Wood Chips for Mulching & Building Soil

There have always been this large pile of wood chips sitting at the neighbouring town’s local council (for the past 5 years!). Today, I pulled over and filled up many bags with the much-treasured wood chips to be reused as mulching material in the farm. Unfortunately, they were of pretty low grade; some piles have been pre-mixed with construction waste: sand, glasses and rocks. All I had to do was to skim off the surface where it was “cleaner”.

I may have to work a certain pile’s top surface thoroughly before moving on to another, when more unwanted materials are unearthed, rendering it unusable. There would come a time when doing so would not be economical anymore; that’s when I’m about to complete “mining” the pile. Anyway, I’m not complaining.

These are pretty good material to not only be used as mulch but as a quick and cheap soil modifier. They keep the soil moist and over time, these materials would break down and further feed the soil, thus modifying the soil structure.

Back at the farm, I created a 3 – 5 inch thick layer of covering at one of the “not-so-raised beds” I’ve quickly put together. It isn’t a proper raised bed as I reckon it’s no more than 6 inches high. Plus, I did not even mix with good soil to start with. The wood chips are in contact directly with native soil.  I just blocked off a small area with some medium size logs to mark out the area of work. This also helped keep unwanted vegetation from encroaching inside. The logs would also help prevent soil erosion and perhaps lock in moisture and nutrients as this area is at the bottom of a gentle slope.

Once the wood chips are in, they would be watered to keep moist. When I need to plant at a certain point, I would dig up a small section by hand, insert compost/good soil, and plant the sapling in it, or sow some seeds into it. Of course, before putting the mulching material, I should have lined up some moist cardboard and sprinkle some kitchen waste or good soil above it (as some would do), but I was hard pressed for time. Without workers, I have to settle for less. I just have to run with this setup.

As time goes by, I would dump more wood chips, leaves or just about any carbon material. Keeping this area moist is key to allowing it to decompose and subsequently, the wood chips would become good soil.

Are the wood chips safe? I don’t know. But they have been crushed from fallen non-food trees by the local council. Contaminants could be everywhere, but since these are likely non-food producing plants, I reckon no chemicals have been used.