Enhance Your Environment

Mulch Prices to Soar!

You had to see this one coming.  Years ago I played in a golf tournament with a gentleman who owned a lumber mill on the west coast.  He was shocked to learn that the bark and other waste from his lumber operations actually had value to landscapers as mulch.  You bet!  In fact, shredded hardwood bark is superior as a mulch because it decomposes much more slowly (due to its lignin content) than wood mulch (which is predominantly cellulose).

An article in today's Wall Street Journal - "Sawdust Shock - A Shortage Looms as Economy Slows" - accurately points out that by-products of the lumber milling process, namely sawdust that is used as bedding for horses and chickens, and shredded bark that is used in residential and commercial landscapes, are in very short supply.   Sawdust prices have more than doubled in the last 9 months.  As we enter a new season for landscaping here in the Midwest, and especially in Naperville, you can expect to pay approximately 15-20% more for the the material that protects your investment in your landscape.  This is compounded by increases in fuel prices that have resulted in increases over the recent years.  Incidentally, most of the mulch used in this locale is barged up from the Gulf Coast. 

Doesn't it seem that we are running out of resources to sustain the lifestyles we've created for ourselves?  This winter we ran out of salt to keep our roads safe.  Fuel prices continue to rise, although this is arguably an artificial market - cast your vote accordingly in the next election.   And now we are running out of not just a commodity, but a product that was considerate a waste-product.  Caveat Emptor!  What's next?  I suggest clean water will soon be in short supply.   Sound ridiculous?  No more ridiculous that a shortage of salt when we are surrounded mostly by salt water.   

Now is the Time to Learn Your Micro-Climates

Now that the seasons are changing again, it's a great time to tune in and learn a few things about the micro-climates in your garden that may not be as discernible when the temperatures are more extreme.  What are micro-climates?  Here's an example.  Today, just before the sun was setting, I left my house on a bike ride.  Thanks to the little gadget on my bike that tells me how fast I'm going and what time it is, I'm also able to monitor the ambient temperature.  It was 70 degrees when I left my suburban home.  I noticed a definite chill when I arrived fifteen minutes later at the prairie where I like to ride.  Before long, the temperature was dropping into the 60's and even the 50's!  This all happened in a span of 45 minutes.  When I left that frigid prairie it was 54 degrees.  Yet, within ten minutes of returning to the predominantly asphalt, concrete and brick of the subdivision, it was back up to 61 degrees.  What does this tell us?

Well, asphalt and concrete and brick absorb and hold heat.  This is not necessarily a good thing in drought situations.  Though you don't notice it then because it's so blasted hot everywhere!  Today I was doing a Quality Audit at one of our client's whose property we maintain in the TallGrass subdivision in Naperville.  We were trying to determine why the dwarf lilacs along the southern facing brick wall were displaying the effects of drought stress.  Aloha!  This just might be a little micro-climate situation.  Heat is reflected off that wall - onto the lilacs - and that heat continues to radiate from the wall long after the sun sets.  We believe this ultimately caused the decline of these plants, especially considering the plants facing due south were suffering the most.  Can we be certain this is the source of the problem?  Of course not - there are countless variables such as the condition of the soil, the watering history, and certainly the quality of the plants.  Considering the quality of the plants, one thing we discussed is plants grown out of state are typically not as well suited to our soils and climate because they have not acclimated to it like those that "grew up here."  Makes sense, doesn't it! Setting that aside, we come back to the original conclusion regarding the micro-climate created by the wall.

Working with Nature is an interesting endeavor.  You have the opportunity to think, probe, and test your theories.  Sometimes the solution you are looking for is right under your nose, but the problem may have preceded it by a period of time.  In other words, the symptoms show up after the conditions that caused it have subsided.  Keep studying and reconnecting and the pieces begin to add up.  Tune in to how Nature works to understand it's Intelligence.  If gardening was easy it wouldn't be as much fun.  The challenge is finding the next level - or at least sustaining the one you have discovered.