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[so lucky]

I just found a few slugs in my cabbage this week. So I sprinkled crushed egg shells, hoping that will deter them.

I am wondering if the type of wood chips makes a difference in how the garden plants react. Does anyone know if certain types of trees are toxic (besides black walnut)? Bee, do you have any idea what kinds of trees your woodchips came from? I think theoretically it shouldn't matter, but something is keeping your plants from thriving, so maybe it does matter.

 

[Beekissed]

No idea...no way of knowing, really. Most were just a mix of hard and soft woods, not many pine.

I think the addition of the leaves was the deciding factor and too much, too soon. Should have resisted that temptation.

Live and learn, huh? Hopefully....

 

[Ridgerunner]

I get slugs when it sets in wet for a while. I'm not sure where they come from. It's often on cabbage and such that I don't usually mulch. Clean the weds out a couple of times and cabbage will self-mulch. As long as it is kind of dry they just don't show up.

Bee, another thought. Where did the chips come from? How big a chance is there that hey have been sprayed with a herbicide? A neighbor sprays his fence rows to keep the brush down. I know that is a stretch. What are the odds of it happening to start with, but especially what are the odds the concentration would be high enough to cause a problem over the whole garden. I haven't followed this thread close enough to know but I'd guess you have your own chipper anyway.

What can cause that kind of problem? Too much or too little nitrogen. Too much or too little water. Are you sure your ground is not supersaturated? It just seems that some plants would do better with more or less nitrogen than others and your results seem too consistent. But you might try side-dressing some of it and not others to see if it makes a difference.

This is a pain. Good luck pulling it out.

 

[Beekissed]

Thanks! I don't think these chips would have any poison on them...a large portion of them were chipped right down the driveway at the neighbor's land for a right of way for electric lines.

I'm thinking the leaves might be a large part of the problem and I'll be working to remove as much of them as possible...will use them in the orchard instead.

Got a number to call about free horse manure, so will be trying to get a load of that for side dressing things.

The thing is, I'm seeing tons of earthworms in the actual soil of the garden, so it could be that the soil is not too bad but these leaves and the high rain volume could be skewing the balance up a good bit. I shouldn't have added so many leaves or any leaves at all, until I could see what the wood chips will do this season. Just plain ol' impatience on my part.

Then I'm going to get some horse manure in the mix and maybe even some sweet lime to discourage the slugs.

 

[ninnymary]

Bee, did Paul use leaves? I only remember compost and wood chips.

Mary

 

[Beekissed]

Nope..no leaves. Others on YT have used leaves and varying degrees of success, but I'm thinking they will not work here...I already have acidic soil and the leaves seem to be adding to that.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Bee, how feasible would it be to get a soils analysis?

 

[Beekissed]

Usually can get that free at the local extension office, but just have to think about it, plan it and remember to stop by there. I had bought what I thought was a kit for doing that very thing, on Amazon, but it turned out to be only part of a kit and I never did go back to get the other parts in order to do my own.

 

[henless]

Sorry to hear about your garden troubles Bee. Hopefully it will all work out. I think the BTE method is worth the work it takes to get it started. One good thing about the leaves is that you don't have to worry about them tieing up the nitrogen like you do with wood chips. If you mix some leaves up with the soil while planting, its not as big a deal as it is with the wood chips.

We've had so much rain here, that I haven't gotten much put in my garden. I was planting some egg plant a few weeks ago and every time I dug a hole to plant them, it would fill up with water. I finally got eggplant, tomatoes & squash planted. The tomatoes seem to be doing ok now, since we've dried out just a little. My egg plants look sad & my squash is a bit yellow. I side dressed all with compost. Hope that helps them

I did notice in my BTE garden that the area that had the chopped leaves is doing much better than the rest. My whole leaves aren't composting much, but I'm using them like wood chips. I rake the leaves back, plant and will cover up once the seeds are up. Earth worms are EVERYWHERE!! They are fat and pop up fast. No slow pokes here. I thought one was a baby snake since it moved so fast! I will be mowing my leaves this fall before putting on my garden.

I still have a lot of grass in my garden. Part of it is my fault. I was mowing behind my compost bin and couldn't get the mower to back up, so had to run out over my garden. This was before I planted. I ended up dragging some of the cardboard/manure so left some gaps for grass.

Today I planted my cantaloupe, watermelons & pumpkins. Normally, I would make hills and plant seeds in the top. I really don't know how your supposed to do it with the BTE garden. I hilled the cantaloupe and put the watermelon & pumpkins in rows. I'll see which way is better.

 

[baymule]

@henless I am getting my garden planted too. The nights have been so cool, that it feels like I am so late getting stuff planted. I hope your garden grows good for you this year.