I would like to say "Just mulch it." Some of the benefits: Weed barrier Holds in moisture Moderates soil temperature extremes Feeds the soil and your plant Diverts organic waste I like mulch. I think it's good. I basically think of it like having a 6 inch layer of slowly composting material that retains moisture and provides nutrients as it breaks down. I have a 6-8" deep compost pile all over my garden, and I grow veggies in it. I have come to appreciate mulch and it's importance both in horticulture and agriculture. It breaks down over time and feeds the worm and micro-herd. My soil is always damp and moist, never cracked and dry like it used to be. I am fairly picky about what I use as mulch. I usually try to put it down real thick in the fall and let it break down over winter and plant in it in the spring again. Then next fall, build it back up. I use organic alfalfa hay as my main mulch. I will collect dry leaves in the fall as well. I think those rubber mulches, mats, and bark mulches are crap. They are meant to look nice, not function as a true organic mulch. If you look at the root structure of plants in heavily mulched soil, you will notice many many feeder roots growing right under the mulch layer, on top of the soil layer. Last year was my first foray into both no-till and heavy, heavy mulches. My garden was outstanding in every aspect. Don't worry about weeds. They are easily pulled as the soil is always moist and the root structure is mainly contained in the loose mulch layer, not the actual dirt anyway. Only the weeds with tap roots go way down. Here are two examples of my mulch. This is just alfalfa hay mulched thick. Alfalfa makes great organic fertilizer as it breaks down. My tomatoes from here last year were the best I've ever grown. Especially the Brandywine. The cabbage always gets nibbled, but they are growing great. Here is the mainly leaf mulch. It has some hay mixed in, but is mainly collected leaf from curbside last fall. This was a nice thick, lush, green lawn last fall. Now all the grass is dead and I can easily plant tomato starts in the mulch. No-tilling, no digging or de-rooting the grass. No turning the soil. Just lay the mulch down last fall, it kills the grass and feeds the soil over winter, I end up with a perfect garden and mulch this spring. I'll move the mulch closer to the tomato plants as they grow up a bit. I took this pic right after I planted last week and it has been pretty cool since then. I want to get them established a bit, then I move the mulch right up to the stem. I run soaker hoses that very effectively manage the water. I encourage all the gardeners out on GC to try mulching. Thicker the better. It's gonna be a hot, dry ass summer. Thick ass mulch will help your garden more than anything! Just mulch that shit!
yes mulching is great.......i add a little bit of composted pine mulch to my indoor plants as a topdress when i switch them over to flower........in the garden we always lay down a decently thick layer of fallen leaves right before winter comes. we lay some hay down in the summer.....not only does it make for perfect pathways but alfalfa hay is an excellent source of nutrition for the soil. if anybody is thinking about purchasing mulch, though, certain mulch contains composted human sewage.....and you dont want that in your garden. make sure you ask questions before you go buying any ol' pickup truck full!! -OSUB
Stankie I found some unsprayed Barley straw on Craigslist for $4.00 a bale - that's pretty cheap. Oat straw is also available. CQ
Craigslist is my main source for mulches and manures. I need to plan a Saturday around getting my stockpile up a little more.
