Have you heard about mulching with wool?

• Holds 3 times its weight in water

• Insulates the soil

• Soil microorganism’s love wool

Check out our blog about how much water wool holds and know wool mulch will hold the same amount. Besides holding water wool is also a GREAT insulator. In fact, one can buy sheep wool insulation for building structures. Using wool as an insulator for soil is a great way to conserve water and grow soil.

Australia has been using wool’s insulating property to improve large areas of degraded land. Not only has the wool water holding properties helped the poor soils but they found “Sampling data indicates microorganism density increased between 30 and 50 percent within months of application. This matters because microbial activity is the mechanism by which dead soil becomes living soil. Microorganisms break down organic matter, cycle nutrients, and create the physical structure that allows roots to penetrate and water to infiltrate.” Check out what they have found here.

Shepherds have probably used wool as mulch for centuries. The top picture to the right is an early spring picture of Beth’s strawberry patch. She has mulched her strawberries with wool for years. She has used full fleeces from her sheep but now uses Sheepy Shreds as they are easier to work with in the garden. Not only does the wool help keep the strawberries clean for picking but it helps to stop weeds and allows for watering less often.

The bottom picture is of our community garden plot. The bright white is full fleeces and the yellow areas are Sheepy Shreds. We mulched this garden spot about 50/50 fleece vs Sheepy Shreds. Once the snow melts, we will take pictures to show how much wool is left after winter. The Sheepy Shreds should be mostly degraded. The full fleece usually takes a couple of years to fully degrade.

Because the wool is on top of the soil, it probably doesn’t add much in the way of fertilizer for the plant compared to wool pellets but it still feeds the soil and microorganisms in the soil. The plants have always looked happy!

A 1 # bag of Sheep Shreds is great to use as a mulch in hanging baskets and containers that receive full sun. Spread thinly, it is great to use when reseeding a patch of lawn. Sheepy Shreds can be used as a mulch in gardens and around perennials.

One thing wool won’t do is scare away bunnies or other animals (sorry!). Beth has found bunny and mice nests in her wool mulch. Birds also like to take a bit for their nests. Possibly a really stinky ram fleece might stop some nibbling by deer or bunnies but after a few rains that smell would go away. We don’t recommend wool for pest control although it is true slugs don’t like the feel of wool. Encircling wool shreds around hostas will stop some slugs from crossing and eating your plants. It isn’t 100% effective but is a nice way to decrease the use of chemicals and stop some slugs.

What is the difference between using a fleece right from a sheep and Sheepy Shreds? A fleece right off the sheep can be a great choice for many applications but the gardener needs to know a couple of things. First, wool will felt. A full fleece takes a good 2 years to break down. Sheep fleeces can vary from one type of sheep to another. There are long wool sheep and shorter wooled sheep. Fleeces from each of these can be easier or harder to work with in your garden. The second year of gardening, a full fleece will be felted. Beth suggests only putting full fleeces where they will be easy to pull up and then reuse. There is no way to work a full fleece into the soil the following year but they can be reused or thrown in a compost pile. Sheepy Shreds break down in just over a year. By the next growing season, Sheepy Shreds can be easily worked into the soil. They do not felt as much as a full fleece from a sheep.

There are perfect gardening uses for full fleeces, Sheepy Shreds, and Woolly Belly Pellets. If you have any questions about when and where to use what, just ask! We love using them all.

Ewe and Me Wool Company is currently working with a UW Stout’s packaging student and professor to figure out how to package wool shreds in larger amounts. Keep watching for more information regarding new offerings!

If you are looking for full fleeces, we can help you find those as well. If you are far away from us, look for a shepherd in your area to purchase raw fleece for your garden.