Recycling Old Carpet

As gardeners we always hope to work with nature whenever possible, amongst many things we compost huge amounts of plant material and leaves, in the outer parts of the garden we leave piles of timber and leaves for insects and mammals.

At this time of year we start preparing our borders ready for the season - a weed through, fork over and general feed are followed by a good layer of mulch. Out in the garden particularly along the arboretum walk around to the Azalea Dell we have, over the last couple of years, planted a huge number of new and different trees and shrubs. Recently we have been busy making the best use of some old carpet that had not seen the light of day for many years. It is being cut into mats that are placed around young trees and shrubs before being covered in leaf mould. This not only prevents weed growth around the plant but conserves moisture which is critical through a plant's first few years. As the leaf mould decomposes it will leach nutrients through the carpet feeding the tree and indeed the carpet will eventually rot away itself.