Mulch Living Or Dead.

I want something to put around my Comfrey and flowerbeds of tuberous Dahlias. Not sure what though?
A thick layer of leaves? Wood mulch? Not sure what would be best.

 

leaf mold, compost or straw is what I like to use. Straw is easy to handle and cheap to source, for me at least.

 

There is a feed store near me and I was thinking of getting a bale of straw hay and put it through my chipper/shredder.

 

I'm using mixed wood chips mostly maple and oak from a powerline they cleared and chipped last year.
There is an abundance of them and it's free and close enough to fill my lawnmower trailer.

Twas Ever Thus!

 

I want it to help keep the weeds down as well but I don't think compost would do that.

 

I'm kinda sorta finding out the hard way that my cocoa shell is pretty effective at keeping weeds down. I made the mistake of using the cocoa too soon after my clover starting coming up and I ended up losing most of it. It's good stuff and reasonably priced and makes everything smell like chocolate. There are definitley cheaper mulches though.

 

 
lava rock, pea stone or wood chips would do the trick but straw is cheaper and easier to work with in most cases. plus the added long term benefit of it being decomposed within our lifetime.

 

I still have a good amount of 5/16" red lava rock from my soil mix but I think straw would be better.

 

I'd save that for future soil mixes and just use straw, personally. I'm out of "likes" for the day, so yeah.

 

I've been reading that salt hay is the best for mulching. It breaks down much slower than typical hays; even slower than barley, and is supposed to attract earth worms to the surface. The fact that it comes from brackish water means it's seeds won't be able to sprout in your garden. 
 
I just learned about the stuff this week, so I don't know a whole lot about it, but it seems fairly popular. Might be worth a google sesh. 

 

Still does its job, which is lessening the impact of evaporation in the very uppermost layer of soil.

 

Mulch made a huge difference for me Waktoo. I use smart pots and sips too and Mulch dropped the water use by a third or so. The girls look more vibrant too I think.
I still top water if it gets dry under the Mulch but it stays moist most of the time. Only a little if any is needed after you get the refill timing worked out for your sips.
I love scraping back the mulch to see dense fungal and root growth right to the top of the pot.
edit: I wanted to add that mulch does much more than prevent evaporation. It can provide homes for our soil microbes and feed and protect them as well.

Twas Ever Thus!

 

Been experimenting with mulching soil that is cooking. 
 
First I mixed a bunch of soil...filled two 5gals, and had a bunch left over in the tote. The tote was covered with straw, and left to cook. IT seems to be doing well, hasn't killed any of my plants yet, even though it didn't fully cycle. 
 
The two 5gals were covered with a mulch of straw, dried dandelion and lava rock dust/pebbles, and I tossed a handful of cover crop seed mix in each. The cover crop took hold right away, and is growing right through the mulch. The soil was only a few days old, but didn't scorch the seedlings. 
 
And just last weekend I mixed another batch, went way heavy on the kelp, alfalfa and neem...just to experiment, and it also had cover crop take to it right away. I'm hoping that by the time I transplant into those pots, they're not only fully cycled, but have established a food web. 

 

Got a mix of red a white clover going in the new smart pots. I did a few things different here then in the hard pots and I am getting a much better cover crop this go round.

 

Bump! I've got a question.... from what I understand, some plant materials may have high levels of terpenes and things that might be problematic... what kind of stuff should I avoid? Just real strong smelling bark mulches? I remember reading something about black maple leaves and allelopathic chemicals...

 

Any thoughts on alf Alfa as a top mulch to hold in moisture