bump down

Consider this and you might not have to depend on precipitation as much. Good luck!

Wood Chips-The Secret to Effortless, Inexpensive Biodynamic Gardening
October 05, 2014-By Dr. Mercola

" Water shortage was in fact part of what inspired Paul when he first began. HeâÂÂd moved from Los Angeles to Washington State where he built a house and planned an orchard. The problem was, his well didnâÂÂt produce enough water for irrigation.

âÂÂIt was August âÂÂ79... It didnâÂÂt rain the whole summer... And IâÂÂm saying, âÂÂGod, how am I going to grow fruit trees for my family without water?âÂÂâÂÂ

His answer lay in the woods behind his house. Those trees were all lush and green, and when he poked around, he realized they were surrounded by deep, dark, lush, fertile soil" courtesy of all the fallen leaves and twigs that had never been cleared away.

âÂÂI started planting my trees and covering [them]. At that time, I had straw and sheep manure; now IâÂÂm doing the wood chips,â he says. âÂÂMy orchard has not been watered or fertilized for 35 years, and itâÂÂs produced abundantly beyond what people can imagine...

Wherever you live, thereâÂÂs something in nature that you can use to cover the ground with. If you have nothing but rocks, they make a great cover. You can grow wonderful gardens in rocks because rocks are minerals and they hold moisture...

Whatever youâÂÂre growing, put it back. ItâÂÂs that simple. If youâÂÂre raising corn, chop the stalks and put them back. If youâÂÂre raising grain, put the straw back.

Whatever you use, put it back... Any organic material lying on the ground will decompose, return to the soil, and the plants work out. ItâÂÂs so commonsense simple.âÂÂ

A link that might be useful:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/10/05/wood-chips-ground-cover.aspx

Reported.

"Putting it back" as described is a sure fire way to spread and perpetuate disease. Your garden or fruit trees are not a natural forest environment - what works for the forest does not work for the garden or an isolated fruit tree.

Compost it. And discard any material from diseased or pest-infested plants. Clean up dropped fruit and compost that as well. It will still help your garden, eventually, while protecting your plants from pests and diseases.

As a master gardener in drought-plagued southern California, I agree with you that compost is a must. But even disease free non-composted garden litter makes a good mulch. It's free, it helps minimize green waste, it returns nutrients to the soil, and best of all, it conserves water. A 4" layer of mulch should be laid over planting beds, but the mulch should be held away from the trunks of trees and the bases of plants to prevent disease.

We have lots of helpful gardening ideas on Humpty Dumpty House facebook, which is linked below.
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Visits to Humpty Dumpty House on facebook are much appreciated during this difficult time. If you like what we do, please give us a page "like". This simple act can help us get the gardens and our work back up and running during my absence due to an injury. ~Thank you!

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