[lizziemac]

Am thinking about laying down some bark chippings on my garden - we have mostly perennials, shrubs and a two fruit trees - to help keep the weeds down. However, two thoughts:

1. We have a lot of frogs in the garden - will the bark make the flower beds inhospitable for them

2. I have heard of fungus etc being brought into a garden along with the bark chippings...

Any thoughts folks?

Many thanks!

[arugula]

Hi,

I don't think that the introduction of bark will cause your frogs any harm, after all it traps a fair bit of moisture. This in itself may encourage slugs into the garden for them to eat.

Bark is very likely to introduce fungal spores, but these are unlikely to cause any problems.

[lizziemac]

Thanks argyllie...

[fatcat1955]

The bark will de-compose in time which will rob the nitrogen from the soil. Make sure you give the soil a high nitrogen feed before laying the bark. Keep an eye on your plants and if the leaves start to turn yellow feed with nitrogen again.

[arugula]

Thanks for the heads up no the nitrogen, fatcat. I've never come across this before.