Mulching. Experience sibmam

Farmlands in Eastern Europe are known to have been mulched with straw since the 17th century. These days, mulch can be either organic or non-organic. The method of cultivation with mulching is especially suitable for gardeners who are rarely in the country and do not want to bother themselves with frequent watering and weeding.

Mulching functions

1. Main function: retention of moisture in the soil. When dry, there will be no "crust" under the mulch after watering.
2. The next most important function: improving soil structure. Under the mulch, the soil remains loose. If you use this agricultural method for many years, then even the heaviest soil will become breathable and “fluffy”.
3. Mulch itself is an organic fertilizer. It turns out that with the subsequent incorporation into the soil, we easily and naturally feed our beds!
4. Protection of grown crops from overheating and at the same time from hypothermia.
5. Some inhibition of weed growth. The strongest ones will still crawl up, but they will be easy to remove.
6. Mulch keeps fruits and leaves clean without touching the ground.
7. decorative effect.

What can be mulched?

The simplest and most affordable material for mulching is beveled. Of course, it does not carry a decorative function, but how much use it will be! But you can only use dried chopped grass that has not begun to turn black and rot. Grass seeds should not be, because they remain viable for many years, and all the beds are at risk of being turned into a lawn. To prevent the appearance of seeds on the grass, it is necessary to carry out as often as possible. Another secret revealed Alina82: “When I was choosing a mixture for lawns, I read that some grass seeds are added - it seems bluegrass, but not the fact that I remember correctly. So, this grass has the ability to grow in any, even the smallest, piece and gives roots. I remember that I immediately imagined my garden all in the lawn, and I specifically looked for a mixture without this grass.

Pine needles (coniferous litter) can be collected in a pine forest.

Compost and manure you can also mulch, but the compost should be free of weed seeds, and manure is not suitable for all crops.

Bark of larch and pine also suitable for mulching. It is possible to sprinkle the soil not with crushed (non-fractional) bark, but with large - for example, use tree trunks of garden trees. You can dial it conditionally for free - for example, at the nearest sawmill.

Looks very decorative pine nut or hazelnut shell. It is quite difficult to accumulate enough of this material yourself, but it can be purchased at almost any gardening store. To decorate a flower garden, you will not need so much, besides, the shell is inexpensive.

Can be mulched and shredded coconut skin, it is sold in compressed briquettes, which must first be soaked.

Decorative chips look most impressive in flower beds. It comes in different colors - both natural and bright. They make it from anything - from sawdust, from woodworking waste, from walnut shells. When choosing, pay attention not only to the composition of the wood chips, but also to the environmental friendliness of the dye. It is important that after the rain the paint does not wash off and does not go into the soil. You can also color the chips yourself, for example, in green or potassium permanganate, in a decoction of onion peel or beets, in tea leaves, but the color will not last long.

Marble chips- mulch of mineral origin. You can sprinkle flower beds with it, having previously laid a film.
Geotextile (agrotex, agril, lutrasil) also used for covering soil. Ludmila K notes: “I also undertook to mulch the beds, I cover the strawberries with black agril, I really like it: there is no grass, the berry does not rot, the mustache does not grow. But the next year, grass grows on sprinkled agril (sprinkled so that it doesn’t fly away), in the aisles, of course, but weeding is problematic, since the roots and agril become one.”

Mulching technology

Mulch is laid between mature plants. First, the bed must be weeded and watered (it can be combined with the first feeding), loosened after some time, and after that the mulching material is laid out. You need to retreat a little from the stem of the plant.

MNBer adds: “Mulching is a good thing, but it also needs to be done wisely. The main goal when mulching is not weed control (all kinds of covering ones are better for this), but to make it better for the earth: to keep moisture, to saturate with organic matter, to feed earthen inhabitants. All useful biological processes take place at the soil-mulch boundary, and initially a thick layer is not needed. And then the first layer will do its job, I add more, and so on all summer.

Mulch thickness

Lyubasha advises to “mulch in a thick layer. This layer should be 7-10 cm. If it is less, then the weeds will climb again, as there will be access to light. But with a thick layer there will be no such access, there will be very few weeds, a few, but over the summer it will be necessary to periodically put more mulch. Therefore, we specially mow the grass behind the plot and lay it out under the trees.
Asya97 notes that with large planting areas, for example, potatoes, mulching is labor-intensive: “When planting, the tubers are placed on the ground and covered with a thick layer of straw. Potatoes take food from the ground, which is always wet under the straw. No watering, weeding or hilling required. In principle, you can not plow. The tubers are clean, without soil. The illusion that this method is very profitable begins to disappear when you think about how much straw is needed for a dense layer of 15 cm, for example, for 1, 2, 5 or 10 acres of potatoes.
One 50-liter bag of decorative chips (about 15 kg) is enough for 1 square meter when backfilled with a layer 5-10 cm thick. Please note that decorative chips also need to be renewed every year, adding at least a layer 1 cm thick.

Do I need to weed a mulched garden bed?

Malicious weeds (wheatgrass, loach, thistle) still break through a thick layer of mulch. They must be removed and put with their roots up in the garden or on the path. The roots should not come into contact with bare ground, otherwise it is a simple transplant of the weed to a new place.
With such weeding, the weeds dry out and turn into mulch. And, of course, weeds should not be with seeds. It is better not to put dandelions in the garden, as they will quickly populate the entire territory.

Can you mulch with cardboard?

Cardboard is not the best material for mulching, it is better to use it to create high beds in.

What to do with mulch at the end of the growing season?

Organic mulch “does not need to be removed, it is almost ready-made fertilizer,” advises [email protected] . Indeed, beneficial microorganisms quickly appear in an almost constant wet layer of organic matter, as a result of which the same lawn grass turns into almost ready-made compost. In the spring, this biomass can be carefully patched up slightly with a flat cutter when loosening.

