Several years ago, we had to have an ash tree in our yard cut down. We asked the arborist to chip the smaller branches, and we used those wood chips in our garden to mulch the paths. A year later, we discovered the documentary, Back to Eden, about Paul Gautschi and his method of wood chip gardening.
We were intrigued, and as I looked at the paths in our garden I noticed that as the wood chips mulch was decomposing, the soil was becoming black and gorgeous. We’ve been mulching our garden with hay, leaves, and grass clippings for many years, but thought that it might be worth experimenting with garden wood chips.
We’ve had some amazing results, as well as some dismal failures. Here’s some of what we’ve learned about using wood chips in our vegetable garden.
Before we began wood chip gardening, we used chips in our paths. Notice how black the decomposed chips have become on the right of the path.
Using Wood Chip Mulch for the Garden
First let me say while I am a firm believer in the benefits of mulch in a vegetable garden, I don’t think that any one method is the end all, or right for everyone. The best mulch that you can use is the one that is available in your area for free, if possible.
For us, wood chip mulch, grass clippings, and leaves from our own yard are available for free. We can often find spoiled hay relatively inexpensively, or even free. We use them all. By the way, here’s why I use hay, and not straw in my garden.
I wanted to discuss wood chip gardening and using wood chip mulch because somehow it seems to have become a controversial topic online. Even some of my favorite bloggers are dismissing it.
Often, the people who are disparaging wood chip gardening have not tried it, or as you read how they are using it, are using it incorrectly. I will say this from our experience – of all the mulches we’ve used, wood chips are the least forgiving. They need to be used properly, or can cause disaster.
What’s Being Said About Using Wood Chips for Gardening
1. Wood Chip Mulch Robs the Soil of Nitrogen (False)
It is true that there is a nitrogen deficiency at the point where mulch and soil meet. It is important to plant below this level. Wood chips should not be dug into the garden for this reason, but only used as a mulch on top of the soil. I personally like to use a high nitrogen amendment like blood meal just below the mulch.
TIP: if you are able to get wood chips that include branches with green leaves, those leaves are also a nitrogen source.
According to a 1971 Cornell bulletin, a 15 year study using wood chips was conducted on a farm in NY. In some areas, wood chips were applied as a mulch, in others, the wood chips were plowed under. Other test areas included traditional methods of farming and using cover crops. Over time, nitrogen levels in the soil increased in the areas where wood chips were used as a mulch. Source.
We ask our arborist for “ramiel” chips – those that are from branches under 6″ in diameter, and which also contain leaves.
2. Perennials Prefer a Fungal Dominated Soil Which Wood Chips Provide, But Annuals Prefer a Bacteria Dominated Soil (False)
When I read this, I contacted Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott, horticulturist and professor at Oregon State University. Here’s what she had to say:
I don’t buy the “annuals prefer bacteria, perennials prefer fungi” mantra, since I’ve seen nothing in published literature to support it. In fact, it’s well known that many annuals, including vegetable crops, are mycorrhizal, so I think this whole “bacterial soils for vegetables” thing is bunk. Basically, all non-grass species are mycorrhizal.
And Michael Phillips, in his book Mycorrhizal Planet, says:
Nearly every plant on this planet benefits from fungal connection. Most annual vegetables and flowers have to be included here as well . . which suggest the entire concept of “bacterial gardening” is far too simple a construct.
3. Wood Chip Mulch Will Acidify the Soil (False)
As the wood chips are decomposing, the ph of the chips may be acidic. This won’t affect the soil below the mulch, and once the wood chips decompose, the soil it produces will not be acidic. There is no scientific research to support the idea that mulches such as wood chips affect soil pH.
Our Problems with Wood Chip Gardening
Yes, we have had problems in our wood chip gardens. In every case, however, we were the problem, not the wood chip mulch itself. As I mentioned, wood chips as a mulch are not as forgiving as say, hay.
Mulch too deeply with hay, and you won’t likely have any problems. Maybe your soil won’t warm as quickly in the spring, or you’ll have a problem with slugs in a particularly rainy year.
No matter what mulch you use in a no-dig garden, it will need to be pushed aside at planting time so that you can plant your seeds, or seedlings in the soil, not in the mulch.
Deep wood chips are very difficult to push aside. Not so with hay. Hay, of course, needs to be replenished much more quickly than wood chips and for us, often comes with a dollar sign attached.
I have found that 2 – 3″ is just right for wood chip mulch. Most of our problems have resulted from mulching too deeply.
In addition, according to this source, “wood chips that heat up and partially decompose can produce volatile organic compounds that inhibit seed germination and plant growth.” I have found that to be true.
Seeds, especially small ones, that have planted in the layer just between the soil and the mulch (partially decomposed chips) don’t germinate. This can be a plus, since weed seeds also don’t germinate.
Are woods chips good for the garden?
Used properly, arborist wood chips used as mulch produce a very rich garden soil.
Plants That Have LOVED Wood Chip Mulch
These 4 acorn squash plants, grown in a wood chip garden, produced over 50 squash.
We have found that all seedlings have done just fine, planted in the soil below wood chips. Also, any larger seeds that are not spaced closely seem to love the chips. For us, it has been too difficult to push all of the chips away for seeds that are closely spaced, like carrots. Squash does particularly well in wood chips.
And Those That Haven’t
Our carrots, beets, spinach and onions have not done well in our wood chip garden. In all cases, I suspect I did not move the mulch enough and planted in mulch rather than in soil. Mike planted some onion sets around our apple trees a few weeks ago, in a wood chip garden. He was particularly careful to plant them in soil. We’ll see how it goes.
I suspect that as the years pass and our wood chips fully decompose, planting small seeds like carrots will not be a problem. In the meantime, I keep some beds mulched only with hay or leaves, and plant these types of seeds in those beds.
I think that the beginning can be the hardest for this type of garden. The mulch is not yet decomposed, providing the soil with its rich store of nutrients.
Paul Gautschi has been gardening this way for over 30 years. His soil is rich and deep. In the 15 year study I mentioned earlier, yields, in general, were highest in the plots that were mulched with wood chips. The method clearly works.
If you’re wondering if wood chips can be used as mulch for gardening, the answer is a resounding yes!
What’s your experience with wood chip gardening? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
More Great Gardening Posts
What are Ramial Wood Chips and How to Use Them
10 Common Mistakes When Using Wood Chips in Your Vegetable Garden
Plastic Mulch in a Garden: Friend or Foe?
Growing Tomatoes: From Seed to Harvest
The Easy Way to Grow Raspberries
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Rosalyn says
I used wood chips for one summer, during which I was a beginner (and neglectful) gardener. I found the wood chips helped a lot with weed suppression and with moisture retention, but my plants didn’t do that beautifully and the source of wood chips I had were inoculated with some sort of mushroom that was popping up everywhere. I know that I didn’t do a good job of planting under the mulch, and I didn’t actually layer it deeply enough, I don’t think. I also didn’t do a good job of amending my garden. I’ve learned a lot since then, and I’d still be very interested in wood chip gardening, but probably on beds containing really strong, rigorous plants grown from transplants, and not things like carrots and onions, as you mentioned. Thanks for the tips and the research, Susan! xo
Susan Vinskofski says
Yes, I think a lot of us were a little too enthusiastic after watching Back to Eden. We will definitely move forward with chips in our garden, but with more caution. I was re-reading some things on the Back to Eden site and saw something that I had previously missed. Paul G. has a place to store chips, and only puts composted chips on the garden, never fresh.
