Why Mulch?
Mulching creates a protective cover over the soil to help retain moisture, reduce soil erosion, suppress weeds and provide nutrients to the soil with a slow release effect.
Mulching perennials before winter will help protect the plants from frost damage. It is a good idea in cold climates because we will see a few hard frost’ before the snow covers and insulates the plants for the winter.
What can be used as a mulch?
There are many types of mulches used such as straw, compost, leaves, paper and cardboard, leaves, plastic etc. You can also mulch green manures.
What are green manures?
Green manures are plants seeded in the ground to help improve soil structure. Most commonly the legume family is used as a green manure because the have nodules on their roots that create a nitrogen bacteria in the soil. Thus fixing nitrogen, which most plants take from the soil. Green manures also help retain moisture, prevent soil erosion, add nutrients and cycle nutrients through sub soils and topsoils. Help keep nutrients in the ground as opposed to being leached by rain, wind, and from the spring melt.
Green manures work to penetrate the soil with their long roots, breaking compacted soil up and benefiting your crops by allowing their root systems to reaching lower levels where nutrients and water is stored, which is valuable in the case of drought.
There are three methods that you can use when planting your green manures:
Over wintering
This method is when you plant your green manures after the crops have been harvested but when there is still enough time for them to germinate, they grow to protect the soil over the winter and then are tilled under in the spring where they break down and add more nutrients to the soil, or are use as a mulch on top of the soil.
Main crop
A main crop green manure is when the green manure is planted instead of a your vegetables, to fix the soil over the season. It can be used for grazing livestock and then in the following spring turned in the soil fixed and your garden planted.
Under sown green manures
This method is great because it allows you to still plant your crops and benefit from the green manures as well. The seeds are under sown 4 to 6 weeks after your garden has been planted. This way the seed are not competing with your vegetables. It is important to have weeded your garden a couple times already and a fresh weed right before the seeds are sown. The green manure can then be mulched in later before it sets seeds or it can be left over winter and mulched in the spring.
Plants that can be seeded for green manures are:
· Rye for over winter
· Oats for over winter
· Mustard
· Clover, adds nitrogen
· Vetch, adds nitrogen
· Buckwheat, adds calcium
· Lupins, add nitrogen to the soil
· Alfalfa, which sends roots deep to bring nutrients to the surface.
· Soy beans and other common bean varieties, fix nitrogen in the soil.
There are also many other varieties of plants used for green manures these are just a few.
COMPOSTING
Composting is one of the most important things that we can do to help our garden. It is an organic method of fertilization and the main staple in organic gardening. It is important for you to make sure that you are composting properly, by adding even amounts of ingredients to insure a healthy heap. If too many kitchen scraps are added without adding anything else you will end up with a slimy stinky mess.
Basic ingredients in the compost heap are:
Brown materials: Dirt, leaves, bark, needles from a tree, sawdust, straw, and dead plant materials
Green materials: fresh cut grass, leaves, weeds and kitchen scraps.
There are many ways of composting, but I find the layered method to be most effective.
Herbs can also be used in the compost heap to help add nutrients and break the compost down faster.
Adding Handfuls of chamomile, dandelion and yarrow leaves and flowers will all speed up decomposition of the compost with yarrow being the most effective. Yarrow also adds copper, nitrates, phosphates and potash while chamomile adds calcium and ‘sweetens’ the mixture. Dandelions contribute copper, iron and potash. Nettles are problem weeds but they actually improve the quality of the soil they are growing in and when added to the compost they contribute iron and nitrogen. Tansy adds potassium, which is very important for plant growth while valerian increases the phosphorous content so essential for good flowers and fruits. Comfrey leaves are rich in potassium, nitrogen, calcium and phosphates.