Mistakes when mulching

1. Applying mulch too early in spring. The soil does not have time to warm up under a thick layer, the soil "microfauna" does not wake up. The development of plants, respectively, slows down. In the spring, on the contrary, it is necessary to slightly rake the mulch so that the soil warms up faster.
2. Tamping down mulch or applying packed grass will cause the soil to be tightly covered and air will not flow freely to the roots.
3. Applying mulch to newly emerging seedlings will depress them.
4. Immoderate watering of the mulched beds leads to waterlogging.

Rice. 1. Drought-resistant mulched plants, such as corn, do not need to be watered at all. A photo Nadia.

1. Sometimes when mulching, plant growth stops altogether. This happens when using inorganic mulch or sawdust chips, which tend to "pull" nitrogen out of the soil. The mistake is a lack of nitrogen. The bottom layer of mulch should be rich in nitrogen!

Rice. 2. On such a thin layer of chopped lawn grass, you can already put other mulch. A photo Nadia.

1. Waterlogging can be dangerous and the occurrence of fungal diseases. Then the layer of mulch should be removed.
2. The appearance of slugs, bears, ants and sometimes mice. Chemical means of protection will help here - Slug-eater, Medvetoks, Anteater. And ants do this without mulching at all. From mice bagheera123 advises shedding “cut grass, for example, with Fitoverm or Aktelik. These drugs are biological, they will not bring harm, at the same time you will kill two birds with one stone: mice definitely do not like their smell, and also prevention from other pests.

Rice. 3. Tomatoes bagheera123“They were mulched almost immediately after planting with a very good layer of at least 15 cm. The grass has already dried up and holds moisture perfectly.” A photo bagheera123.

1. The dominance of weeds in the case of mulching with material with seeds. However, when using bark or inorganic mulch, this disadvantage disappears.
2. Cost. But even here our sibmums found a way out: Lu collects needles "in a pine forest, for free." MNBer shares his advice: “I have mulch - economy class, from my own organic matter. I sow green manure - winter rye, in autumn - my seeds.

Rice. 4. Rye as green manure. A photo MNBer.

Is bark mulching harmful?

MNBer argues: “I don’t know why the beetles were called bark beetles, because they feed on living wood, and through the bark they go to the forest floor for wintering. Gardeners know that pests hide both in summer and winter under foliage, grass and under mulch as well. So after all, useful worm bugs are hiding in the same place. So what are we supposed to do - tear off the leaves from the ground, and sweep the blades of grass with a broom, and keep the ground bare? No, we arm ourselves with knowledge. As soon as organics (manure, sawdust, needles, bark) fall on the ground, other processes are already turned on, the earth and earth inhabitants themselves will deal with all this variety of food. True, you need to know who to pour what. Garden blueberries will not survive without forest land, sawdust, needles and bark, and raspberries love manure even in spring or autumn. It is desirable to lay rotted manure with fruits in the spring.

How to mulch flowers?

In the flower garden, marble chips, colored decorative chips, and the husk of any nut will look good. However, you can get by with the usual chopped bark.

Rice. 5. Photo MNBer.

Rice. 6. Photo MNBer.

How to mulch onions, carrots and beets?

Kosya writes: “There are a number of features with onion mulching. It should not be heavily mulched, and if you overdo it, then the onion feathers hardly crawl out and break. And later, when the bulb is pouring, the mulch around the bulb must be moved apart. During this period, with an excess of moisture, the bulb stops growing. Last year I made just all these mistakes, and only then I read about the features of growing onions. I mulched the carrots and beets right away, the carrots sprouted perfectly, but the beet leaves were twisted. This year, I also mulched the beets, but I put a very thin layer, and in the process of growth I’ll still look, maybe I’ll spread the mulch around the beets, help it crawl out, and then I’ll mulch around each bush. ”

How to mulch raspberries and currants?

Helgo4ka describes: “In the aisle I put old raspberry twigs when I cut it, and then I cut the lawn and fall asleep on top of the old branches. If you mow the grass in raspberries and put it in the same place, you can not chop the grass. Last year I pulled out grass around the currant and immediately folded it around the bush - beauty! The new grass won't get through and it's clean."

Rice. 8. You can mulch raspberries with manure. A photo MNBer.

How to mulch potatoes?

MNBer writes: “This year, for the first time, potatoes were grown without traditional technology. There was an experiment on two beds, without hilling, but only with mulching. I'm happy with the result." MNBer sprinkled planting with potatoes and mowed grass.

Rice. 9. Photo MNBer.

Kosya shares the secrets of growing potatoes under mulch: “At first it was necessary to put a not very thick layer of mulch, but as it grows, add it regularly, because if there is not enough mulch, the potatoes will be green with corned beef. And we immediately put a thick layer, and then did not put anything at all. The potatoes made their way for a long time, rose later, however, then they leveled off and overtook the potatoes planted in the standard way, and they bloomed earlier. In the spring, they parted the mulch a little with their hands, put the potatoes there, and covered the top with a new layer of straw. We deepened some potatoes a little for the experiment: we stirred up the straw, made a small hole in the ground for the potato with a flat cutter, and then covered it with new straw. As a result, what was deepened was more difficult to get, the potatoes were in the ground, they had to be dug out. And the one that grew in the straw was clean and easy to assemble. This year we decided not to deepen. We spread it over the old straw, and cover it from above, but not as much as last time. I think that 15 cm will do for a start. Then we will lay straw and grass from the meadow. They didn't water it last year. Yes, and the whole garden was watered over the summer 2 times at most, since when mulching, the need for this practically disappears. You don't need to poke her."