Oh, and the mushrooms aren’t a problem; they are just part of the process of decomposition. 🙂
Brian says
Paul uses that method ( finely ground or composted chips) ( in the official film they are called screened) now to top his chips because he likes the texture. You see him load them into his truck in the movie- But, He originally did and said many times, “just put the chips down and walk away.” Fresh or not.
You CAN use fresh chips. Please go back and watch for yourselves, and listen carefully. This does take time. You can use a first layer of decomposed chips as a base, or other materials that are broken down first, then top with chips. Both methods work. It takes a couple years for the chips to begin breaking down well and that os why he recommends you can use a layer of composted materials under the chips to speed things up.
And, lets mot miss the MAIN POINT he made consistantly throughout the film, and that is to ASK GOD ! People, he told us all this over and over, so simply pray and the Lord will show you waht to do. Thatbis the biggest thing with this whole garden stuff. It is that a man asked God and He showed him how, and continues to. See how many examples Paul did stuff even though the Lord told him in the spirit something else? And Paul told us just ask God.
So ther you go !
Amber says
Hmm… I might just have to try this!
Susan Vinskofski says
Your garden will thank you!
Debbie Cannon says
Thanks for the great article, Susan. For the first time we used some chips in our garden. I’m not sure we did as well as could be as we didn’t know the proper way of using them. We wanted to also cut even more of the weeds as it is getting harder every year to weed.
Any info on keeping bunnies away?? Last year was sooo bad. Winston planted some things multiple times but they got 85 0/0 of the wee plants.
Susan Vinskofski says
Hi Debbie, we’ve had lots of problems with animals pulling seedlings out of the ground and have had to plant and replant. Our problem, however, is with chipmunks. They pull the plants out for the seed and leave the plant to die. What we’ve done is time consuming, but works. Mike has built little cages out of chicken wire and we put one over every seedling. We remove the cage when the plant gets a little larger – the chipmunks leave them alone at that point. This should work for rabbits as well. We’ve tried sprays that are supposed to keep animals away. We find they work for deer, but not other critters.
Jennifer J McKarns says
We had problems with chipmunks too. Covered the area of our young pea seedlings with bird netting after the fourth planting. Caught two chipmunks in the netting. One was dead, strangled in the netting, the other had its tail tangled in the netting and my husband killed him with a shovel. Originally we thought they were cute critters, but not after they ravaged our sugar snap peas four times!J
Susan Vinskofski says
Jennifer, I don’t like bird netting for that reason. While the chipmunks are little devils, I don’t want to see them getting caught in the netting.
Wanda Lancaster says
Wow, I’m glad I saw this, I just found that something is digging up my peas, and I think you just gave me the answer.
Maria Marinelli says
Are you familiar with the square ,green plastic grid ,baskets that some fruits, mostly berries, come packaged in? If you turn them upside down on your seeds or very young seedlings they will grow through the basket and prevent critters from digging under them.
kate says
Use chicken wire around your garden. Rabbits can’t get to your garden. Or get some outdoor cats.
Roberta says
This is all such wonderful advice!
I have only used wood chips around my fruit trees, and they seemed to really benefit and thrive. I live far out in the country, and a wood chipper comes by every other year or so to chop all the trees that grow too close to the roads. I “steal” wood chips by the bucketful! Haha!
I am very interested in trying wood chips for more projects, and your post helps to point me in the right direction. Thanks! 😀
Susan Vinskofski says
Your garden’s gonna love it as long as you don’t mulch too deeply. Over time, you’ll build great soil. By the way, I just discovered your blog yesterday – it’s great!
Mary McC says
If you can catch the wood chippers, they might dump a load on your property for free! Around here they are always looking for places to dump. Worth a try.
Janet Garman says
this is very interesting. we sell wood chips from our lumber mill. I guess I may have to keep some for our gardens! thanks for the good info
Susan Vinskofski says
Thanks for stopping by, Janet!
Diann Dirks says
I tried using wood chips (undecomposed, missed that part in Paul’s movie) in my annual bed – doing like he said – 4 to 6 inches deep. Then I tried to move the chips aside to get the seedlings and seeds into the soil below. There just wasn’t enough room to get the chips out of the way and kept falling into my soil, and getting mixed in. Where I kept the chips off the soil all season, with little mountains of chips to both sides, they did OK. But it took up so much of the space I decided it was very comparatively non-productive. Then I tried pulling the chips aside and putting them in buckets to make a row or area to plant. But that was so labor intensive, and then I’d have buckets full of wood chips sitting around gathering rain water all season. So, I discarded that too. Then I tried putting just 1″ of chips on the beds but invariably I’d have to scrape off the chips to plant and that mixed in soil with wasting good garden soil. So, I quit doing that too. Now I only put wood chips on my perennial beds in my food forest where I have established perennial plants including all 7 layers of planting. In the winter several years ago we had an unseasonable 60 hours of 5 degrees F, and I lost 5 trees. Then I re-watched portions of Paul’s movie and read up on it, and realized that I needed to insulate my root systems around the trees. So, this past year I put 1 foot deep wood chips around the base of all my fruit trees and covered many of my now leafless perennial plants. This spring 95% of my perennial smaller plants made it (except the lemon grass), and all my trees survived just fine. I also use a lot of chipped fine autumn leaves which I collect by the van load in the fall, use these bags of leaves to surround my nursery of unplanted trees, then fill up the spaces between and over the soil of the trees in pots. I lost a few of them but mostly they made it. I also used the bags of leaves along a long line of container garden bins on both sides, and they produced all through the winter with clear plastic over the top, kept supported by tomato cages laying on their sides along the row. I notice that in my food forest, where all the paths are deep in wood chips, many of the wild crafted medicinal herbs like plantain and wild geranium thrive right up out of the wood chips. I harvest or utilize these plants to make salves and ointments as they don’t seem to mind being stepped on.
Diann Dirks, Hillside Gardens, Auburn, Ga. Certified Permaculture Designer, blog site: thegardenladyofga.wordpress.com
Susan Vinskofski says
Well done, Diann, it certainly is a process, isn’t it?
Michelle Cusick says
We switched over to this method as we cleaned up last fall. I was so worried that we did all of that work and it wasn’t going to turn out loads of veggies like in the past. We heavily rely on the food we grow (over 2,000sq ft of garden). I was surprised that the soil was not at all compacted under there as we pulled it back to inspect it this spring. The dirt was a beautiful rich color and just the right amount of moisture. The garlic we planted last fall is thriving! I hope your onions will do the same. We have onion in now and they need to get a little stronger. For now we just have a few of our cool season things going but right after mid-may we’ll be able to get our precious seedlings in. My nervousness has really subsided since I’ve joined a group on FB that is about this method. I’m looking forward to a great harvest.
