A friend of mine had a stump ground a couple of years ago. Would the ground up stump be any good in the garden? My garden has a lot of leaves and grass clippings from over the years and I get a lot of great veggies, would this material help? Please contact me at snipped-for-privacy@cox.net
I don't know but it would probably depend on what kind of a tree it was. If it was a walnut tree, it would probably totally ruin your garden.
they will be a useful mulch that will save you watering and weeding and will last a couple of years. Use them only in beds where you do not plan to direct seed next year. In two years, I usually rake the remains to one side of the bed and plant potatoes or squash in them. They are quite acidic, and so will be preferred by veggies such as potatoes, or veggies that tolerate acidity but like the mulching, like garlic or tomatoes. Cabbage or onion like mulching, too, but if you apply chips to them, amend them with wood ash and nitrogen. They provide significant amounts of all micronutrients except nitrogen.
I use about one ton a year. I add about 3lbs of wood ash for 100 lbs of wood chips (my soil is acid, if your soil is neutral add only 1lb) and use as mulch on every bed planted with plants, except potatoes which get only wood chips and a N/P fertilizer (no wood ash). For solanaceae and cucurbitas, I add some manure before covering with the chips. For brassica, greens, beets and onions I also add urea, and I top dress with wood ash and urea a second time during the season. For beans and peas, wood ash and chips, and more wood ash side dressing later.
wood chip can take nitrogen out of the soil if mixed in (microbes use nitrogen as they devour the wood although they release it when dead but that can be some time) so adding in manure or slow release fertiliser when using wood chip as a mulch is a good idea. Alternately you can simply throw them in your compost as layers between layres of nitrogen rich waste such as grass clippings. I guess if you have a really wet compost turning in wood shavings/saw dust would help dry the compost out and get it active again. I have mulched around a tree with saw dust and a little sheep poop.
rob
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