Steve in France

On the mulch front I always think of it in terms of what a forest floor is like in a Tropical zone , generally the soil is poor and most of the good stuff is locked up in living trees and plants. The leafmold and rotting old growth wood feeds the living plants. So with my garden in France which had poor soil to start with I mulched with manure and leafmold/garden compost. When I used straw or wood chips which have a high level of cellulose material ,which is hard for the bacteria in the mulch to break down without taking nitrogen from the mulch to use as energy. With high Cellulose stuff I also added a high nitrogen fertilizer to help with rapid breakdown of the harder organic material. What you get from a good mulching method is lots of minerals and other trace elements that plants use to grow at the maximum rate. With the short cool Summers in the part of Europe where our house is getting maximum effect was important . My main focus in Europe was Bamboo , Aroids ,Musa and Ensete my results with all were very good. If you take a look at my gallery you will see the growth on Ensete's and such. I also water everyday , that gets expensive on metered water , but gardening was my only Hobby so I did not care about the cost. Here in Bethesda I have not planted much in the soil , the soil here is poor and full of clay, so I'm going to have to improve it. in the areas which have flowerbeds.
Most of plants are in containers and I'm using the compost mixs you guys have recommended for Musa and such.Because this place is a rental I'm forced to container garden for the moment.
I hope my garden in France is ok, I'm not visiting it until next year.
Later
Steve

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