Susan Vinskofski says
Yes, there’s something about that says it can’t be possible. A lot of landscapers pay fees to dump chips in a landfill. It’s so great that gardeners are putting the chips to good use!
easypeasy says
We put wood chips down in our garden and are really please with the results! 🙂
carolin martens says
I just watched Paul;s videos for the first time and I am excited to use the wood chips in the garden this year. I watched a video from someone else and he loved Paul;s videos also, but had missed the part of the chicken poop. Paul uses that a lot in his garden also. It is supposed to be a combination of both. He said not to rely on the wood chips alone.Paul has the chickens so it is easier for him, I do not so I had some cow manure brought in. With that alone, I see a difference in the garden already. I am hoping with wood chips on top it gets even better. Expanded the garden, planting fruit trees, because the price of groceries just keep rising.
Arlene Meyer says
I had a truckload full of wood chips dumped into my backyard three years ago. After year 2 I started using the decomposed wood chips into my garden as part of the compost fertilizer. Most vegetables did great — Napa cabbages, arugula., red and Georgia cabbages. Broccoli and salad greens. I use them sparingly though. Not as a ground over. I also found out my chickens love digging in the composted wood chips. They have lots of worms in them.
Joyce Barnes says
I have a raised bed garden and used decomposed wood chips this year, yet lately I’ve noticed my tomato plants suffering from some type of fugus/ wilt. We have gotten tons of rain this spring/ summer in Iowa .The bottom leaves on the plant started getting yellow with brownish /black spots . I’ve read that you can spray the plants with 9 cups water mixed with 1 cup skim milk . Any ideas on what to do would be great . Thank you .
Susan Vinskofski says
Hi Joyce, fungal disease loves wet weather. That, and not the wood chips, is your problem. Fungal disease is a lot easier to prevent than to cure. I’ve had some success sprinkling my plants with corn meal, but haven’t tried milk. Neem oil may help as well.
Joyce Barnes says
Thanks , I have read about the neem oil . I didn’ t have that on hand but had some Tea Tree essential oil , I have the doTERRA brand of EO called Melaleuca ( the same oil ) and sprayed some mixed with water on my tomato plants , not sure if it worked due to some rain that we had a few hours after applying the EO spray . So my plants are still suffering , I did pull off all the yellowish brown spots leaves . I guess I will try the milk spray , and yes it’s been raining again the last few days 🙁
Jim Ellis says
Hi! We have just begun incorporating Back to Eden into our garden in southeastern Illinois. We have several raised beds and room to expand our row crop plantings.
I may have missed it somewhere in the videos /articles, but …
Are there certain varieties of trees that should be avoided for use in the garden?
Thanks!
Susan Vinskofski says
Hi Jim, good question! I would avoid black walnut because the juglone it contains can inhibit growth. And I would use any evergreen sparingly.
Pam Bruckner says
We are using wood chips in our garden again this year. Our garden soil is primarily clay which is hard to grow anything in. Last fall, a friend of ours told us he had some wood chips that we could have if we came and picked them up. So, we went and brought back several loads and layered them on the garden. In the spring, we tilled them under. After planting, we went and brought back several more loads and used them between the rows of the garden. Now, I must mention that the wood chips have been setting for a couple years now at his house. This year they were a nice rich compost and was wonderful for feeding the garden and marking the rows. So, I do think that having older wood chips that have started to decompose is a plus to using them in the garden. If you find some, give it a try. It has helped our clay garden become a very, very productive garden this year. 🙂
Susan Vinskofski says
So glad to hear you’ve improved your garden soil, Pam! (Are you Brian’s mom? If so, nice to meet you!!!)
Joyce Barnes says
Just an update on my problem tomato plants with the fungus/blight . I reapplied my tea tree essential oil spray on the tomato leaves and made a compost tea with 1 cup RedMill Corn Meal mixed in 5 gal bucket of water after soaking for several hours i strained the corn meal and poured the compost tea water on my garden soil / woodchip covering …. it’s working …. and yes it’s rainy this month too ! Praying I will continue to have healthy plants all summer 🙂
Susan Vinskofski says
Way to go, Joyce!!! It’s always nice to have a win.
Joyce Barnes says
Thanks Susan , we will see how the summer fresh fruit and vegetables produce !
Maria says
We used wood chips in our garden this year. We have a 1 acre market garden on the surface of the sun…. aka Texas. Only a month after putting down wood chips we have such nice black dirt that i could now throw a seed anywhere and it will grow.
Susan Vinskofski says
Wow, that’s really fantastic, Maria!
David Slade says
I’m preparing a 2 acre organic vegetable farm market in Lackawanna County PA. I’ve collected over 8 tons of woodchips from the local tree cutting businesses and I’m spreading a thick layer across the ground for next years planting. Its hard work but I can’t think of a better soil conditioner than raw organic matter like leaves, woodchips and hay. This is a great website Susan, Thanks!
Susan Vinskofski says
Thanks so much, David. I’m so glad to hear what you are doing!!!
Martin Griffitn says
My wife and I bought a fourteen arce farm three years ago. We have been using wood chips for our trails and are happy with some of the gardening we did last year with them. We are remodeling the house and adding on to make it handicapped accessable for us and our parents leaving little time for growing. Wood chips from the last two years that were placed on our road trails are now being gathered for beds and mulching around our fruit trees. The older chips do not heat up the root systems of the freshly planted saplings . We plan to continue this method. We have a section of black raspberries which we transplanted last fall mulched with the old chips and they are amazing. The fresh chips are great for our trails and placing along the wood lines to kill the weeds and invasive vines.
Susan Vinskofski says
The wood chips are such a wonderful resource. Your place sounds fantastic!!!
Martin Griffith says
One addtioal thing, withthe use of woodchips is the increase of worms. We are amazed at the numbers and the quality of the worms with in the chips. We were walking our dog tonight and she was playing on top of an old pile of chips . I walked up on top with her and just stepping on the pile for a brief time, I looked down and counted twelve worms rapidly moving around. Our ground here in southwestern PA is very dry due to the low rain fall this month. I only stepped on the pile. I did not kick or dig into it. If you have the room for wood chips, give them a try. I have and will continue to use them to my soil for our farm.
John Anderson says
I think wood chips in a garden are great, it adds a nice look to a flower bed and other areas. I would worry too about wood chips ruining the soil as they decompose. Glad to hear there is nothing to worry about.
Caroline says
I did the ‘back to eden’ method in our previous home in S. California….of course I didn’t know then someone had a name for it. The area was degenerated granite (a sterile environment for growing) that needed a pick axe or a jack hammer to plant anything. When we mowed the lawn we put the grass clippings in a bag for a week…this killed any seed. Then we spread it around what we had planted and covered with wood chips. I found the smaller woodchips did a lot better. We had lovely green plants, colorful flowers and an apricot tree that would almost fall over when it was laden with fruit. And we were the only garden with loads of earthworms.
Susan Vinskofski says
Very well done, Caroline! Thank you for sharing!
George P says
My brother is an avid wood-worker producing an irregular supply of mostly maple sawdust and wood shavings. I use 2-high concrete block raised beds with about 3ft of space between beds. I fill in between rows with sawdust and shavings to suppress weeds. In the fall and spring, I fill in between the rows with leaves. Over the past 5 years, this “path-mulch” has compacted to about 6-10 inches of brown-black “fill” where parsley grows readily next to the concrete blocks but the compacted center where I walk is weed free. In another year or two, I will spade up and transfer the pathway contents into the top of the raised beds
Susan Vinskofski says
I do the same thing with the wood chips in my paths every few years, George!
