9" of Rain and a Muddy, Stinky, Mess of a Run...Any Advice?

[citykitty]

Fresh wood chips work wonderfully in the garden. The green bits decompose quickly and leach down to the soil feeding it while the wood chips themselves absorb excess water which it will release into the soil when it becomes too dry. Marvelous stuff wood chips.

I'm having 24 yards of chips delivered this week!

 

[citykitty]

So far the plants are loving the wet soil. I'm going to put chips in between the rows. They will help break up the clay when we till in the fall.

 

[Folly's place]

Look up Ruth Stout's book about no-till gardening; it's older but very useful. Rather than tilling that clay, continue to add mulch, leaves, chips, chicken manure in bedding, whatever, and plant in this stuff. The soil will become much nicer, without the work of tilling.
Mary

 

[el aguila]

Yes, I love 4-6” of wood chip mulch that you get from tree cutters. In our area there are people that give it away online, or for $150 I can have a dump truck load hauled in.

The birds love to scratch through it and look for bugs. It’s the only thing that I’ld use in an outdoor run in this area.

Our run is on a hillside and there isn’t anything else that I know of that we could use. Of course they are continually moving it down the hill. So about once a year, I either have to move it back to the top or add some new mulch at the top.

 

[Acre4Me]

G

Will this work in a garden? Ours is a swamp. I need something to dry out the area in between the mounds where the plants are.

ood luck with the garden. I’m in OH too, wet and clay soil. We have raised beds as that area of the yard can get inundated if we get a lot of rain. Neighbor has a ground level garden which can get like a swamp in between rows. My raised beds get vermiculite and peat moss added in. Once we get some good compost, that will be added. I’ve used cover crops (like clover or buckwheat) to help -grow then turn over into the soil to rot through the winter.

 

[J. At ChicChalet]

We have had some 9" of rain this week, and the fenced run which encloses my coop has turned into a horrible, stinking, muddy mess. The area has no grass, used to be a dog run, and I have been using wood shavings as a base, and have never experienced a situation like this in which the unrelenting rain has caused such a mess. It is slowly drying out, and I was wondering if there is something other than wood shavings that I could use as a base, preferably over the mud once it dries out. Yesterday I was able to cut the grass and I deposited the grass clippings in the run which the chickens had scattered in no time (I always give them the grass clippings which they love). Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

I have an abundance of pine straw here in the piney woods so I use that.

 

[JurassicChicken]

As of today, I have layers of wood chips, pine straw, and pine bark throughout the run. I appreciate the advice and input from you all.