the best mulch for zone 19

[Someone]

My soil is really dense, very rich, and right now super soggy. tried a google search and did not get too far. please help.

[David Ross]

I use fallen leaves to mulch my beds. I use them without chopping, shredding, or composting. (But I also compost leaves.) The leaves provide a cushion when it rains, keeping the soil from compacting. In the summer, they keep the soil cool and moist. Evetually, they form a compost (actually leafmold, which I think is better).

If your soil is really soggy, it might be clay. My soil is mostly adobe clay, really heavy and sticky when wet. I broadcast a lot of gypsum on the soil just before the rainy season (the "not so dry" season here in southern California). It reacts with the clay to make it somewhat porous, helping excess moisture to drain deeper.

[Someone]

thank you very much. I think it is clay. It feels that way and it packs down pretty badly. I am nervous about using leaves, the trees seems like overgrown weeds next to the flowerbed I am working. Does that matter?

[Marley1372]

the best mulch is the one that you like, that fits your budget, that is available.

Toad

[Travis]

It is not a good idea to walk on or work your soil when it is soggy.

[Dennis Hoy]

Can someone please tell me where is zone 19?????????

[Someone]

los angeles

[Dennis Hoy]

That's bullshit. You may be in zone 9, or even zone 10 (maybe), but you sure aren't in zone 19. There is no zone 19.

[Warren]

There may be no USDA zone 19, but that doesn't mean there is no zone 19:

I'll bet you make quite an impression of people with your ability to drop some crude language at the drop of a hat.

[IntarsiaCo]

Zone 19 is in Southern California

[GrampysGurl]

Try Sunset zones.

[David Ross]

The link you cite gives the following message: "The page you requested is available only to magazine customers and AOL members".

[Tom Jaszewski]

Radio man got quiet! Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets. To plant a pine, one need only own a shovel.

-- Aldo Leopold

[Christopher Green]

There is in Sunset magazine's system, which is at least as well known to gardeners in southern California. Sunset divides mild-winter areas according to microclimate, because this can make a big difference in growing plants sensitive to dry air or even slight frost.

[Briefly, zone 19 is a zone with air drainage (thus less frost than adjacent zone 18) and little or no marine influence (thus hotter and less humid than adjacent zone 20). It is an ideal zone for citrus and other frost-sensitive heat-dependent plantings, more challenging for drought-sensitive things like evergreen azaleas.]

[paghat]

Sounds like a good zone to build a semi-shading pergola from which to hang orchid cacti.

-paghat the ratgirl

[Christopher Green]

Indeed. Also, lathhouses such as the epiphyllum house at the San Diego Wild Animal Park work very well in inland Southern California.

[Someone]

yesh, orcids grow well here.

[Someone]

thank you.

[Someone]

by the way i put down the redwood compost & gypsum recommended here. looks so purty!