Steve says
Been a raised bed gardener for 23 years and just learned about wood chips. Decided to rebuild my beds. Got rid of the landscaping timbers (yeah, I know now, toxic stuff) and replaced with untreated 2x12s, painted with exterior green latex. Amended the soil with more compost and will use a ~ 2″ layer of wood chips on top as mulch. Our treatment plant here in Springfield, MO also maintains a leaf recycle facility for leaves, grass and branches and brush. They have so much wood mulch piled up they are practically giving it away ($7 for two yards). The great thing is that these wood chips have been composting themselves for several years and are just the ticket for gardeners. I’m getting older and am tired of turning in fresh compost every two years! Gonna try the no till method with wood chips feeding the worms and let them do all the work! Wish me luck.
Happy gardening!
Susan Vinskofski says
Yay for you, Steve! You’ll have a great garden!!!
Kelly says
I didn’t know about wood chip mulching last year when I started my first veggie garden. However, I had purchased a couple of bags of particularly chunky organic compost and instead of returning it, I sifted it then used the large pieces as mulch in a couple of areas, which worked well. Those areas are growing great this year too. I’ve also experimented with a hugelkultur bed (where limbs and logs are layered at the bottom of deep beds) and that bed seems to be doing the best of all at the moment. In beds where I didn’t sift the chunky compost things aren’t growing as quickly or as lush. They’re getting there but not like the others. Hoping the large bits decompose quickly and I’ll have better results next year. After reading the pros and cons of true wood mulch, I think I’ll skip it for now and keep reading the experiences of others. I may just keep sifting bags of compost and doing my mulching that way since it seems to be working for me.
Maggie Dungan says
I have a market garden and we are currently looking at ways to keep the weeds suppressed between the rows. We can get free mulch from the city which is leaves, branches, christmas trees, etc. whatever they pick up. Our concern is that we know that there will no doubt be black walnut in the mix. We can choose from “newer” and “older” mulch. What we picked up today seems to be partially decomposed, the pile was steaming in the middle when they scooped out of it. Do you think the julone will be an issue? We also are possibly going to use hay on the actual beds as a mulch, just have to convince my husband that it won’t sprout a ton of weeds.
Susan Vinskofski says
Maggie, it is recommended that wood chips from black walnut trees be composted at least 6 months to break down the juglone that may affect plants.
Here’s what I do to minimize the possibility of weeds in hay: https://learningandyearning.com/2012/04/02/using-hay-vs-straw-in-the-garden/.
Justin says
If you have a bobcat you should make compost using the hay. If you google shivansh fertilizer you’ll find a great instructional video for making the old permaculture favorite 18 day compost recipe. Hay, green manure crop and poo from any farm animal makes compost to die for. Then you cover it in wood chips ?
Jo says
This is my third year with wood chip gardening, I will never go back to tilling, watering and weeding. My carrots love it! I rake back a section for a row, plant the seeds and wait till the plants are tall enough to gently fill the row in with chips adding an inch or so at a time as they grow. Best thing is I leave them in the ground all winter long buried in at least 6″ of chips. I would go out in freezing weather and dig beautiful fresh carrots from beneath 6″ of snow! Amazing! Same with rutabagas and turnips. Be sure to mark your rows though, so you can find them in the snow.
Linda Lewis says
Thanks for the info. I too will be marking my plants before the snow flies. Much appreciated!
Aaron says
How did Mike do with wood chip mulch around the onions last year? We cut down two large Bradford Pear trees a few months back, and I used a rented wood chipper to turn the entire trees into mulch. It’s been hot composting out back since then (Temp checked at 165 degrees 3 days after dumping the mulch!) and I’d love to mulch with it, but I don’t want to choke out my onions. We have heavy-ish silty clay loam soil, and my onions are about half out of the ground to make bulbing easier on them. The bulbs are already very nice sized, but weeds are a definite problem. If I pull anything that’s too close to a bulb, the bulb itself is disturbed due to how shallow they are.
Susan Vinskofski says
Aaron, the onions just do not seem to like the wood chips. We’ve tried them a few times and the onions just don’t grow to any size. Wood chips can be awesome and it sounds like you have a treasure on your hands, but I’d use them elsewhere.
Aaron says
Wow, thanks for the quick response. This is only my second year with a garden (second year in a real house in the country!), so I’m relying on the voice of experience to help guide me, and this was a big help. So many people say that wood chip mulch is only good around flowers and trees, which just didn’t make sense to me. We’ve got a row of raspberry canes coming up that I’m sure would love it. There’s just so much, I’m anxious to see what all could benefit from it!
Susan Vinskofski says
If you haven’t watched the documentary, Back to Eden, be sure that you do. It’s available to watch for free online.
Justin says
I’m finding the same thing with my onions. I left some in the seed trays because I ran out of room to plant them and they grew bigger than the ones in the garden. What do you use to mulch your onions with? I companion plant them with carrots, garlic, leeks and beetroot. The carrots and beetroot do great under wood chips but nothing in the allium family seems to be doing well.
Susan Vinskofski says
I particularly like using grass clippings to mulch onions because they are so easy to spread around the fairly closely planted onions. I’ve used hay, too, but it’s not as easy as the grass clippings.
paula says
Is it important what kind of tree are you using preparing the mulch? I have a lot of pine tree branches and needles and fir tree bark to use. Mayby I should mix it witch some other material?
p.s. Thanke you for sharing your knowledge! This entry helped me a lot.
Susan Vinskofski says
Great question, Paula. I would stay away from using chips from evergreen trees and also black walnut.
Earl Smith says
Can you use wood shavings from sycamore and oak trees for bedding on established tomato and pepper plants ? We are currently splitting these types of trees and have to cut the chunks in half to put into the splinter. When cross cutting against the grain of the wood it produces long fluffy shavings. So far the only thing that I have used them for is our blueberry bushes.
Susan Vinskofski says
Yes, Earl, the wood shavings would work as a mulch for your vegetables. Just don’t pile it on – 2″ should be enough.
Mike Dauzvardis says
Been using wood chips over horse manure and grass clippings for over 20 years in my 1 acre garden.–didn’t think the process was that unique. Always get beautiful tomatoes , squash and pumpkins here in central IL. I till every 2 years. For those that have a problem planting thru deep mulch, simply make a trench or hole in the mulch and fill with soil–then plant seeds or seedlings and water. Roots will grow down into undisturbed soil and also into mulch. I like to buy bags of cheap ($1.37) topsoil from the big box boys for this purpose. I must add that most of my triple ground mulch (which is free from several city municipal centers) I hoard by the mountainfull and is at least a year old before spreading (unless used in paths).
vincent says
hai,
i have one question. I want to plant vegetables for soup and leek on wood chips. You think it will help? I live in suriname and here are a lots of wood sawmills which delivered enough woodchips. Please inform me
Susan Vinskofski says
Hi Vincent, you will not be able to grow in wood chips alone. A base of soil, compost, and well rotted manure is needed. The wood chips are the top layer only. As they decompose they will nourish the soil, but until then they are a mulch to keep in moisture. The best wood chips are those that also contain small branches and leaves.
