The miracle of mulch

Story Highlights: Explaining the basics of mulch



The miracle of mulch

Spec.26b 4/25/98daa--Volunteers from City of Tustin Boys and Girls Club, Kendrick Stallard(left), 8, of Tustin and Jesse Martinez, 12, of Santa Ana, come together on Volunteer Connection Day to mulch and replant the club. by Daniel A. Anderson

While we like to move the discussion forward in the garden department and delve into advanced subjects like pH and phosphorus, occasionally a new gardener joins the group and we've got to coast while they catch up.

Feel free to talk amongst yourselves about mycorrhiza while I explain mulch to Bill of Tustin who doesn't get the concept.

Weeds plague Bill, so I suggested mulch. But here's where it gets weird: somehow Bill purchased mulch with a "time stamp" on the bag — something like, this mulch only works for 6 months, or so.

When Bill asked his local nurseryperson what to do after the expiration date, he was told to take it up, throw it out and apply a new layer. You will agree that Bill needs help.

Dear Bill,

Think of mulch as a cozy blanket for your soil. The key word here is blanket, and thicker is better. If you were going to tuck your soil in for the summer (or the winter for that matter) you could blanket it with all kinds of things.

Some commercial farmers use plastic. Landscapers mulch with weed cloth followed by bark or gravel. Vegetable gardeners sometimes use a layer of newspaper followed by a layer of mowed grass, hay or straw.

Of course, the most organic form of mulch you could choose is a mix of ground up and decomposed forest products or your own homemade compost. Ã¯Â¿Â½ Mother Nature mulches her soil with deep layers of fallen leaves.Ã¯Â¿Â½

Mulch isn't something you sprinkle lightly on the top of your soil. Like a blanket, it's all about thickness. The idea is to smother weed seeds under a deep, dark cover so they can't germinate. The ideal thickness would be 2 to 3 inches of mulch laid on top of your native soil.

Mulch has benefits besides preventing weeds. It can also smother soil borne funguses such as black spot, mildew and rust and prevent those spores from traveling up from your soil and onto your susceptible plants such as roses.

More, mulch also keeps soil temperatures even, prevents evaporation so you water less, and adds all-important organic matter to improve your soil structure and provide a feast for the earthworms.

Ultimately you would want a plethora of earthworms in your garden. And those earthworms would pull your mulch down into the soil to improve it. But earthworms don't live where there is little organic matter; so don't expect them right away.

I mulch once a year at most. Because I am an active gardener, at some point during my digging, weeding, planting and fussing, I've dug my top layer of mulch under into the soil making it fluffier and more organic all the while. Ã¯Â¿Â½

Come spring, I usually order another large batch and re-apply the mulch 2 to 3 inches thick everywhere I find bare soil.

But there is no need to dig your mulch under at all. You can simply lay it on top and let nature take it course. You might find though, that your mulch will still need topping off every once in a while.


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