Mulch Mulch Mulch

Apparently people like mulch!  This blog has seen a steady increase in hits since I posted the ‘free mulch’ tidbits several weeks ago.  So, I thought I’d take this opportunity to preach to the choir about some mulch benefits:

• Mulch keeps the soil warmer
• Mulch retains more water
• Enough mulch naturally squelches weeds
• Mulch adds more nutrients to soil, especially compacted soil
• By adding more nutrients, mulch helps attract beneficial creepy crawlies – like worms & bugs
• Worms & bugs help aerate the soil, making it less compacted
• Less compacted soil is better for growing things
• When we have things growing in our yards, we attract beneficial insects
• Bees are beneficial insects/pollinators
• We would do well to attract bees
• So mulch, mulch, mulch!

That’s all for now folks!

Levi by the irises in the drive.

Iris close up.

Close up of mulch by the garage.

Hydrangea and blueberry on the south side.

Overview of backyard.

Poplar Suckers

The History

While putting the Tolman Guide together, we learned that poplar trees are great soil remediators. They take up toxins from soil, cleaning the soil. I already knew that sunflowers do the same thing, and in ten years sunflowers when planted on a brownfield will clean the land. What I didn’t know, and was sad to learn this year, was that poplars are not ideal for urban spaces.

In fact, the poplar tree can be so prolific as to act like a weed. Because of the compaction and density of houses, poplar trees don’t grow like they would in open country, and the trees (according to three arborists, 2 certified) are weaker and prone to falling as they get older. My husband and I were quite disappointed to learn this because we had been quite pleased with the very quick shade they brought. Several of the ’suckers’ shot up 6+ feet, some reaching 15 feet, in about 18 months!

It started with the neighbor wanting to cut down his ‘problem’ tree. He hired a tree guy (not a certified arborist) to cut down this tree he thought would impact his foundation in 40 years. This was the summer of 2007. The tree is directly on the property line, and we wanted the shade and did not want to pay this shady tree guy, so we instructed him to leave ‘our’ tree alone. Shortly after half of the tree was felled, we began noticing these weedy things in our yard. The ‘weeds’ followed the root line of the felled tree. This summer, 2008, we consulted our Audubon book and learned our prolific weeds were indeed white poplar. These suckers, as they are called, kept popping up in odd and annoying places, and they were getting more difficult to mow over; so we called in the professionals.

We had three arborists come out. Two are certified with the ISA. The low-ball bid (the first, non-certified) quoted $300 to remove all the trees. There were about a half dozen. The second, $600, and we’d get the wood chips they would make on-site. The third (Green Options) quoted $2000 but offered a home remedy. All agreed we were addressing the problem at an early, preventive stage.

The Remedy

James Kinder of Green Options saw our plight and suggested we do it ourselves. Being in the infancy of the problem, he instructed us as follows:

1. Cut all tall (tree like, not weed like) suckers
2. Within one half hour of cutting, saturate fresh trunk with vegetable oil

The trees take big gulps of oxygen trying to survive after being cut, and by dousing them with oil, you effectively suffocate the tree preventing it from spreading.

Next, you have to take care of the weed-like suckers. Kinder gave us a homemade recipe for weed-killer. He told us that Roundup is actually based on a similar (or the same) base as vinegar, it just has all the unneccessary stuff added.

Homemade Weed Killer Recipe

• 1 gallon white-distilled vinegar
• 1 tablespoon dye-free liquid soap (like dish soap)
• 1 tablespoon sea salt

1. Add all ingredients in a pan
2. Boil
3. Put in spray bottle
4. Spray on plants while hot

Next, cover the severely affected area with newspaper, then add 90% weed-free topsoil. The area should be ready for planting in about 6 months.