Karen says
Last fall I put onto my existing garden (in central Alberta) a bunch of garden clippings, leaves, straw, a bit of composted lamb manure, shovelfuls of garden mix, and top soil and then at least 6″ of fresh wood chips. I think I overdid the wood chips. It was really hard to move them to plant. The soil was too cold. Germination wasn’t great, what did grow got eaten up by slugs and I’ve also seen little grasshoppers all over. We’ve had a wet summer and there are mushrooms growing here and there. Just one row of peas might yield a couple pods. Did slugs come in with the wood chips? I’ve never had a problem with slugs before. What do you do for slugs and grasshoppers? The potatoes plants are small and quit growing; also everything is pale green; should be darker green. It’s very discouraging because it took a LOT of work to create this ‘eden’.
Susan Vinskofski says
Hi Karen! Yes, 6″ is way too much. 2 – 3″ is more than enough. The mushrooms are a sign of decomposition and are not a problem. The excessive wood chips caused a nitrogen deficiency which is why everything is pale green. Add blood meal and remove some chips if possible. For the slugs try iron phosphate (http://amzn.to/29EQzC8). The good news is that by next year, much of the chips will have decomposed and all should be well.
Karen says
Thanks. How about diatomacious earth for slugs? Also, I was thinking of making a big wooden compost bin beside the garden. The lawn is right beside the garden. So, if I lay down 6 sheets of newspaper as a ‘floor’ in the compost bin, then put a couple inches of composted horse manure on the paper, and then put all my excess wood chips on top of the manure, wouldn’t that eventually translate into a new garden area? I could also put my vegetable scraps, egg shells, etc. into the bin. What do you think of this idea?
Justin says
Also spent coffee grinds from your favourite cafe will send slugs packing. I’ve heard they’re leathal to them. Don’t know about that but I have a slug infested area in my garden that I sheild plants from them with coffee grinds.
Susan Vinskofski says
I have used diatomacious earth for slugs, but it is not nearly as effective as the iron phosphate. Yes, the wood chips would eventually decompose in that bin.
dalek1967 says
I got some chips from a local power line cleaning company several years ago. They cut trees, limbs and such from under and around the power lines and put them through a wood chipper. Then they would bring them and dump then in my garden. I used a tractor with a bucket to push them into a very large pile. It was around 40 loads of it. The pile was as big as a house and averaged about 8′ tall or so. My garden is about a half acre and it covered a good 20 to 25% of it.
I let the pile sit there that summer and all winter. I was watching the temps. When it started to cool down, it was time to spread. In the spring I pushed it all out into the garden somewhere around 6″ thick. I then used a two gang turning plow to fold it under. I added some nitrogen to the pile while it was composting but I also added some more after I folded it under. I let that sit for a couple months.
At this point, I used the plow to turn the soil over again. This made sure it was pretty well mixed. Giving it a closer inspection with a shovel and a little random digging, the soil was really soft and it just smelled “earthy” which this soil usually doesn’t smell that way. I have heavy clay soil here.
If I recall correctly, I don’t think I planted a garden that year. I think it was the following summer that I planted. The fall after I spread and plowed the chips under, I did a soil test and made the adjustments it showed was needed. I do soil tests fairly regular.
I also pushed a small pile over next to the woods. It was around 4′ tall and around 6′ x 20′. It has been slowly composting some more. I let that sit until a year or so ago. I spread it out a bit and have been running the disc over it which spread it a bit more. It has made the soil very dark and the tree roots have found that good rich soil. It’s difficult to dig in with a shovel due to all the roots but it sure looks good. I haven’t tried to grow any veggies or anything since it doesn’t get much sun but suspect it would grow some serious plants if it was in a sunny area. I think tomatoes and peppers would really enjoy that.
The biggest thing, before you plant, do a soil test. The wood chips can make the Ph of your soil change and change other things as well. The soil test will show what changes were made and what you do to do to correct it. Then you can plant and not risk losing your plants.
I was getting gas earlier and saw a guy working for the same company again. I’m hoping to get a couple more loads of mulch. It sounds like they chip them in place now so I may not get much. They have a little Bobcat looking thing with what acts like a heavy duty tiller. It chops up all the limbs and small stuff which leaves little else to put in the larger chipper.
Just thought I would share what I did.
Susan Vinskofski says
I really appreciate your input!!!
Karen Leach says
I made some ‘grass tea’. Packed cut grass into a plastic bin; added water. Let it sit for 3 days. It doesn’t smell putrid but has a sharp smell. Should I use this on my garden? If not, would it be a good idea to dump it on a pile of wood chips I have? Would the ‘tea’ help break down the wood chips? What about the grass that’s been soaking? Not sure what to do with this concoction that smells acrid, but not putrid.
Susan Vinskofski says
I don’t have experience with grass tea, but I don’t see any reason not to add both it and the grass to your wood chip pile.
Jason says
Susan,
Thank you for the details post from last year. I started my garden with soil pep and will be using wood chips this year. We have a free source at the local treatment plant. I watched a youtube video from oneyardrevolution. He has been using wood mulch for over 8 years. He mentioned he creates a rowb y moving back the mulch and puts compost in the hole for seeds. Seems like that would be a good solution to many of the problems folks talk about.
Also, I have heard that onions need a bunch of nitrogen. Since they grow near the surface, this may be your issue. A compost tea from fresh greens may help put that nitrogen back in around the surface.
Either way, I enjoyed the detailed post on your successes and errors with wood mulch.
Jason
Susan Vinskofski says
Thanks, Jason. Yes, compost in the planting hole is a good idea.
Shane says
Hi Susan
Sorry if this is a repeat question but this is a long thread of Q&A.
Does wood chip Volcanoes around fruit trees cause an Issue?
I’ve done so recently and suspect it will do more harm than good?
Bringing fungal issues to the stem?
Correct?
Susan Vinskofski says
Hi Shane, you are correct – that is a very damaging practice. See my post on that specific topic: https://learningandyearning.com/are-you-killing-your-trees-with-mulch.
Joey says
Since watching BTE and discovering our free city woodchip pile near my work, I’ve been hauling 1/4 yard of random woodchips(preferably chips that have green in them) per day for the last 3 months .I have been slowly creating 5 inch garden beds on my front, back and side grass yards that haven’t been watered for months. I use scalloped brick/paver stones to create a sturdy border that can easily be adjusted and moved back as I enlarg the beds. On my days off, I’ll stop at the the local starbucks and get their coffee grounds and mix it with leaves on which I put the chips on.
Being in Southern Calif, I know that likely it’ll take a least a year if not many years to get really great soil, but that hasn’t stopped me from buying random clearance shrubs/plants from home depot to do trial/error. I can’t say I’ve planted them in soil but I’ve planted them in the early decomposing material at the subsoil level. My anecdotal results are this: Geranium, Iberis and Lantana have absolutely exploded. It’s like it’s spring time for them. Salvia and Hydrangea’s flowers have withered but their leaves look strong. My two chrysanthemums are dead.
Susan Vinskofski says
Sounds like things are doing well for the most part. You’re quite correct that as the chips decompose, things will only get better. In your part of the country the water holding capacity of the chips is a big plus.
