Strulch - general advice and your experience of using it...

[RoSEbuds6]

Hi there! We have been in our house for a year, and last year dug up parts of the lawn to create beds. It's a small south London garden, lots of flint and clay, and not great soil.
Because I dug the grass out and piled it up in the corner of the garden I probably I removed quite a lot of topsoil from the new beds. I added compost and planted a few shrubs and perennials and they did OK for the first year. This year I decided to treat them with some compost from my bin and some farmyard manure (from garden centre) to give my plants a good chance to put on some early grown. I applied approx 2 inches of compost, and then added an 1.5 inch of Strulch on the top, the soil underneath is still very claggy and wet.
It has just occurred to me (doh) that the weed suppressing properties of Strulch might stop all of last years perennials from coming back this year. I'm thinking of my peony, hardy geraniums and astrantia, as well as any gems I may have forgotten about. What do you think?
Also if you have used it on your beds, how have you found it? It apparently lasts for 2 years - has that been your experience?
I have noticed that my cat seems less inclined to relieve herself in the garden which is a boon, but I assume it won't stop the squirrels rummaging around to bury their nuts.

Following because I have just bought a bag to try out < sorry - no help 🙈

We can form a support group @BewareTheBeardedDragon

I put some on my plants last year, and it does a good job, but it's not perfect, so suspect your perennials will grow through (bulbs certainly have!). As for it lasting two years, I think it will, but has broken down quite a bit, so will need topping up. It's been brilliant around my strawberries!

I use it every other year on my very large herbaceous border.It is great at suppressing weeds but all my perennials grow through with no problems.Plants I had even forgotten about pop through.Just take care to leave a little space around the base of woody shrubs as Strulch advises.I find it easy to distribute,and like the way it slowly rots down enriching the soil.

So each other year I wonder if you add another layer of compost and then a layer of mulch over the top. It must improve the texture of the soil. Hopefully my worms are up the to job.

I was quite pleased with my homemade compost, just normal dalek bin and kitchen peelings, grass clippings and weeds. It turned out well. I won't be putting eye shells in again though, or avocado stones. It didn't look anything like Monty Don's compost and it was quite wet, but still pretty good. I think using it under a mulch was probably a good thing, as when it dries it might look a bit rough!

You can bake and grind eggshells up if you want to add to compost - but whole they'll take years to break down!

If it's too wet, you can mix shredded card etc in which can help - helps to absorb the moisture and keep it aerated. If the compost gets too wet it can go anaerobic which will smell grim!