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Post by spike on Feb 10, 2018 12:16:00 GMT -5
If you use mulch in your garden, what do you use, how do you use it, when do you put it down etc and why? I have never used mulch but am interested.
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Post by carolyn on Feb 10, 2018 12:23:32 GMT -5
what kind of mulch? like wood chip mulch or plastic mulch? I use plastic in some places (such as a row of tomatoes with drip tape underneath it), ground cover (woven) in between rows and clover as a living much in others (such as inside of my high tunnel. Then I do have wood chip mulch in the blue berries. and a pole I planted sweet potatoes in last year which worked out pretty well as what got put there was what didn't fit in the garden row... and they grew better and bigger in the mulch pile.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Feb 10, 2018 12:26:46 GMT -5
It does give the cats something to scratch up and crap in.
Sorry, couldn't resist! LAUGHING!
on a serious note, I use it around tomatoes if I have any. Usually just plain ol wood chips. If I had it in an unlimited supply, I'd use straw.
Hairy Vetch is another great mulch
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Feb 10, 2018 13:00:50 GMT -5
spike , Hurry up and make a new post!! YIKES!!!
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Post by pepperhead212 on Feb 10, 2018 13:23:23 GMT -5
I use plastic mulch on my pepper and squash rows, and straw against my trellises.
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Feb 10, 2018 13:54:29 GMT -5
Hardwood leaves if possible. I like to cover the garden with them in the fall and till it in in the spring.
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Post by spike on Feb 10, 2018 14:02:19 GMT -5
AARRRGHH!! post 667 whew
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Post by spike on Feb 10, 2018 14:06:55 GMT -5
I have never used mulch so have no idea what is best or even how to use it. Is it used to keep weeds out and to help keep the ground moist? Does it matter what you use if it is going to be tilled under in the fall/spring. I do rake my leaves and put them in the garden in the fall.
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Post by september on Feb 10, 2018 14:09:40 GMT -5
I use either no mulch, or black weed blocker, or black plastic for melons. Straw mulch keeps my ground too cool, and up north here, I need all the heat in the soil I can get, especially for peppers and tomatoes if I want to get ripe fruit that requires a long season. When I have any on hand, I might put down straw later in July when it does get very hot, to keep from having to water so often.
I do use shredded leaves in the fall, and turn them under in the spring, or let them decompose by themselves on top which they do quickly in the spring.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Feb 10, 2018 14:26:50 GMT -5
Hey Girl,
I use it on tomatoes so I don't have to water them. I till it under when season is over. It does make pulling Johnson Grass easier too.
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Post by Gianna on Feb 10, 2018 14:39:39 GMT -5
I use copious quantities of mulch. What you use is what you have, or can easily get. I use mulch from the city - free with modest delivery charge. It is ground green waste, either plain or screened. I prefer the screened because the pieces are smaller and there are no 'wood chips' in it. Hence it decomposes faster. And my cats not only don't disturb it, they don't even like walking on it, lol.
I use it on/around most things, with soaker hoses. It decomposes as it keeps the soil beneath moist. Here we get no rain in summer and are still in a drought, so it's essential. I do not turn it under since it decomposes nicely if just let be. And I'm heading towards 'no till'.
I have used plastic at times and in certain circumstances, but I don't like that it decomposes in the sun. I would cover it with mulch to prevent that, but that's another layer of work. I'd use it for melons, but the plastic made it more difficult to find and trap gophers, which live here. I have nothing against using plastic, it's just not as efficient as the free ground mulch.
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Post by paulf on Feb 10, 2018 15:25:34 GMT -5
After trying all kinds of mulches the one I have gone to and used for the past ten years is a base of three layers of newsprint. Either you can save lots of papers or to a local newspaper and get end rolls. I work one day per week at the paper and get them free. They are 32 inches wide and the rolls are around fifty feet long. Makes it easy to roll them out.
Then I get bales of weed free straw and layer it about 6-8 inches deep. The moisture goes down to the soil and doesn't dry out quickly, the soil is kept cool during the hot summer months and watering or rainfall does not splash up on leaves and spread pathogens. It is also a good weed barrier. Then in the fall everything gets tilled into the soil as extra organic material
I have used plastic, grass and leaves and landscape cloth. All work but the benefits of the entire paper/straw makes it my choice.
