through the compost mulch

==>>> mulch is a soil covering.. that inhibits weed germination .... it is never a compost ....

compost is a soil amendment mostly ... but it can be used as a mulch.. if it is FULLY cooked out.. to kill all the potential seed in it..

which begs the question... are you throwing all the weed weeds into your compost pile.. and then spreading it on your garden???

i would suggest you go to a true mulch.. and cover the soil ... many if not most weeds need sunshine and to touch the soil .. to germinate.. and a good couple inches of mulch interferes with germination.. and presto.. the problem is significantly reduced or eliminated ...

and never pull your weeds thru the mulch.. and bring soil to the top.. if you can avoid it ...

so tell us.. where does your compost come from??

ken

My compost is all tree leaves and mowed grass plus pea shells and corn husks, seedless garden waste. I add bagged composted organic cow manure to the beds, too. This is all so frustrating to me with all the WORK. I'm getting too old for this!! I don't garden in rows, either so it's doubly hard to weed. I have veggies in block shaped formation (like square foot gardening) and flowers here and there all mixed.

Yellow Wood Sorrel can be a real pain to keep under control since it seeds so prolifically and birds carry those seeds around and deposit them everywhere. I put Yellow Wood Sorrel plants in my compost for years (the plants before they produced blossoms) and never had any germinate from that compost although it would show up in places far removed from that compost where th4e birds flew. As long as birds eat the seeds from many plants we will be seeing those plants growing in places we do not want them.

I have never done this....

https://www.wildedible.com/wild-food-guide/wood-sorrel

i hope you are thinking about a proper mulch ...

just try an experiment.. clean one small area ... few feet square.... and lay down a proper mulch.. and see what happens ...

its the next iteration on your learning curve ...

ken

Ken, please explain what you think a "proper" mulch is. And why you think that compost is not suitable.

You can cut down on the weeding in the pathway by raking the cedar chip mulch back, putting down cardboard, then raking the mulch back over the cardboard. Add extra cedar chips if needed to hide the cardboard. I pulled all the tape off although you don't have to do that. Tiffany, purpleinopp suggested that to control nutgrass in a bed of mine and it has worked well.

I also bought, but not used yet, some really expensive landscape fabric at Home Depot that looks like the very heavy stuff with lines that they used at nurseries. I am going to use it around the patio. I think that would work well in a garden pathway.

gardengal48, I consider compost an excellent mulch for vegetable plants (and any other plant).

ETA: This is the fabric I bought. It also comes in a 4 ft width.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Landmaster-6-ft-x-100-ft-Polypropylene-Woven-Ground-Cover-30118H/203121433

Sherry, I too mulch with compost.......exclusively. And have done so for years. Not only does it significantly improve the soil structure, it also supplies a lot of nutrients - more so than most other common wood-based mulches.

I have never had an issue with it creating more weeds. It does make a pretty fertile seed bed for weed seeds that blow in but they are extremely easily removed from the loose, rich soil they are growing in.

But I do not use weed or landscape fabric nor do I encourage its use by others. Most horticulturists and experienced gardeners consider it to be more trouble than it solves.

Gardengal, I don't like the fuzzy gray stuff since everything grows up and down through it. I have got most of it out of the yard. I do like it as a circle cut to fit the bottom of my pots to keep the potting mix in the pot. The new fabric is a very heavy woven fabric and will be going under landscape stone.

PS: I've been gardening for over 45 years. I think I have a little experience.

Thanks all for the discussion. I don't use landscape fabric (what a pain to maintain!) And I won't use cardboard or paper in my garden (too many paper processing chemicals I don't want around my food.)

No weeds grow in my compost mulch except for those @#$%^ oxalis. The only other thing I've had to pull up is the clumps of pokeweed seedlings but now I know to cut those big plants down and get rid of them.

Once the oxalis starts growing in the pathways, I dump more bags of cedar chips there. That gives me 2 weed-free years. But I solarize the bags first for a year because one year they contained a horde of wood ticks crawling all over me and my shower walls.

What we go through to grow stuff!! It's a passion. I'm grateful to have this space to occasionally bitch and complain and get some good tips.

I swear I want to give free room and board to a young person who will do all this heavy blasted work for me everyday! I know why people move from their house to a condo but around here (where I love living) you can't garden in the condos.

Landscape or weed fabric under stone or hardscaping is a reasonable use for it.....maybe the only reasonable use!! LOL! Using it on the bottom of a container is a pretty decent use for it as well.

As a professional consulting horticulturist, I have encountered just about every kind of landscape fabric there is and I have found none to be effective at blocking or preventing weed growth. At least for more than a month or two.

Susan, Maybe we just need to eat it like my first post!