#45. The Importance of Mulch in Vegetable Growing
Garden mulch is the protective layer that gardeners cover soil with. It is beneficial to your garden by providing nutrients for the plants, enhancing the soil's water retention capacity by locking in moisture, enhancing the appearance of your vegetable beds, suppressing weeds, protecting plants during cold weather and helping with plant culture.
There are different varieties of mulch that you can use to cover the soil's surface. These include leaf mould, crushed shells, grass clippings, bark chips and well-rotted farmyard manure.
Mulch is applied as follows:
Autumn is the main mulching time. It helps to lock-in the heat in the soil during the winter months. This will give the soil a higher starting temperature than it would normally have when the new season starts. Autumn mulch will protect the soil from winter rains and prevent erosion.
In spring time the mulch is removed prior to planting to allow sunlight to start warming up the soil. Once your new plants are well established, and this should happen by early summer, you can apply new mulch to conserve soil moisture through the summer heat and dryness.
In early winter, mulch is used to protect the roots of tender plants and the crowns as well from the harshness of frost.
Mulch is constantly applied to „no dig' beds and raised beds. The organic mulch breaks down over a period of time to transform the soil into rich organic soil.
One of the most important reasons why gardeners apply mulch is to protect the soil when there are no plants growing. This helps to prevent the weeds from swarming in.
What happens when the wrong mulch is used or the application method is wrong:
• Loose, light mulch can very easily blow away or get kicked out of place
• Wrong mulch can kill roots due to lack of aeration
• Cause roots to surface and dry out
• Introduce excess carbon into the soil causing a shortage of vital nitrogen
• Increase the soil's acidity level
• Cause rot to develop
• Encourage weeds to grow
Before you mulch, clear the area completely of all weeds and debris and moisten the soil. Water the soil if it is very dry. Spread mulch across the area in a two inch thick layer. When you put mulch around plants, leave a little gap around the stem of the plants. Rake over the mulch lightly to even it out.