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What do you mulch plants with? & mixed messages about mulching

4K views 37 replies 17 participants last post by  Clydecrashcup 
#1 ·
So the philosophy of gardening that I follow insists one should keep the soil covered from the sun, mirroring Mother Nature. Keeps the organisms in the soil happier and healthier and alive if they aren't exposed directly to the sun. Makes sense to me. It's worked well for some time now, except.....

Here is my issue - bugs, like asparagus beetles and cucumber beetles like to winter in said "litter" under the plants. My garden currently has both bugs. :eek:

I will be getting some nemotodes, as soon as my pocketbook allows for the purchase. Releasing 1500 Ladybugs and picking, picking, picking is what I've done so far.
I am currently mulching with lawn clippings and leaves but that is no longer working for me since my lawn is mostly weed like dandelion, sorrel and plantain and so I am therefore planting them in my garden by using the "lawn" clippings as mulch. As much as I love those plants, I have enough of them outside the garden to not need them where I am trying to grow cucumber! :) I am looking into getting some wood chips (from tree removal, not pure chip, but different sized chip, if you know what I mean)

So - What do you mulch with? How's it working out for you?
 
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#33 ·
From where I've seen toads it seems that they prefer a low ceiling and appear to back into the shelter and kind of burrow down in that spot.

A piece of tin seems to work well for snakes especially if it's exposed to the sun. Be
careful if you have any poisonous snakes.
 
#35 ·
So the philosophy of gardening that I follow insists one should keep the soil covered from the sun, mirroring Mother Nature. Keeps the organisms in the soil happier and healthier and alive if they aren't exposed directly to the sun. Makes sense to me. It's worked well for some time now, except.....

Here is my issue - bugs, like asparagus beetles and cucumber beetles like to winter in said "litter" under the plants. My garden currently has both bugs. :eek:

I will be getting some nemotodes, as soon as my pocketbook allows for the purchase. Releasing 1500 Ladybugs and picking, picking, picking is what I've done so far.
I am currently mulching with lawn clippings and leaves but that is no longer working for me since my lawn is mostly weed like dandelion, sorrel and plantain and so I am therefore planting them in my garden by using the "lawn" clippings as mulch. As much as I love those plants, I have enough of them outside the garden to not need them where I am trying to grow cucumber! :) I am looking into getting some wood chips (from tree removal, not pure chip, but different sized chip, if you know what I mean)

So - What do you mulch with? How's it working out for you?
I ise cornsulks and shicks on everything not corn, bean hulls on everything not bean, water chestnut dead stalks on everything not water chestnuts, duckweed as it becomes available, Spanish moss and oak leaves (but I have to correct the acidity on the oak leaves)
 
#38 ·
I use rain spoiled Alfalfa hay . Around here people from the Bay area move here to the country and some of them get horses and buy Alfalfa for the horses. Once the hay gets rained on and moldy you can;t feed it to the horse so it sits there and rots . I keep an eye out for this and I don't have any problem getting it .Call it a learning curve for the city folks It has hardly any weed seeds compared to other straw and hay. It rots into the soil and adds humus . When I plant I use drip irrigation. When the plants get about 1 foot tall and or wide I mulch with the crumbly hay. When you use drip irrigation the water leaves a fingerprint in the soil showing where it spread to depending on your soil type. Let's say the fingerprint is a 1 foot circle. A few days after I water I hoe around the plant gently in the fingerprint area to expose any weeds that may be sprouting from the last irrigation and leave this exposed for it to dry out a few days. Then I mulch it about 6" out past the 1 foot fingerprint. Well rotted and dried alfalfa will crumble nicely and when it is positioned this way it won't allow light to get down to the soil for the weeds to germinate and sprout through it.I make it about 4 to 6" deep. Since no water is permeating past the mulch very few weeds will come up in this area and you can conserve your mulch for later use. Doing it this way saves from spreading the mulch over the entire area.
 
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