More About Mulching

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We Don't Mulch as Much as Most

We know we should do it more often because it's good for plants... and for the soil... and we keep blabbing about the benefits of this good gardening practice over and over on this site. When we do mulch, we're careful about which plants we mulch, how much mulch we mete out and what material we make use of for mulch.

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The Benefits Of Mulch

1. Discourages weeds. (Make sure you weed before you mulch, though).

2. Allows you to work less in the long run.

3. Helps conserve moisture in the soil.

4. Helps keep plant roots coolish in hot summers and warmish in the cold season.

5. Adds nutrients to the soil as it decays.

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To Mulch or not to Mulch

1. We don't bother to mulch cabbage family plants. Why give slugs an even better place to hide, breed and sneak out at night to chomp on cabbage seedlings? We just weed and water and trap slugs under boards you placed on the soil among your cabbage family.

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Plant African marigolds among your cabbages to crowd out some of the weeds, distract slugs and attract beneficial insects. All this goes for kale, too.

2. We mulch our root crops with straw or grass clippings. Lessens the need to weed. Mix mint leaves in with your mulch for Beets​. The mint helps to repel flea beetles and aphids.

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Use pea straw to mulch your Garlic. Wet the pea straw down when you apply it or it will blow away.

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Potatoes do well with a straw mulch. Conserves moisture and protects the growing tubers from being exposed to light and going green with solanine, a bitter, toxic substance the plant uses to protect its exposed tubers from hungry animals. (Don't eat green potatoes)​

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Mulch your Carrots after you've thinned them in your garden. The Carrot Museum (www.carrotmuseum.com ...Who knew there even was one?) recommends grass clippings as a carrot mulch because it apparently repels carrot flies. ​

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Leeks appreciate a straw mulch in the hot summer to keep their roots cool & moist.

3. Mulch Tomatoes with grass clippings or straw after the plants are about 30 cm or more ( 1 foot +) tall and the soil is warm. Keep the mulch 5-7 cm ( 2-3 inches) away from the tomato plants' stems. Decaying mulch can be a conduit for disease to enter. ​Done correctly, mulching tomato plants discourages weeds; it protects & feeds the many roots near the soil surface.

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4. Keep mulch 5-14 cm ( 2-6 inches) away from the stems of your veggies and your shrubs, flowers and trees for that matter. Mulch piled up against stems can cause them to rot or to get diseased.

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Don't pile much too thick, either. A layer 5-7 cm thick (2-3 inches) is sufficient. If it's too thick, mulch can keep plants from getting the water they need; and the roots, desperately seeking H2O, will grow too close to the surface, exposing them to potential damage as you work among the plants.

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5. Avoid contaminants in your mulch. Weed seeds and dog poo won't do your veggies (or you) any good. So be careful where you get those grass clippings.