Sha says
Dead tree, cut down made firewood. The bark about 2in deep so dead it just crumble in hand to nothing and fly away when wind blows. Took all the dead bark and ran through my wood chipper. How long should that sit before it’s considered compost?
Susan Vinskofski says
Sha, I would suggest adding a nitrogen source like blood meal, or even coffee grounds. Turn the pile every month or so, and by next year you should have compost.
E. Quinn says
see http://www.allotment-ideas.co.uk/wood-chip-sock for a managed way to use wood chips as a structuring tool to create & support raised bed vegetable growing on the cheap. And will last a couple of seasons.
Susan Vinskofski says
That’s a very creative solution! Thanks for sharing.
E Quinn says
Nice website Susan perhaps you should a have a news / chronologically ordered posts section on the home page ? Or your “my top 20 tips” with links to the pages for more detail.
The wood chip bordering idea is just an element within my main idea which is called “Open Book planting beds” and is basically a reinterpretation of the African “Keyhole Garden”
see http://www.allotment-ideas.co.uk/open-book/
Scott says
I didn’t realize that it is recommended to layer a few inches of compost on top of newspaper, and then a few inches of wood chips on top of that. It makes sense why this would be good to make sure that everything grows healthy and strong. My mom likes to plant a flower and vegetable garden each spring. I’ll have to talk to her to see if she has tried this method.
Carla says
I cleared our back yard of weedy lawn and to prepare for raised beds the following summer (this coming summer 2107) I had a local arborist drop off about 4 yards of wood chips. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to request no evergreen. Almost the entire load is evergreen, cedar and fir, I think. Once it was dropped off, I couldn’t exactly ask them to take it back!
I put about 3-4 inches over the entire yard last summer, just to keep weeds down, and left the rest to compost. My plan is to spread the rest and put raised beds on top. If I put at least 12 inches of fresh soil, do you think it’ll be ok? The soil mix I’m using is from a local company and according to their website contains worm castings, mycorrhizal fungi, mineral dust, topsoil, fruit and veggie compost, dairy manure compost, mushroom compost, river sand and horticultural pumice. Maybe I should add blood meal?
Hoping this will work as I nowhere else to put the chips!
Susan Vinskofski says
It’s really hard to answer your question, Carla. Yes, blood meal would help the chips to decompose more quickly and that’s what you’re looking for. If you go forward with your plan, I would keep the chips to a minimum – maybe 2″. And then put as much good soil as you can on top.
Shawn says
After watching Back to Eden 3 years ago, I mulched my garden with 30 yards of woodchips, and it has been pathetic ever since (with the exception of Kale and Collards). I think I may have mulched a little too deeply ~4 inches. It doesn’t seem to have decomposed at all and my soil beneath the mulch is still hard clay. Paul says the soil will be rich and black within a few months of mulching… Well it’s been 3 years and I don’t see any noticeable improvement in soil quality. I’m tempted to scrape the woodchips off my vegetable garden this year. Am I just being impatient, or am I doing something wrong?
Susan Vinskofski says
Hi Shawn, are you in a dry climate? The chips need moisture in order to decompose. That is the only thing that I can think of that would be preventing your chips from decomposing.
Shawn says
Thanks for the reply Susan. Yes I live in Utah, which gets very little moisture in the Summer/Fall. I’ve been using a drip system to irrigate, which means most of the wood chips see very little moisture during the growing season. However, I went out this morning to look at the soil (for the first time this year), and it appears things have decomposed a lot more than I realized. We had a really wet winter (much wetter than usual), so maybe that helped. I always thought decomposition was really slow during winter months, but maybe the wood chips insulated the soil enough to keep the microbes active? My soil samples were loaded with worm holes and aggregates, and generally had a rich blackish color. It just took a lot longer than I had expected. I’m so happy right now!
Would you suggest irrigating with overhead sprinklers? I would love to speed up the rate at which my garden makes humus.
Susan Vinskofski says
That’s a hard question to answer – your plants will do better with drip irrigation than with overhead sprinklers, but the wood chips need moisture to decompose. Perhaps you can do you best to keep the wood chips wet during the off season, and use the drip irrigation to water your plants. I hope that helps.
Justin says
I would scrape them off, put horse poo down, cover it with grass clippings and then spread the woodchips back on top. They do need moisture but also the green to brown ratio needs to be right. Some woodchips don’t have enough green (leaves) in them. Mulched yard waste definitely works best. Mixing grass clippings in with them can improve things.
Amy says
Are wood chips from certain trees better than others?
Susan Vinskofski says
Hi Amy, good question. Stay away from walnut and I prefer deciduous trees to evergreens. It’s best if you can get ramial wood chips – that includes small branches and fresh leaves.
sonny kwan says
Thanks for this well written article . I have put out 14 yards of wood chips in my 7000 sqft city property in Seattle just to help eliminate the grass growth when I stumbled onto Back to Eden. I have heard lots of good things about wood chips, and also found out that the mushroom spore dust in the wood chip made me sick ( Now I wear a mask ) when pitch forking it on my property. The rest of your article was very informative. Thanks for this!!
Susan Vinskofski says
The mushrooms help to break down the wood chips; I’m so sorry to hear that you are reacting to them. Hopefully, that will pass quickly.
Linda Bexton says
Just an URGENT warning about using hay for mulch! I have horses and made lovely looking compost with horse/hay manure and also used horse hay for mulch. Each year my garden was less productive and my tomatoes in particular were looking ill. I finally figured out that the beautiful, weed free hay I had bought was grown on hay fields where the herbicide “Grazon” was sprayed! Tomatoes are particularly affected by this herbicide and the leaves will curl up into little fists! This herbicide does not degrade quickly and ruined my organic garden. I was so discouraged that I now have a much smaller 10’X20′ garden in my yard where the soil is un-ruined.
Susan Vinskofski says
That is incredibly sad, Linda and a good warning. Yes, I do always ask if anything has been sprayed on the fields before getting hay.
Sandra Guthrie says
I have recently been introduced to the Back to Eden idea of using wood chips and chicken manure layered on my raised garden beds. I have a dump truck load scheduled to come with fresh wood chips. I live in Alaska so winter will soon be upon us. So my question is should I put the chips and chicken poop on after I harvest the garden or wait until spring? Will it decompose under the snow? My soil definitely needs some improvement as it wasn’t very good to begin with so wanted to try this method and see if it helps. Also with the chicken poop which I haven’t used before, can you give me in tips on using that?
Susan Vinskofski says
Hi Sandra, I highly recommend spreading the manure and the wood chips this fall (or late summer). Yes, the decomposition will begin over the winter. Just be sure to not overdo it on the wood chips. Use no more than 4″. Here’s a post on using manure: https://learningandyearning.com/using-manure-in-your-garden. Best wishes to you!
Sandra Guthrie says
Thanks Susan!
Miriam Smith says
I live on the Front Range of Colorado (high plains dessert) – so very little rain. We laid a woodchip garden down in February or March of 2016, so I didn’t expect much from my mulch garden. (and got very little out of my garden). I had much greater hopes for my garden this year. I was very disappointed in the results. The chips are breaking down nicely, but the things that did grow was very sporadic and slow in growth. The only thing that grew well was bindweed and thistle. (All vine plants were small, yellow, and produced little to no fruit, Corn came up sporadic and produced no fruit. Beans are finally starting to produce – picked my first crop this week. Many things didn’t even attempt to grow. We have just gotten some aged horse manure. Would it help to spread on top of the wood chips? Any suggestions other than scraping the woodchips and going back to regular gardening methods?