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Post by ahntjudy on Feb 10, 2018 15:48:11 GMT -5
Agree with what many above have said about the benefit of mulch... It is the most important thing in my garden and yard... Keeps the soil evenly moist...breaks down and becomes part of great soil...and pretty much keeps the weeds down... Primarily I use just raked up leaves...better if I have a chance to chip them with the lawn mower...but that doesn't always happen... Shredded leaves, as a rule, are more 'well-behaved' where I place them...They stay in place better than non ground up leaves in the wind and don't end up against the fence as much... Collected hay and straw bales from the end of Thanksgiving season also get used for mulch... I keep a waterproof drop cloth in my car at all times especially around then to scarf up hay bales those 'non'gardeners' put out to trash... The leaves and hay/straw are for my veggie garden... The rest of the yard, which is no grass at all, and all the beds, are chipped with wood chips...the last load I was lucky enough to get from the tree trimmers who were one day working down the end of the street...I got a free gigantically full truck load of them...That was a happy day... Without mulch, and I've had that happen in places in the past because I just didn't have any, I waste a lot of time weeding... It makes a huge difference there... I wish I had a decent small chipper rather than just the lawn mower... I waste a lot of largerish shrub clippings to yard debris collection that I could be using as well... I don't have room for that bigger stuff in my compost bins... There's a possible question of the day question...about chippers...
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Post by tomike on Feb 10, 2018 16:21:00 GMT -5
Hardwood leaves if possible. I like to cover the garden with them in the fall and till it in in the spring.
I agree fully with tilling leaves into the garden soil come spring but I don't consider this as being mulching by definition.....
However, for those who mulch with straw (never, never with hay)..... tilling the straw in the fall and again come spring can surely be beneficial....
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Post by guruofgardens on Feb 10, 2018 16:48:47 GMT -5
We use lots and lots of shredded leaves for mulch between most rows. For tomatoes, I'm lucky to have access to the end of the roll newsprint in 2 sizes that we double, lay beside the plants on both sides, then layer the leaves on top of the newsprint.
We don't use plastic or wood chips, as everything will be tilled in come frost.
This year I bought 3 bales of straw that I'll use at home, and use the hundreds of bags of shredded leaves at the community garden. We're very lucky to have bags of leaves left off at the community garden, but we do have to watch out for the occasional undesirables left in the leaves!
We used to patrol a few streets at garbage pickup days to snatch bags of leaves, but now they are delivered to the garden!
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Post by ahntjudy on Feb 10, 2018 17:40:25 GMT -5
While I have never had a problem with it, I have read that uneven soil moisture, among other issues, is a contributor to Blossom End Rot... The calcium uptake by the plant fluctuates with the moisture availability in the soil...or something like that... I'm not a scientist... Another good reason to use some type of mulch... That and it keeps undesirable pathogens from splashing up on the plants in a rain...(Oops...paulf already said that...)
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Post by aftermidnight on Feb 10, 2018 18:09:54 GMT -5
I use what ever leaves raked up in the fall in the flower beds and straw for the veggies.
Annette
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Post by spike on Feb 11, 2018 10:24:04 GMT -5
Thanks everyone! I have never used mulch and may just have to play with it a bit this coming year.
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Post by brownrexx on Feb 11, 2018 14:41:20 GMT -5
My garden is ALWAYS covered with a layer of mulch and I use straw. I did try chopped leaves but the little pieces of leaves got onto my lettuce and spinach leaves as well as stuck to my feet and I didn't like that. I don't have raised beds so I walk in my garden. Now I compost the leaves and mulch with straw. In the fall I toto till my garden and then cover it with a thick layer of fresh straw. This keeps it pretty much weed free and moderates the soil temperature so that it is not subjected to repeated freeze/thaw cycles. It also keep the soil warmer longer into the winter so that the earthworms stay closer to the surface longer to keep working the soil until it becomes too cold and then they burrow deeper for the winter. In the Spring I just pull back the straw and plant my crops and it becomes my mulch for the summer. Mulch keeps the weeds down, the soil more moist and pathogens from splashing onto the plants as others have said. By the end of the summer it is looking pretty ratty and it gets tilled under and replaced in the Fall. It just makes gardening so much easier. Here are a couple of pics. DSC00762 by Brownrexx, on Flickr DSC00765 by Brownrexx, on Flickr
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Post by coppice on Feb 16, 2018 12:48:43 GMT -5
Trees need mulch (usually applied in spring) to conserve moisture, it with periodic remineralization can be the total applied fertilization. Start your mulch about a foot out from trunk to the drip edge of the tree.
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Post by paulf on Feb 16, 2018 14:56:00 GMT -5
This is a view of my garden from last year:
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Post by spike on Feb 16, 2018 15:05:53 GMT -5
Do you till the straw under?
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Post by brownrexx on Feb 16, 2018 18:53:39 GMT -5
I till my straw under at the end of the season and apply new straw to protect my garden over the winter.
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Post by paulf on Feb 16, 2018 20:11:43 GMT -5
I have several layers of newspaper under the straw and it all gets tilled under in the fall. New newspaper and straw mulch gets applied in the spring.
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