i learned about it from cincinnanna on the forum here so check out his threads too
also check out
mari@adams.net thread... donetta
how do i do it? the one in the front is perched on a slight mound and the one in the back is in a raised bed
i chop them down to 1 foot tall once the cold kills the foliage and pile wood chips at least 2 feet tall and 4+ feet wide
i also have hay bales and/or wood chips piled against the stone wall of the raised bed for the one in the back
i throw coffee grinds on the pile until the snow falls then leave it alone
then i throw coffee grinds, worm castings, urine and other nitrogen sources on top when things start melting
they will push right through the chips and after it warms up
i remove some but not all of the chips and spread them around other gardens once i bring the other plants out and it has warmed up
this year they got a bag of manure which i bought straight from the farm on an impulse buy while on a rural drive in the spring which was added to the remaining chips
you can get wood chips from tree services through chip drop if you can accept a truckload or maybe they have a pile at their yard
some other little things too like home made fish fertilizer (faa) and compost tea occasionally and sometimes gaia green 4 4 4