Mulching around plants is a good way to moderate the soil temperature, keep the soil moist and inhibit weed growth. Over the years I have tried many types of mulch in the vegetable garden including black plastic, red bio-degradable ‘plastic’ made of corn starch, compost, wood chips and straw.
Presently, I don’t use any mulch in the vegetable garden with the exception of compost around my garlic and in my asparagus bed. Why not use mulch more extensively? Simply I find it a bit of a pain in the butt (at least for my vegetable garden) and my extensive experimenting with mulches has shown no discernible difference in yields.
First off, the sheet mulches did work great for keeping the soil moist but I found that installation was a pain as the edges have to be buried which meant making extra cuts for my watering system. I do plant my seedlings close together so cutting holes in the sheets actually opens up a large percentage of the covered bed. Re-using them in subsequent seasons is also a pain as I rotate my crops every year and not all of my beds are exactly the same size. This usually means discarding them. They also moderate the soil temperature but my raised beds heat up quickly in the spring anyway so this feature was a moot point.
Secondly, wood chips and straw simply make a mess and only moderately control the weeds throughout the entire season. I also find the slugs and other critters really like the shelter that mulches provide.
Right now my garden is a moderate size and the raised beds are easily accessible. Not using mulch permits me to quickly pass the hoe in and around plants. Since I visit my garden every day, weeding is rarely a chore.
I add compost annually keeping the soil very rich and the watering systems target the plants effectively resulting in very healthy plants. This, along with relatively close plant spacings, means that the plants often form a thick canopy over the bed, naturally inhibiting weed growth.
I definitely use a thick covering of wood-chip mulch for the few perennial beds I have which means I rarely have to water them. A few easy weedings per season will usually suffice to keep the beds clean. The soil in these beds isn't rototilled annually so I can go about 3 to 4 years before adding more wood chips.
Presently, I don’t use any mulch in the vegetable garden with the exception of compost around my garlic and in my asparagus bed. Why not use mulch more extensively? Simply I find it a bit of a pain in the butt (at least for my vegetable garden) and my extensive experimenting with mulches has shown no discernible difference in yields.
First off, the sheet mulches did work great for keeping the soil moist but I found that installation was a pain as the edges have to be buried which meant making extra cuts for my watering system. I do plant my seedlings close together so cutting holes in the sheets actually opens up a large percentage of the covered bed. Re-using them in subsequent seasons is also a pain as I rotate my crops every year and not all of my beds are exactly the same size. This usually means discarding them. They also moderate the soil temperature but my raised beds heat up quickly in the spring anyway so this feature was a moot point.
Secondly, wood chips and straw simply make a mess and only moderately control the weeds throughout the entire season. I also find the slugs and other critters really like the shelter that mulches provide.
Right now my garden is a moderate size and the raised beds are easily accessible. Not using mulch permits me to quickly pass the hoe in and around plants. Since I visit my garden every day, weeding is rarely a chore.
I add compost annually keeping the soil very rich and the watering systems target the plants effectively resulting in very healthy plants. This, along with relatively close plant spacings, means that the plants often form a thick canopy over the bed, naturally inhibiting weed growth.
I definitely use a thick covering of wood-chip mulch for the few perennial beds I have which means I rarely have to water them. A few easy weedings per season will usually suffice to keep the beds clean. The soil in these beds isn't rototilled annually so I can go about 3 to 4 years before adding more wood chips.
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