Susan Vinskofski says
Hi Miriam, how disappointing! It sounds like your garden did not have enough nitrogen. Did you add blood meal, or manure before you put down the wood chips? Regardless, yes, I would add the manure on top of the chips. If you have compost, I would add that along with the manure. This should help a lot for next year, but then you will again need some mulch on top to keep down weeds and hold in moisture.
Debbie says
Hi Susan,
I had grass in my front yard and decided to get rid of it and have flowers and vegetables.
A friend told me about lasagna gardening.
I put cardboard on my grass and then did a layer of horse shavings and then dead grass clippings. I’m wondering if my next step would be manure and then leaves and then wood chips .
Is this correct?
Thanks for the help.
Susan Vinskofski says
Debbie, you need a layer of compost just below the wood chips – this is where you will plant your seeds and seedlings. This post may help as well: https://learningandyearning.com/lasagna-gardening.
Justin says
I live in subtropical Australia on the Gold Coast. We have hard clay soil and lots of rain so it makes sense to garden on top of the ground. My first back to eden garden was formed on a cubic meter of topsoil from the garden center for $80 mulched with another $50 worth of forrest mulch. This made a garden of about 5 square metres. It’s doing great but it needs watering quite regularly.
Not wanting to spend $130 for each 5 meter section of my garden I hitched up the trailer and visited a property with polo horses on it. I scratched back the top layer of the muck pit and filled the trailer of the dark crumbly stuff on the bottom of the pile. I started mowing lawns so I could get heaps of grass clippings and when the neighbors over the road had a couple of trees cut down I pounced on the arborist and got 12 cubes of chips.
I put down the decomposed horse muck first then the grass clippings and covered it all with the wood chips. Everything is doing beautifully (accept the alliums) and has done for two seasons. The clay below the things I added has completely changed to a friable black incredible looking humus to about a spades depth below the surface. The roots of everything are massive.
Wood chips are great, I think they bring alot of insects and worms, microbes, fungi etc that enhance the humus building capability of the soil beneath. You do really need the fresh organic matter though. Wood chips alone are never enough. I’ve made all the paths wood chips and changed the chicken run to a deep bed system filled with wood chips. I plan to use this as my compost for next year and put fresh chips on the paths and in the chicken run every year.
I’m also using wood chips as the main carbon input in my compost system because I love the way they decompose in to light fluffy humus that was phenomenally successful as a seed propogation mix.
Thanks for the great article.
Susan Vinskofski says
Thanks, Justin. We build a “lasagna” style garden and add wood chips to the top. https://learningandyearning.com/lasagna-gardening
Vladimir says
Very informative, I have in excess of sawdust pine and spruce, should be careful with them
Susan Vinskofski says
Yes, use sparingly!
Michele says
Hi Susan
We hae had our vegetable garden for about 8 years now and have decided to try the wood chip method, wood ash,powdered egg shells and dried powdered greens have already been spread on the soil and we do organic gardeeng. My question is we have started getting free wood chips that came from an apple tree orchard a week ago but are concerned with the possibility that the orchard had most likely been sprayed over the years and how these wood chips could effect my garden. Any suggestions? I live in central Washington. Thank you
Susan Vinskofski says
Hi Michele, I would ask specifically what products have been used, and then do some research to see how degradable each of those products are. If they are something that degrades quickly, then I don’t think there will be a problem using them. Yes, a lot of research, but you’ll be so educated when you’re done. 😉
Lyn Hirthe says
Hi Susan, I’ve just discovered this dialog and really appreciate the information you’ve provided!.. it has me finally facing that the fresh 2″ if wood chip we’ve added has stunted our gardens growth. We did plant in amazing soil and a nice compost with the chip on top, so we’re certain there wouldn’t be a problem but here it is and couple of weeks after everything is in the ground and they’ve barely grown.
We’re in Alberta and we have a pretty short season but I think I can still save it if we act now. I hear bone meal loud and clear now and wonder how you’d go about applying it – just pull back the mulch from the plants , add meal, maybe more soil and then top again with the chip?
‘preciate you suggestions!
Lyn in Edmonton
Susan Vinskofski says
Hi Lyn, I wouldn’t add bone meal, but rather blood meal. Just push the chips away from each plant and sprinkle a Tablespoon of blood meal around the plant. Don’t push the chips back around the plants until your plants get some good growth. If your soil is still cool, the mulch may be keeping it cool and that may actually be the problem and not lack of nitrogen. But use the blood meal just in case.
Lyn says
Aha, that makes sense! Yes I’d meant blood meal not bone 🙂
Thank you so much Susan, have a lovely day
Susan Vinskofski says
You are very welcome. I felt certain you meant blood meal but in case anyone else was reading for help, I wanted to clarify.
Brian says
Thank you for the nice article, which i find will be very helpful for people to understand how to plant when using woodchips. Paul explains this in his videos and you really have to watch and listen closely to hear it, so as to not plant in the chips themselves, but in the soil. And to pull the chips back until the young plants geow up above the chips, then to move the chips back around the plants. I did not hear this at first but after watching the videos several times i caught it. I knew this truth from growing in a garden mulched
( layered on top of the soil) with leaves. For years i have done this with tremendous results, in every way , and especially noticable to other people in the taste of the vegetables and how prolific they grew. But soil has to be warmed for plants to germinate and so i would bare the soil some when planting, and that was how i was taught by a man whom grew this way for over 40 years, and his garden is simply too wonderful to describe, but just as Paul’s and how you described yours too, but he had to put leaves on quite often at the first, and i found this to be true as well. Leaves basically break down in one year for the most part same for straw. But the results are still the same and over time you do put less and less on to some degree. However with wood chips i believe it will be way less. Either way, thanks for sharing the truth of your experiences. It has helped reinforce to me thatbit all works, just like he said it does. The Lord showed me in prayer to use wood chips like Paul and thatbit was all true what he showed, and brought to me thatbi was to add a layer of leaves about a foot thick before adding my chips over that. So thats what i am going to do. I am most excited to use the chips!!
The Lord also showed me in spirit that the most important thing of Paul’s videos, other than they were true, was that a man came to Him ( God) and asked. That is what the Lord showed me to be the most important thing here.
Which I do. I ask God about everything so as to find the truth and my way in all things. And it is the best. Just as Paul gets so excited and says over and over, it is all there free for us, just ask !! He will show you! So i just encourage everyone to begin in prayer and ask God to show them, to make known to them how to proceed, or what is true, not only in the garden, but in everything! He really wants to be with us and speak to us and guide us in all things, all tuth. And so much more! Thanks again for the nice article. It is very edifying and helpful to hear of your a tual experiences.
Susan Vinskofski says
Thank you for stopping by, Brian!
Sam says
Thank you so much. I am starting a 1/4 acre mini dye farm and I’m considering mulching most of it with wood chips. One crop will need a black mulch fabric but the rest I wanted something more economical. I can possibly get wood mulch for free but worse case its 140$ for 12 cubic yards delivered. So I’m thinking of paying for a few loads when I need them in the spring but then trying to get some free loads through the summer. I cant wait for spring.
