PinkPetalPolygon
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Question about mulching / composting herb scraps

Hiii :)
I didn't notice a mulching forum anywhere on HG so I decided to ask this here.

I was wondering uhm okay so

I have a lot of herb scraps every day! :mrgreen:

Sage, cilantro, oreganos, marjoram, rosemary, thymes, basils, & mints (and probably some others that are mentally escaping me now, hah)

I am assuming I know I could put those in my compost and they would be good to put in compost? :D

I was wondering if they would be good to use as mulch?

If I used them as mulch AKA tossed the herb scraps on the ground around my garden soil -

Would that attract bugs? Like bad bugs? Any other consequences?

What do you do with all the herb scraps if not compost them? The marjoram stems, heck, all the herb stems smell so fudging great I feel like I should be putting them dried into little potpourri pouches or stitching them into cute stuffed shapes and selling the things for $ at the farmer's market/flea market/etc. :lol:

imafan26
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They should be fine. The Romans used strewing herbs. The slaves would toss out herbs in the path of their owners to clear the path of bad odors. Some herbs are repellent of certain insects. But most herbs were useful weeds and many of them can root from nodes or seeds. Some, like mint, can be invasive so you want to make sure it is dead if you plan on using it for mulch.

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applestar
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I "strew" a lot if herb scraps on the patio. Mint gets stuffed under the door mat (hopefully repel ants, flies, wasps, and mice). Anything lemony or garlicky goes where I walk to hopefully help repel mosquitoes.

I have mints in the ground. This means massive yanking of wayward rhizomes take place several times a year, and least bit offensive leaves and sprigs are not allowed in the kitchen and are stuffed under the mat. :twisted:

This time of the year, I mulch the cabbages and broccoli with Southernwood, and toss all the green onion scraps in the garden paths.

AnnaIkona
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Although I have never mulched with herbs (nor have I ever heard about anyone doing that) I believe you should be fine. Just try a small patch and see if you like it.

They will decompose and rot eventually, but I guess by that time there will be more herbs on top to cover it all :)

PinkPetalPolygon
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Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2016 5:57 pm
Location: California Zone 9b <3

imafan26 wrote:They should be fine. The Romans used strewing herbs. The slaves would toss out herbs in the path of their owners to clear the path of bad odors. Some herbs are repellent of certain insects.
Ooooh, so I researched strewing herbs to learn that a lot of things I wanted to strew ARE insect repellents !

I had a really excited conversation with the DH about how people used to make their "carpets"/their equivalent all intertwined with herbs and stuff - so that when you walked around your house you'd be stepping on herbs. Different herbs in every room.

I was all thinking that there must have been a lot of spirit-lifting qualities of having all those fresh herbs around. There are even herbs that are named for being used as bedstraw. I didn't really know that. :lol:

I actually got kind of jealous there wasn't herbs in the carpet beneath my feet. It could use an herbal lift. :| :lol:

toxcrusadr
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I have creeping thyme between the stones on my patio, it is really neat to walk on it and release the aroma. I have to fight weeds though.

Anyway mulching with weeds or any kind of cuttings and clippings is fine. It basically returns nutrients to the soil and bypasses the compost bin. Some say we should avoid composting anyway because of the loss of nutrients from the pile (esp. nitrogen) and simply sheet compost or mulch all of that stuff directly back into the garden.

The bugs that eat organic debris generally are not the ones that attack live plants. Different jobs in Nature's Cleanup Crew.



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