"What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet."
"Sweet flowers are slow and weeds make haste.".
"Nature teaches beasts to know their friends". Coriolanus (Act II, Scene I).
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Mystery Mulch Unmasked!
Mulch is any material you use to cover a garden bed in order to preserve moisture, moderate the soil temperature, and suppress weed growth. All types of mulch are grouped into two basic categories, organic and inorganic. Types of organic mulch include compost, hay, leaves, wood chips, bark, peanut hulls, pine needles, animal manure, ground corncobs, and even recycled materials such as recycled wood or paper. Perhaps the most commonly used form of inorganic mulch is crushed stone. Plastic or fabric sheeting is often also used, sometimes in conjunction with other organic mulch such as wood chips. Both organic and inorganic mulches sold in retail stores are commonly little more than reclaimed industrial waste, as is the case with wood chips, which land developers must pay to get rid of before retailers bag it and sell it to us. Some of the newer post industrial waste products available for adventurous gardeners include shredded tires, aluminum foil, and my personal least favorite sewer sludge. For our gardening purposes here we will make one more distinction amongst mulches as we separate them into the categories of summer and winter mulch. Summer mulches are most of the above listed items such as wood and animal manure, while winter mulches are those temporary mulches such as leaves or hay, which we use to insulate our northern gardens from the drying winter wind and sun. Now that we know what we’re dealing with here let’s have a closer look at some of the more commonly used mulches.COMPOSTOkay so I’m starting with my obvious favorite. As anyone who has read any of my previous Seed articles can tell you compost is a garden necessity. Well-balanced compost will have microbes, which form large underground fungi that feed and protect garden plants. At the same time compost offers the perfect fluffy soil texture that roots need to easily grow. When applied to the garden in the spring time the rich color of compost will catch the warmth of the sun and awaken the plants so that the garden is quickly covered in green before the summer heat gets a chance to bake the moisture out of the soil. Compost can be made at home or purchased through retailers. My favorite compost for large garden projects is a product called Farmpost which is a mixture of animal manure, hay, leaves, and a little bit of wood chips. WOOD CHIPSWood chips, shredded wood, and chunks of bark are all different types of wood mulch that are available through any local gas station, hardware store, or big box retailer. These products are sold in a veritable smorgasbord of colors, with a few companies out there willing to dye your mulch to match your trim and shutters. But unfortunately for so many of us who’ve bought into the idea of smothering the ground in shredded tree, wood mulch can be quite problematic. For starters many types of wood mulch have a high carbon to nitrogen ratio, so that while they sit on your garden bed and naturally decay they rob the soil of nitrogen that the plants rely on for growth. Decaying wood will carry with it a host of organisms with undesirable traits or O.U.T.’s, as I like to call them. Some of these O.U.T.’s include; slime molds and other detrimental fungi which are poisonous to plants and can be rather nasty looking, termites (who invited them to the party?), and rodents who find traveling just beneath the wood mulch a convenient way to get to that yummy tender bark around your new trees and shrubs. Perhaps most importantly with any garden top wood mulch too little oxygen and water enter the ground. From my point of view wood mulch is best kept out of the garden, and onto the path where it makes a nice soft walking surface in which weeds don’t like to grow.CRUSHED STONENext time you’re at the gas station, have a look at the base of whatever landscaping is there and I’ll bet you will be looking at crushed stone. Stone mulch is commonly used in applications where the landowner desires a very “low maintenance” landscape. Unfortunately however it would seem that by replacing the sales tag “low maintenance” with “replant your trees and shrubs every three years” the folks who sell rock mulch would be giving us a little more accurate perception. For this example we only need look to the woods or the prairie or the jungle. In none of these lush, verdant environs is found a ground covered in stone. Yes forests did grow upon the Rocky Mountains, but those took a while to establish, perhaps a few thousand more years than you’ll have to invest in your landscape. In fact when we look around to find a natural environment covered in crushed stone it would seem the barren desert is as close as we come to that. Crushed rock will bake the water out of your soil, overheat the plant roots, and over time compact soil. But then, nobody really expected that gas stations would be a good source of landscaping inspiration did they?PLASTIC AND CLOTH SHEETINGSkip it. It’s that simple. Both of these fabrics stifle airflow in the soil. Both of these products run water away from the soil. Both of these products block new nutrients from entering the soil. Just skip it. If you didn’t already skip it, then pull it up and skip it next time.GROUND TIRES, ALUMINUM FOIL, SEWER SLUDGEWhen people start covering their gardens, lawns, and play areas with dangerous chemically laden post consumer industrial waste, and paying for it as though it were a privilege I feel there must be some smirking marketing executive somewhere who really needs to have their creative license revoked. As it turns out the road to answering the question “To mulch or not to mulch?” can be really quite tumultuous. One must avoid clever marketing executives and other types of slime molds. You may have thought your garden was covered only to find your nitrogen was being stolen for years. After reading this you may even feel as if your gardens are lost in the desert, and that a good mulch is nothing but a mirage, but rest assured your oasis awaits if only you’ll think globally and compost locally. The Seed Vol. 7 Sept 20, 2007 A Giving Tree Gardens Newsletter
Photos and Text by Russ Henry
©2007 by Giving Tree Gardens, all rights reserved.
