Eastbourne, New Zealand

FREE TREE CHIP MULCH

■ Where? 509 Muritai Road (extreme southern end - after Bus Barn - before Burdan's Gate) ■ Just help yourself ■ For homes and schools ■ Not for commercial use ■ Not for onselling ■ Please take the odd twigs that missed the mulcher, snip them up later ■ Questions Sandy T: 021 222 0383 E: slang@xtra.co.nz
Tree chip is the by-product of tree management (pruning, felling) a chopped-up mix of fresh leaves, bark and wood. Proportions vary between batches... ■ Use leafier chip for faster breakdown, faster release of minerals. ■ Use woodier chip for slower breakdown, longer blanketing.
Most Eastbourne soils are sandy so have... ■ Very low water-holding capacity. ■ Very low mineral-holding capacity.
A mulch works like a blanket. It buffers soil temperature extremes, conserves soil water and suppresses weeds. An organic mulch (e.g. tree chip)* also creates food and habitat for soil animals... ■ Invertebrates (beetles, slaters, worms...) ■ Which are food for birds. Burrowing soil animals...
■ Increase soil aeration. ■ Increase soil drainage. They also drag food particles deep into the soil (~20 cm) which... ■ Increases soil organic matter. ■ Increases soil water-holding capacity. ■ Increases soil mineral-holding capacity.
*Our soils have evolved over many thousands of years, in forests, under a natural mulch of dead leaves, twigs and bark.
Nobody wants your garden waste... Please don't dump it here... It contaminates the tree chip for others...

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TREE CHIP PROVIDED BY...