Mulching is sort of a kissing cousin to composting. I've been using both gardening practices over the years.
According to the
Ecological Agriculture Projects website, there are lots of good reasons to mulch.
- controls weeds
- protects roots
- improves soil
- reduces pests
- keeps soil most
- moderates soil temperatures
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| Rain barrels above the garden patch. |
The last two reasons prompted me to start mulching.
This year, I planted my
hillside potato patch during a warm spell. After only three days of watering from my
55-gallon rain barrels, it was over half empty.
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| The hillside potato patch covered in leaf mulch. |
I gathered buckets of
salal leaves from the cliff-side path (with the added bonus of a neater trail). After a heavy watering, I spread the natural mulch over the potato patch and watered again. My hope was to keep the sprouting seed potatoes moist enough to get well established.
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| Yukon Gold potato plants with mulch in June. |
As you can see, mulching with natural products was a huge success. My potato plants haven't been this strong and healthy. I have great hopes for a good crop of spuds come August. My soil depth in the cliff-side patch isn't very deep yet. All of it
has come from years of composting. But it's rich in nutrients, and now even richer in moisture.
Do you mulch in your garden? What do you use? Has it been successful?
For more information about gardening, check out the
Ecological Agriculture Projects website by the
Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at McGill University in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, Canada. Publications are available in French and English on a variety of agricultural and gardening topics. -- Margy
Well done, again. I don't think I'm doing a garden this year!
ReplyDeleteNow that I have so much going I'm a little overwhelmed. - Margy
Delete'Mulch is our friend!' Use it everywhere.
ReplyDeleteI used commercial cedar bark mulch in my pots, but all these leaves were a freebie. - Margy
DeleteOh a nice crop of potatoes. We grew potatoes in bales of hay/straw one year in California - it was a huge success and a lot easier to find the potatoes. Mulching is a great way to hold in the moisture - I'm always surprised at how long the soil stays damp. We've been really busy - first Don's surgery (successful) and then a week and a half recovery - then our son and his family visiting - and our daughters here in town coming up to join the fun - and now that they have gone home we are taking a few days for ourselves and a little at-home vacation - hopefully back to normal soon and I can catch up on blog reading.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear Don is doing well. Family visits are always fun, but can also be a bit of work. Enjoy your relaxing at-home vacation time. - Margy
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