Chunks of Lumber

I buy the same brand of bagged mulch each year from the same nursery and it has been adequate for my gardens. It's okay. It gets the job done, covering up the dusty soil between plants that would blow away in our dry winds if not covered up.

This year even though the bag was the same, advertising the small bark shredded stuff I always get, it didn't really look the same . . . it's more like kindling, perhaps?

It is not what I have gotten in the past. Spread out in the garden under the aspens, my plants look like they are trying to survive a lumber accident at the mill.

The stuff looks like it should be sold for campfire starting.

It will turn darker as it ages, so it won't be so brightly eye catching in the sunlight. The pieces will diminish as the mulch ages, but won't rot into the soil. In this climate wood chip mulch shrinks as it dries, but does not decay.

If my plants ever bulk up enough to cover ground, they will spread out enough to reduce this logjam of splintered wood surrounding them.

But for now I have a sea of lumber chunks dotted with plant islands.