Plants are just one of the components that build the successful garden. You already know my position on the role of fertilizer and water from the garden hose.

A conversation this week brought two more garden components to the forefront. They were mulch and soil amendments.

It seems that the questioner had the opportunity to get some free mulch. A friend of her brother or something like that knew a tree trimmer who was looking for a home for some of his chippings. Was this a goldmine or a problem?

Several issues quickly appear. First, when you use fresh or green material as a mulch, the aging or decaying process will suck nitrogen from the soil. Thus, fresh mulch may force you to increase your nitrogen levels to compensate.

Second, we probably have no way of knowing what is being chipped. If he were trimming walnut trees you would get the full killing power that you get from a walnut tree in your yard. Most of you know that walnut tree roots give off a rather effective plant killer to promote the survival chances of this slow growing tree.

Third, if the grindings included material from diseased trees there is a chance that you can bring additional disease problems into your landscape. Many of these may be species specific, but we are dealing with common plants found in the landscape.

Mulch purchased from a replicable supplier should be aged and handled in a way to remove the risks and do the job intended, while gradually adding compost to the soil. In fact, a primary source of wood for mulch is the grinding of old shipping pallets.

In the second instance, surplus mushroom soil, complements of her minister, had landed in her garden. The source probably has additional potential, but I'll limit it to saying I am not available for pastoral counseling. The after effects of the effort were that she was able to salvage one plant from the area before they all died. She has hopes that it will recover.

Mushrooms, I think, are grown in mix of soil, hay and manure. This combination is very high in nutrients. Soil coming directly from the mushroom house is so high, in fact, that it can prove deadly to normal garden plants. Aged mushroom soil is an excellent form of compost to add in limited or reasonable quantities. The aging process, I believe, should be at least a year. I frequently hear of garden disasters linked to this soil amendment. There is a simple test one can use to test any soil amendment you are adding to your garden. Tomato plants are very sensitive to soil fertility. If a tomato plant survives a week (I think it is three days in the industry) in your proposed soil amendment you will have no problems.

The people producing bagged soil go through a lot of tomato plants. Be careful that you don't join the carnage by using poor quality mulch and soil amendments.