Gardening - Mulching
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There are so many good reasons why you should mulch your garden.
A very good reason to mulch your garden is to reduce the amount of
water you have to put on your garden. Another benefit of mulching
your garden is the amount of work you have to do. Mulch helps hold
down the weeds, so there is less weeding that needs to be done. The
mulch will eventually be tilled into the soil and that is beneficial itself.
Plant material has way more minerals in it than even manure does. Not
mulching is what just make good sense to me. About the only time
you wouldn't want to mulch your garden is when it is in a wet area and
you don't want it to stay so moist all the time.
There really isn't much else to say about mulch other than what kind
of mulch do you want to use on your garden. There are several
different ways you can go about mulching your garden and it all pretty
much depends on what kind of mulch you are planning on using.
You can use pebbles or small stones to mulch, but weeds can find
their way through these and then you have the trouble of how to get
them back out before you till. I have only seen this or crushed stone
used in flower gardens and around plantings that are around the base
of the house or garage.
You can also use a synthetic mulch to hold in the moisture, keep the
ground cool, and block the growth of weeds. The synthetic mulch can
be used over and over again, but it doesn't give anything back to the
soil like natural mulch does.
There is also wood chips like cedar, which is a natural deterrent to
pests. Once again, I have not seen this used in a vegetable garden
before. The problem lies in how long it takes this material to break
down in the garden.
There is also paper that can be used as a mulch. The problem here is
that paper can be blown away in the wind and it also doesn't inhibit
the growth of weeds as much as I would like it to. Plus, it doesn't feed
much back into the soil.
My favorite kind of mulch is natural plant material. I really prefer the
use of hay or straw over grass. I am too paranoid about getting
grass seeds in my garden that I tend not to use grass. It also
contains a lot of nitrogen and can heat up when it is decaying on the
garden. Unless it is made into a compost first, I really don't like using
grass.
Speaking of which, compost makes an excellent mulch. When I use
my hay as my mulch, I like to wet it down good so it forms a nice
dense mat of plant material. It still allows air down so the soil can
breathe, and water can get through to the soil, but it is very hard for
the weeds to get going. Every fall I can either till this under, or add it
to my compost pile, depending on how the soil is looking in my
garden. One trouble you might find with hay is the weed seeds left in
the bales when the hay is bailed. Try to get a later cutting. Third and
fourth cutting is the best as the weeds are not as prevalent in those
cuttings.
If you are growing a cool weather crop, like one of my favorites,
broccoli or snap peas, you can apply the mulch early so that the
ground will stay cooler longer allowing the crop to produce later in the
season. In the later months when the weather is warming up and you
are growing crops like tomatoes or potatoes, you will want to apply
your mulch after the plants are up well, you have tilled out the weeds,
and the ground is sufficiently wet.
A very good reason to mulch your garden is to reduce the amount of
water you have to put on your garden. Another benefit of mulching
your garden is the amount of work you have to do. Mulch helps hold
down the weeds, so there is less weeding that needs to be done. The
mulch will eventually be tilled into the soil and that is beneficial itself.
Plant material has way more minerals in it than even manure does. Not
mulching is what just make good sense to me. About the only time
you wouldn't want to mulch your garden is when it is in a wet area and
you don't want it to stay so moist all the time.
There really isn't much else to say about mulch other than what kind
of mulch do you want to use on your garden. There are several
different ways you can go about mulching your garden and it all pretty
much depends on what kind of mulch you are planning on using.
You can use pebbles or small stones to mulch, but weeds can find
their way through these and then you have the trouble of how to get
them back out before you till. I have only seen this or crushed stone
used in flower gardens and around plantings that are around the base
of the house or garage.
You can also use a synthetic mulch to hold in the moisture, keep the
ground cool, and block the growth of weeds. The synthetic mulch can
be used over and over again, but it doesn't give anything back to the
soil like natural mulch does.
There is also wood chips like cedar, which is a natural deterrent to
pests. Once again, I have not seen this used in a vegetable garden
before. The problem lies in how long it takes this material to break
down in the garden.
There is also paper that can be used as a mulch. The problem here is
that paper can be blown away in the wind and it also doesn't inhibit
the growth of weeds as much as I would like it to. Plus, it doesn't feed
much back into the soil.
My favorite kind of mulch is natural plant material. I really prefer the
use of hay or straw over grass. I am too paranoid about getting
grass seeds in my garden that I tend not to use grass. It also
contains a lot of nitrogen and can heat up when it is decaying on the
garden. Unless it is made into a compost first, I really don't like using
grass.
Speaking of which, compost makes an excellent mulch. When I use
my hay as my mulch, I like to wet it down good so it forms a nice
dense mat of plant material. It still allows air down so the soil can
breathe, and water can get through to the soil, but it is very hard for
the weeds to get going. Every fall I can either till this under, or add it
to my compost pile, depending on how the soil is looking in my
garden. One trouble you might find with hay is the weed seeds left in
the bales when the hay is bailed. Try to get a later cutting. Third and
fourth cutting is the best as the weeds are not as prevalent in those
cuttings.
If you are growing a cool weather crop, like one of my favorites,
broccoli or snap peas, you can apply the mulch early so that the
ground will stay cooler longer allowing the crop to produce later in the
season. In the later months when the weather is warming up and you
are growing crops like tomatoes or potatoes, you will want to apply
your mulch after the plants are up well, you have tilled out the weeds,
and the ground is sufficiently wet.