letting grass and weeds grow tall then cover with bark?

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chrissy2014

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I wanted to make a small winter paddock. I thought of bark but people said it would get boggy and turn into black goo. I also read some people let grass grow long as by winter the ground doesnt trash so bad... so if I made lets just say 60ft x 60ft paddock. From now till oct allow grass to grow and weeds then layer bark ontop? About 4inchs? Would this work?
 
that sounds like it will become a mess with no benefit to anything (not a proper surface, horses cant eat down to the ground properly, bark gets soggy etc)

I would personally just let the grass grow long, pull any obviously bed weeds and leave the rest. I do this with part of my land every winter and it doesnt get trashed, it just about makes it to spring with a mildly muddy gateway thats it
 
This is my field at the end of November so it had been grazed a couple of months by this point, its the lower section where i am standing that was allowed to grow long

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMN0hSlLYtM

this was it in February

146_zpsvjo5sy8b.jpg
 
I think 60ft x 60ft will be trashed whatever you do, unless you only have a tiny pony, it is less than half the size of a 20x40 arena so hardly a paddock more of somewhere to stretch their legs for a few hours and any messing about will churn it up very quickly, the only way to do something like this is to do it properly otherwise it will just become a bog and no good for whatever is going out on it.
I would either rest a far bigger area let the grass grow long and use that or put down a proper hardcore surface which will last for years if done well.
 
sorry yes just re-read the proposed size, leaving grass to get long needs a bigger area, it works well here though with the paddock only actually getting bare patches in this dry weather now. If you have a bigger area definitely try it
 
How much land do you have in total? The bigger the field, the less trashed it gets. 60ft by 60ft will be disgusting after a week. You wouldn't be able to turn out for long each day and I personally wouldn't be happy about turning my horse out on pure mud, it's asking for trouble. I think you need to find a different solution.
 
Thanks all. Will think of something else. I didnt want to invest too much into it a a) planning permission and b) not sure how long my horses are going to be there. Just the last field i was sharing got so boggy and bad it often sucked my wellies off!
 
Apercrumbie said:
How much land do you have in total? The bigger the field, the less trashed it gets. 60ft by 60ft will be disgusting after a week. You wouldn't be able to turn out for long each day and I personally wouldn't be happy about turning my horse out on pure mud, it's asking for trouble. I think you need to find a different solution.
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Totally agree. I keep my biggest field for the worst of the winter (about 6 acres). The more paddocks and bits of fencing you have the more it will get cut up. I find it only gets really muddy and cut up round the gate and the most I've done is leccy fenced it off to stop them standing in the mud (it made it easier to get through the gate with feeds too).
 
chrissy2014 said:
I wanted to make a small winter paddock. I thought of bark but people said it would get boggy and turn into black goo. I also read some people let grass grow long as by winter the ground doesnt trash so bad... so if I made lets just say 60ft x 60ft paddock. From now till oct allow grass to grow and weeds then layer bark ontop? About 4inchs? Would this work?
Click to expand...

It would end up with a slippery bark bog with a few weeds sticking out. I assume you have a source of clippings from a tree feller or it is going to cost a fortune, but tree clippings are not the same as bark used for mulching. Either way it won't work.
 
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