To Mulch or Not to Mulch

In my earlier days gardening when I didn't have a lot of the knowledge of the science of gardening, I just planted plants and seeds in the ground every Memorial weekend.  Didn't even know that some plants preferred cool weather let alone anything about mulching around plants.

Mulching is the placing of organic or inorganic materials around plants, avoiding the root zone, to help maintain soil temperature, prevent sunlight from reaching weed seeds in the soil minimizing or preventing weed seed germination.  Ever notice how when you mulch around your plants the problem of weeds is greatly diminished?  I have since I started mulching my vegetable gardens.  Mulching also helps retain soil moisture, which, by the way, we needed little of  this spring growing season.  It rained almost everyday and the weather was quite cool. The soil was mostly wet and saturated at that time.

Mulching is great to do in the walk ways and pathways in the gardens also. Add about 2-3 inches of mulch to the area you are working with.  It is especially important to mulch your container plants to prevent drying with winds and hot weather and because it is such a small area you need the mulch to help maintain moisture in the container even if you are watering them every day or every other day.

 Mulch can be either inorganic, which is not made of "live" material and doesn't breakdown in the soil and doesn't help improve the soil as does organic material.  These might be plastic, gravel, stones and landscape fabric.  I have used black plastic for a number of years, but as I have grown in understanding of the science of gardening, I have switched to straw for my mulching.  Some people use chopped leaves, grass clippings, compost, wood chips, shredded bark, sawdust, pine needles or paper.  I leave the straw on the soil over winter to protect the soil and in spring I till it in and it adds beautiful organic material to the soil.  Add some compost and what fine soil I have for planting.  Be aware though, that sawdust or wood chips can initially deplete the soil of nitrogen (an essential nutrient needed to create the green leaves of your plants) and then it neutralizes.  You can get around this by adding nitrogen to the soil before putting down these materials.

If using black plastic you will need to dispose of it after each growing season.  And you are adding more plastic to the landfills.  Black plastic does not break down easily and takes years.