For a healthy vegetable garden, mulch and compost are widely used by the organic gardener. They keep the weeds down, retain moisture, and build up the soil structure, to name a few. So where can you find free organic matter?
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| Broad bean growing in grass mulch. |
My first years gardening in Missouri were a little rough. I found out fairly quickly that nothing grows faster than weeds. This state has a long, hot growing season and clay soil that needs coaxing to be habitable for tender vegetables.
The weeds, however, need no wheedling at all. I soon found that I needed to think more carefully about weed management and the soil structure.
In my 3rd growing season in Missouri, I visited an old friend who had been living in Missouri for 7 years or so. Over his entire garden, he had laid out brown paper, and mulched it overtop with straw. It was August at the time, and his vegetable garden looked clean and beautiful.
That was what had really convinced me on the efficacy of mulch. I soon learned that it is a whole gardening philosophy. I write more about setting up a high-mulch garden here.
Buying hay or straw bales may actually be the simplest and easiest solution. However, I like to use locally sourced materials, if available.
For humid climates, gathering materials in spring and fall for mulch and the compost pile is also much easier than weeding on an insufferably hot summer day.
The good news is that there are plentiful sources for mulch right in the backyard! These resources all work for the compost bin, too.
Keep in mind, wherever you source your organic matter, be sure that you source it from dependable resources free from environmental toxins. You don't want those in your vegetable garden!
You can learn more about mulching and the easy way to garden with the authority, Ruth Stout. Find her book on Amazon, Gardening Without Work.
Leaf Mulch
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| My garden, resting in winter, blanketed with leaves and a cover crop. |
Top dressing the garden with leaf mulch adds fertility to the soil1 and can greatly improve soil structure2. Leaves also make an excellent addition to any compost bin.
Each fall, I blanket my vegetable garden with leaves for its peaceful winter slumber. The autumn dressing gives the garden a warm look all winter long.
Mowing the leaves once over will kill fungal spores. It also allows the leaves to lie flat on the ground where they are less likely to blow away by wind. Fencing the leaves into the garden can prevent leaf loss from the wind.
I obtain leaves from my neighbor's yard. With two very large oak trees in her front yard, she is very happy to have us gather the leaves throughout the fall.
The kids and I work together to gather the leaves. I have five rakes and two sets of leaf scoopers. The big kids rake the leaves, and the little ones scoop them onto the tarp. We then pour them over the garden. Even though they all get distracted and play in the leaves, they eventually get the chore done.
I then mow over the leaves, leaving them as a top dressing over my garden. Any additional leaves go to the compost.
We use a dual-tine leaf rake with a wide 26" wide claw. It picks up way more than the standard rake. My kids often argue about who gets to use it. If you are interested, it comes in a two-piece set on Amazon.
Grass Clippings
We get these from our nearby field. My husband mows the field. He then uses the mower to blow the grass into piles.
I let the piles dry a bit. Then the kids and I get out our rakes and scoopers, again!
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| My daughter helps collect grass as mulch for my garden. |
This is a great job for the kids. It does not take too much time, and it is not too complicated. However, it does allow the kids to work together in a positive way to benefit our garden.
You will only need about 4" inches to cover your garden with mulch.
Over time, grass mats down in thick layers. If you add grass to your compost bin, be sure to toss it a few times, mixing it in with the other compost layers.
Yard Clippings
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| The row of zinnias from last fall that lined the front of my garden was used for mulch in late winter. |
In front of my vegetable garden facing the house, there is a huge patch of zinnias which are left up through the winter as habitat for wildlife.
These and other woody yard clippings can be placed down in the garden paths. I always get one or two zinnias popping up in the vegetable patch, which, of course, gives me joy.
Chop-and-Drop Crop: Comfrey
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| One comfrey plant can fill a whole wheelbarrow for mulch or compost. |
The chop-and-drop crop you choose will vary by what works in your climate zone. Basically, anything that produces massive growth and can be repeatedly cut down through the summer works as a chop-and-drop crop.
Comfrey is a popular chop-and-drop crop in the permaculture gardening world because it produces so much growth over the season. Comfrey is also able to be chopped down several times over the course of the summer.
While the original species can be invasive in the garden, the Bocking 14 variety has sterile flowers and reproduces only through root propagation.
The plants are given a full year to grow strong before they are used for mulch, and they should be fertilized suitably to keep them growing strong and healthy.
They produce lovely flowers, and I planted mine fronting the South-facing wall of our barn. They get plenty of water there, which comfrey needs to prosper.
They make an excellent addition to your compost bin as well, as their broken-down constituents make the ideal fertilizer.
How many plants would you need to grow for your garden?
Well, my 15 plants grew enough compost to cover about 135 square feet of chop-and-drop compost per cut or 1 square yard of mulch per plant per chop.
Click here to view the Bocking 14 Comfrey roots I purchased on Amazon.
Manure
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| Manure Donation |
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- https://www.spectrumanalytic.com/doc/library/articles/plant_nutrients_in_municipal_leaves
- https://growitbuildit.com/5-year-garden-soil-transformation/