of peterborough, ontario (not so little any more). aunt E (her name was elizabeth but everybody called her 'E') was married to a very nice, kind man whose name was gordon. he had a really terrific garden and he loved it when i asked for him to show me. and in the back corner of his yard, he had an area. i asked him what it was and he told me all about compost.
seriously, i'm sitting here and the memories are flooding back. i haven't thought of old gordon in years. wow.
thanks guys!

 

[baymule]

@baymule if you'd like to/when you have time, I would love to see pics etc of what your place looked like when you moved in and how it looks now and all the steps you've taken to get this far. You guys have transformed that property from the sound of things!

Yes, we have and we aren't finished. Still a long ways to go, but we look around to see how far we have come. I'll do a post on it and tag you.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

@frustratedearthmother you can use it as animal feed for making ointments for skin issues as well. It has a few health benefits. It's just a fantastic plant all round. If you have some nurture it and if you don't, get some!

I have planted Bocking #14 in my BTE orchard. If you plant Comfrey, I suggest you plant one of the Bocking varieties which will not sprout from seed. Comfrey is an invasive plant, so you don't want it to be seeding. If you plant it, be sure to plant it where you want it. I've read that the roots will travel 10' deep. That is why it is so nutrient rich. It mines minerals from deep in the soil where more shallow rooted plants can't reach them. those minerals are then stored in the leaves. It is a high protein fodder plant, as well as making a wonderful compost amendment or mulch. I have yet to explore the uses of it for a healing salve, but Sumi's post has made me want to try that as well. My first venture into salve making was a poison ivy salve using: olive oil, coconut oil, bees wax, plantain, jewel weed, and sage. It was stupid easy to make, and my hubby has used it to great advantage to kill athlete's foot fungus. Any readers know the secret to starting jewel weed from seed? I tried this spring, but was not successful.

http://thefreerangelife.com/make-poison-ivy-salve/

 

[CrealCritter]

Killer Compost/Murderous Mulch what a great title for sprayed hay.

Yes I've had this problem same as you. In North Carolina The local landfill has all the free leaf liter and mulch you want. In the closest town people would mow there yards and the rake or bag the clippings and put on the curb. The city would come by one day a week and pick up all the bags or suck up all the piled to take to the land fill. The city did the same with leaves.

The mulch was free for anyone to load up. Beautiful black composted mulch. I picked up a truck load full and tilled it into my garden and all my transplants died and nothing sprouted. I figured it was full of herbicides (weed and feed).

I had to abandon that garden spot and start over in a new area.

sure the whole free compost thing the city put together sounded like a great idea but like most things the gov does it was a utter failure because they don't think it through all the way.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

It really is a problem because for years I'd use old hay that had fallen to the ground and had been naturally 'fertilized' by the animals. It was such a great resource for the garden. I've read that sunlight helps naturally break it down so I'm wondering if turning the soil and turning it again and again and again.... would help.

Found this website that explains a way to test the soil. Guess I'll be breaking out the bean seeds.

http://www.easydigging.com/blog/herbicide-in-compost.html

 

[chefsdreams]

a shame to loose that beautiful garden. but they're putting herbicides & pesticides in everything now.
ever vigilant, as the saying goes...

 

[NH Homesteader]

Well you can, but it's hard to find out. This is where I first heard about this.

http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2016/08/curled-tomato-leaves.html

And reading the comments section, apparently there is GMO, round up ready alfalfa? Now I have to worry about that? Sigh...