Same here - Craigslist can be a gardener's best friend. Probably depends a lot on where one lives but it's always a good place to start looking. If someone is offering free horse manure there's a pretty good chance they would know where to get Alfalfa, Kelp meal, rock dusts, etc. ya think? LOL CQ
wouldnt that mulch have '' seed heads'' in it, thus creating weeds in your garden? or insect eggs, i myself dont use mulch,,, i like to keep the weeds out, and the dirt showing, not dissing your theory or idea's. im just not a mulch guy<
Hey, there's more than one way to . . . . pluck . . . . . a chicken (sorry) I honestly have not had really any problems with weeds. Yes, seeds do come in with the mulch. The main defense in handling them is just to keep up on pulling them. Any weeds that sprout generally are in the mulch layer. Their roots haven't gone deep into the actual soil. They are incredibly easy to pull since the mulch layer is lose. Barely any force is needed because the topsoil/mulch layer is so fertile they just pull right up. Any tap-root type weed is easily pulled as well. I had a few dandelions start over the winter... First time we got a good rain I went out and pulled them. Tap root easily came up since the mulch held the moisture so well. I used to be a 'bare-dirt gardener' and had much much more problems with weeds without a mulch layer. By far worse. I have noticed some grubs in my mulch/compost layers. I believe they came in with the grass hay that I used, but am not sure. I just consider it a good thing as well. They are a part of the decomposition process. I have some Robbins that keep my garden pretty free from bugs. I laid out some of the grubs and they came in and gobbled them up. One of them (I assume the female) is about the size of a grapefruit. The other grubs are getting put to use later this afternoon. I'm going bait dunking, and I've heard grubs are the best thing. Plus the mulch layer keeps a nice healthy worm population! Using straw should solve the seeds and probably the bug issue. But then you lose some of the value of the feeding aspect of alfalfa hay. Whenever I see a 'naked' garden I always have to fight the urge to mulch it for whoever owns it. Bare soil is not good, IMO.
my main garden area consits of tobacco..... and i think the mulch would bring in too many pest's, for me and the crop im growing,, seems like every bug known to man likes to eat baccy... my baccy link is in my sig.
I would think the nicotine would discourage most 'grazers'. I've always wanted to grow my own tobacco, just haven't yet. I would encourage you to try to mulch a row or two and compare it to the your standard way of growing. Might make a convert out of you.
i wouldnt say im totally mulchless.. my soil is fortified with a ton , of sawdust/chicken-manure mix,,, i have wild mushrooms growing in the soil, so something must be good heres some baccy porn .... By chickenhawk434 at 2012-05-26 // By chickenhawk434 at 2012-05-26 i got about 10 different strains of baccy in there,,, ...heres my mulch,,a massive pile of it, > By chickenhawk435 at 2012-01-14 // By chickenhawk435 at 2012-01-14
You're funny chicken, always posting your garden pics in other threads. lol. Just saying it's funny. I kinda thought you would be a mulch guy but I guess not. This is my first season actually taken seriously. And I honesty love the mulch. I don't have to water as much as normal and seems to keep the weeds out. If it works for me this year I wil use it next year also. But I would also like to get another bed and not use the mulch in one of them. Just to see what happens and what works betterI'm all about experiments, to find out the best way.
^^^^ according to my baccy growing website,,,,mulch and baccy dont mix, and my pics are cool and funny, i enjoy throwing them to share with others, a baccy plant dont like to have '' wet feet {roots} so mulch isnt for me right now, perhaps in the '' garden'' where my veggies are at??? anyone want to break in my house,???? my guard system is down right now, >> By chickenhawk434 at 2012-05-27 // By chickenhawk434 at 2012-05-27 but my back-up,,, is allways alert >>> By chickenhawk434 at 2012-05-27
Here's a pic I took when fishing today. This is the best one of the sparrows I got. It took a lot of attempts.
That really is a nice looking picture. I've really been coming around to appreciating nature since I started the mj garden inside. I now want to learn how to coexist with nature and maximize its usefullness in my gardens.
Yes, seeds come up through mulch as well. This is my peas (pictured) and bean row. These I think are pretty strong as seedlings and I let them poke their way up through the whole mulch layer. Pretty much to plant these I just move the mulch and throw the seeds under the mulch real quick. Get a good germ and poke through rate. This is my cucumber row. I do about half mulch on these. I just sprinkled these seeds on top of the soil once I had pushed the mulch aside, cover with a little compost, then put about 1/2 the mulch lose back on the top. No problem coming up. I still have to thin these in a bit. These are some of my winter squash. I plant the seeds (winter/summer squash, melons) in little holes, cover with compost, and sprinkle on a light layer of mulch. In a week or so, I will thin these to about 4 vines per hole and move the compost right up to the seedlings.