Giving Tree Gardens in the Co-op news!!!!!
Our bodies are our gardens to which our wills are gardeners.
~ William Shakespeare
To Mulch Or Not To Mulch?
That is the question that I have been asked more often than I can remember. Whether ‘tis nobler in the garden to suffer the nitrogen depletion and pestilent fungi of outrageous shredded wood mulch, or to use compost against a sea of troubles, and by composting them end them. This month’s article of The Seed is dedicated to taking the mystery out of mulching, so I’ll quit with the Shakespearean madness and move on with more mindful messages about the meaning, materials, and management of mulch!
This garden, which incorporates the use of compost for mulch does not require chemical fertilizers or pesticides. All synthetic fertilizers and pesticides have the unfortunate side effects of killing and repelling butterflies, birds, and bees as well as destroying beneficial soil fungi called mychorizae. Your choice in mulch will ultimately effect the variety and health of wildlife found in your yard.
Gardener's gold, a pile of compost for sale at Kern Landscaping in St. Paul.
The abundant growth in one season of this tropical annual garden can only be attributed to proper soil health, which is achieved when compost is used in and on the soil before planting.
When weeds grow up through fissures and cracks in landscaping fabric the fiber of the roots entwines with the fiber of the fabric making the roots virtually impossible to pull up without further damage to the landscaping fabric.
Plant Profile:
Catmint a.k.a.
Nepeta faassenii
'Walkers Low '
Just one of a veritable smorgasbord of wood mulch choices.
"Strong reasons make strong actions."
~William Shakespeare
Are You A Curious Gardener?? Do you have a stubborn garden question that just won't go away? Send it to us and we'll see if our garden gurus can divine an answer! Click here to email your persistent question. You may even see your question answered in next months issue of The Seed!!!!
Why wait for gloabal warming, when you can create your own desert in Minnesota right now with a little crushed stone mulch!
Catmint offers a multitude of benefits for the garden and gardener alike. This zone 3 hardy perennial will thrive in the hot sun or partial shade. Drought conditions don't deter this reliable bloomer from making a bouquet of lavender colored flowers atop silver green foliage from early to midsummer. While it's blooming catmint will attract scores of butterflies and even the occasional hummingbird. Perhaps Nepeta's most desirable features are it's beneficial effects on soil health. When planted in clay soil the plant will spread across the top of the ground dropping in roots that Aerate the soil as they grow. Catmint just like so many mints is also a living mulch, or a plant that can be harvested and spread as mulch mid-season without causing it any harm. In fact when you cut Nepeta back after it blooms in midsummer you will be delighted to find a fresh flush of lovely lavender blooms ready just in time to welcome the end of summer.
Don't let the snow weigh you down! Giving Tree Gardens now offers SNOW REMOVAL SERVICE! Let our bio-diesel burning truck clear your driveway right after we hand shovel your walk! Click here to schedule your free consultation!
One touch of nature makes the whole world kin ~William Shakespeare
Living Green Block Talk!
Do you have a challenged lawn? Too much shade? too much sun? too little time to pick dandelions? Join us Wednesday October 3, at 6:00 pm for the latest in a series of free Living Green Block Talks and discover how to turn your challenged lawn into an organic urban oasis!
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