Finally got wood chips all over chicken wing. The UFC got a donation of around 4 yards of wood chips from an arborist company that dropped off the pile for us.Wood chips are great in the garden for many reasons:
- Helps retain soil moisture, especially in dry sunny summer weather
- Helps protect soil from the sun, which can kill bacteria and fungi on contact
- Wood chips slowly breakdown and add organic matter and nutrients to the garden over time
- Helps prevent pooling of water and mud while watering
- Suppresses weeds from growing in paths
- Looks beautiful
There are several disadvantages worth discussing:- Provides a great moist habitat for slugs
- Depending on the type of wood chips, could pose some problems with the garden to look out for. for example, most of the wood chips delivered to Chicken Wing come from conifer trees. This will will be slightly more acidic than desired for a garden. Over time, PH levels back out, and the advantages of the added organic matter outweigh the acidity, but it could pose some short-term problems.
- Wood chips, or any carbon source for that matter, can deplete nutrients in the short term. As wood chips begin to break down, the use up the nitrogen and other nutrients during the breakdown process, taking nutrients away from plants. While this is true, as the wood chips continue to break down, they will add even more nutrients over time by providing nutrients for the entire soil food web. Again, the problem with wood chips is a matter of timescale. In the longrun, more organic matter in a garden is aways a good thing.