Susan Vinskofski says
If you anticipate that you will have a lot of brush or branches on your own property to take care of you may want to invest in a portable wood chipper. That’s what we did and we’re able to make some of our own chips as well.
Julia says
THanks for the post!
We lived in Central FL for 2 years. My second year, I decided to experiment by growing pumpkins, herbs, and annual flowers in our Jungle-semi-cleared forest. We had 2 hurricanes that leveled many of our trees and the canopy. But because it was forested for many years, you can imagine the floor of the garden space. I was able to grow the most amazing and largest herbs- borage especially, in that garden. Pumpkins took off like crazy. And we’re talking heirlooms that are for northern climates. Pumpkins and Florida are not friends. They were in this garden!!! The ground was the richest and easiest dirt to dig in. The rest of the yard was nothing but grey sand under the grass or weeds. But the forest floor was a very happy place for all of those plants. So I have to say thanks! Because I was actually being swayed away from BTE for this new garden here in the upper midwest. I have a source of free wood chips, ill have to use raw this first year. With some hay/straw being available but it’s pricey right now. We have 5 acres with 3 being former crop lands and while the dirt is not devoid of topsoil, I’m sure it’s nutrient deficient. Thanks for the suggestion about the blood and bone meals. I was thinking about using lava sands but the blood meal might be easier for me to buy in larger quantities.
Susan Vinskofski says
Thank you so much for relating your experience! Just keep in mind that chips do not decompose as quickly as some other forms of mulch so you may not see the results you are looking for immediately.
rose igoe says
For potatoes I put down 6 inches of compost and then seed potatoes, more chips and mounded up with chips. Great growth for the first few months. Now almost all of the vines have died down, never saw any flowers and there is a black dusty mold on surface. I sprayed with vinegar but am concerned. I wont put them in the same place nest year as once the trees leafed out it was too shady. Should I not compost all those chips? If there are potatoes under the mold are they safe to eat??
Susan Vinskofski says
He’s an article that addresses your concerns: https://homeguides.sfgate.com/moldy-mulch-harmful-plants-65530.html
gregory browne says
nice info; being a N.E. and now a desert rat,I learned to mulch pathways…and avoid conifers and any throny plants mulch in any garden bed..I am old school learn and your article very good ,i am applying it to this desrt hot heat.
Susan Vinskofski says
One thing to keep in mind is that the wood chips will decompose quite slowly in a desert climate, and decomposition is essential to turning it into good soil. Here in the NE a 2″ layer of wood chips will decompose in a year.
Sharon says
I just stumbled upon your website while looking for info on wood chips. I have ordered some from ChipDrop. So it’s a crap shoot as to when or if I’ll get them. But have learned a bunch here. Comment: When I “see” this type of typeface, thin and very light, I think that the designers are quite young and have good eyes that do not require readers. I find it extremely difficult to read I’m sorry to say. I tried dark mode but it’s not working on this site.
Just a heads up… I’m sure I’m not alone. IS there anything you can do about making it wider or darker by a skosh? Thank you for your gardening insight. Best, Sharon.
Susan Vinskofski says
I am not very techie, Sharon, but I will see what I can do about the light font. Thanks for stopping by.
Vladka says
I am glad I came across this article. I am going to forward it to my parents as they use wood chip mulch in their garden path only and not in the vegetable garden.
Susan Vinskofski says
Hi Vladka! I know they’ll be happy with the results.
gene deerman says
I hope that this reply will be read…I know I am responding to an older post:) In my experience, wood chips caused a huge problem: seeds struggled to germinate and seedling struggled to live.
We put down a layer of cardboard, then 6″ of wood chips, and left it all to smother the bermuda grass lawn, for about 8 months, over winter.
What just isn’t emphasized enough is that you won’t get decomposition in a dry climate (southern California).
The grass died all right, then left a nearly impermeable 2″ thick layer of thatch!
The chips on top just sat there.
Now we have around 27 cubic yards of wood chips covering our “garden”. We are struggling to move some of it so that we can create garden beds: a lot of work and then where do the chips go?
We also built raised beds and found that the chips below the soil caused the beds (we filled with dirt we had trucked in and compost) to saturate and then all the seedlings drowned and the potatoes rotted. We had used drip irrigation and didn’t know to dig into the bed and monitor soil moisture:(
Now we are slowly dismantling the beds and trying to plant by digging trenches, carting away the chips, and bringing in wheelbarrows of dirt.
There was barely any rain last winter so the chips just sit there. There’s some fungal growth evident: threadlike, white growth. And we had dog barf fungus early in spring.
Hopefully my reply will spark another post on how mulching with wood chips can be tricky! Thank you for all the useful information:)
Susan Vinskofski says
Yes, as I’ve mentioned, wood chip gardening can be challenging. I would have recommended several inches of compost on top of the cardboard before adding the wood chips. 6″ is too deep and yes, it definitely requires some moisture. When it is time to plant, you push aside the wood chips and plant in the compost. Here in the NE our wood chips have been decomposing much too quickly because we have been getting so much rain. I wish we could send some your way!
gene deerman says
Thank you! Your response cheered me and offered a much more promising approach to using wood chips to smother a lawn. We should have made a habitat for the bacteria we depend on for decomposition by providing moisture and compost. However our lawn took up around 1500 sq ft, so I am not sure where we’d have found that much compost!
I’ve picked myself up of the wood chips (*rueful smile*) and started planting our cool season crops in the ground (scraped away the chips and made a few seed beds). Looking forward to lettuce around end of December and celery, onions, and maybe edible flowers in January!
Happy gardening! Gene
CAROL says
When I moved to North Carolina , I had a huge garden, that was freshly plowed. The land was red clay! My husband worked at a factory that made wooden furniture frames. I carted home bins of fresh sawdust every day and spread it in my garden spot. Within 2 years, I had the nicest soil you could ask for. And it didn’t cost me a dime! I just loaded the bins after I dropped my husband off at work!
Susan Vinskofski says
That’s really fantastic; we actually haven’t used sawdust in our garden, but may soon remedy that!
Rose Felton says
I had been putting wood chips in my flower garden for about 3-4 years and saw how well they worked there. After watching some videos of Paul Gautschi’s, I decided last year to put them in 5 of my 6 raised beds. One bed had lettuce, carrots and beets in it so didn’t want to smother them with the chips. I wanted to keep the weeds down, but I think I put too thick of chips on the beds. I have a hard time keeping the chips from covering plants. The wind blows them onto the plants as well as when I water them. I think in the long run that using the chips on my beds they are going to make the soil better and possibly help keep the plant roots cool in the summer.
Susan Vinskofski says
Hi Rose, yes, wood chips definitely build beautiful soil, but they can be challenging to use in areas where you direct sow seeds. And you do have to be careful not to layer too thickly. It’s all a learning process!
Vyas Chinnam says
Hi, I got a big pile of wood chips from chipdrop at end of Jan. These are a bit rough and have small twigs ..etc. what i noticed is part of the pile has some type of light green fungus growth. is it normal?
thanks
Susan Vinskofski says
Most likely since fungus breaks down wood chips.