The Results

We noticed results with the weed killer within a few hours, most noticeably 24 hours after application. You spray the leaves of the sucker, and within a day the sucker begins to wilt. Some plants come up easily, some do not. We ordered 4 cubic yards of screened, weed-free topsoil. We covered the area, about 15′ long and 3′ wide, with newspaper, a few sheets thick throughout. Then we shoveled the dirt onto the newspapers. Then the rains came. We’ll catch up in 6 months and see how well it worked. Kinder instructed us that the few suckers that will remain should then be easy to pull up by the roots.

It’s important to remember that all ingredients are found in the kitchen. Most people have vinegar and vegetable oil on-hand. I didn’t ask what properties sea salt added over iodized salt, but would conjecture the lack of iodine. Some grass was killed, but we buried the rest in soil anyway. This process is green, but do be mindful of the smell of the hot vinegar concoction; I have not had levels tested for toxicity.

What about the bugs I don’t want in the home?

Or, another way to ask would be… what do we do about those pests, naturally? How do we get rid of pests, naturally? What is a natural remedy for pests?

Every summer, we get ants. Here in the Pacific Northwest, Willamette Valley, after the mild winter has gone, on that first warm, sunny day; the ants come out to play. I have lived here for five years in four different places in three areas of Portland (SE, SW, N), and only one home was ant-free. Every other place had the same problem at the same time of year, that first nice day in spring the ants come out.

It’s always difficult to discern where they originate. Toxic solutions didn’t work. An environmentally-friendly professional didn’t work. And, my mother’s old trick of cayenne pepper didn’t work. So, how to get rid of these pests is a question that comes up often. And, when you consider pets and small children who don’t know that something is bad and they shouldn’t touch it, the desire for natural solutions is greater.

Some basic web research yielded these results:

• Talcum baby powder sprinkled along the ants trail
• Bay leaves (you know, that soup ingredient, laurel leaves) whole placed in a row where the ants go
• Vinegar (white distilled) in a spray bottle or vinegar & soap in a spray bottle sprayed along the trail where the ants go, let dry and wait
• Black or cayenne pepper sprinkled in a row where the ants are found

Since cayenne pepper didn’t work here for me, I was skeptical of the bay leaves, we don’t own large quantities of talcum powder, the vinegar solution was for me. Trial and error taught me to fill the spray bottle nearly full with vinegar (I started with 3 parts water, 1 part vinegar) and a big squirt of soap. I use Ecover’s Dishwashing Soap (you know if you wash dishes by hand). Now, when I see ants, I spray the area they are found with this concoction, and the ants disappear for several weeks. I have had to go back to the bottle since April, but they have ceased to be the annoying pests I usually think of them to be.

How to attract good bugs to my garden?

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is probably what you could learn about next. I will refer you (again) to those fabulous articles by the University of Wisconsin, this one titled Managing Leaves & Yard Trimmings. I would have included a PDF, but unfortunately a few hard drive crashes and no frequent back ups have erased it from my computer. But, here’s the link again: http://clean-water.uwex.edu/pubs/pdf/home.managlt.pdf. Obviously, I am going to tell you to “Say NO to Chemicals!” You want things like worms and ladybugs. Ladybugs, for instance, eat aphids which eat roses. I don’t know all the ins and outs of IPM, but that’s where I’d direct you next to learn more about what you want to see in your yard and what you don’t.

I kept getting stuck on shade, without re-referencing your email, as your question and thinking about what to plant in the shade. I don’t have an answer for that, but that’s not really what you asked. Shade is good because it helps with energy costs, especially around the home. Having plants work together is good… but anyway. That’s not specific, only generalities.

Back to what you want to see in your yard. I just did a Google search for “good bugs in Michigan” and this is the first thing that popped up from the Michigan Department of Agriculture: http://www.michigan.gov/mda/0,1607,7-125-1566_1733_22582_22592-69349–,00.html. They list three bugs you want to see: Praying Mantis, Ladybug, and Honeybee.

Now – maybe the BEST site is this from MSU: http://nativeplants.msu.edu/results.htm. This is a chart of the type of native plant and how good they are at attracting bees.