Wool in the garden!
I am a firm believer that we should always garden in a way that makes the best use of the materials we have to hand. For me, that means using the poultry manure in the compost heap, wood chips from local Tree Surgeons, compost from local companies and much more.
We have one very useful material here in Wales that we don’t use half as much as we should which is wool! There are mountains of wool sitting in warehouses and barns the length and breadth of the country. There is no reason why we can’t do more to use Welsh wool in the garden. Wool is so useful!
Wool:
1) protects delicate plants,
2) suppresses weeds,
3) reduces slug and snail damage,
4) retains moisture in the soil,
5) slowly releases nitrogen into the garden to feed the soil,
6) strengthens soil structure whilst composting and aids drainage.
I have been using wool in the garden since last year mainly as a mulch and to cover delicate plants in winter/early spring to protect them from frost and has proven very successful.
Dalefootcomposts in the north of England have been successful in turning waste wool into a particularly good peatfree compost. Surely we can make perfect compost here in Wales from Welsh wool and create a new domestic market for it at our garden centers? Many thanks to Elin Williams and family for giving me two whole sacks of wool this year
