If you have access to straw, preferably old straw, it is great mulch.

Shredded leaves make a great vegetable bed mulch. They only temporarily tie up some nitrogen if they are mixed in with the soil but pose no problems if used as a mulch. Straw, hay, dried grass clippings will also work well.

I linked some recent discussions on mulching below for you for even more suggestions and you'll find many more over on the Soil, Compost & Mulch forum.

Enjoy your garden this spring. ;)

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Mulching Vegetables discussions...

Thanks a bunch! I'll check out the links.

I like wheat straw. Have tried pine straw, leaves, grass clippings etc. Wheat straw seems to work best for me and take longer to break down.

That said, I don't use fresh straw because it will germinate and then I have a garden full of wheat weed. What I do is buy 40-50 bales and stack them 2 high around my garden. I do that around this time of year. The stacked straw helps shelter the garden from wind and the weed seeds that my lawn mower blows around.

In late fall, I apply either rabbit manure or mushroom compost to the tops of the beds and I break open the bales and use them to top the beds with mulch for the winter. Worms work the mulch/manure combo for me all winter so I don't have to till. Likewise, I never remove the mulch. In spring I simply open up the mulch a hole at a time and drop the plants in, or open a furrow for seeds, then push the mulch back. I usually hang on to several of the aged bales to spot mulch through the growing season.

For aged bales you can check with DOT or local highway department and/or subdivision developers. They use bales for erosion control and will often give away the old bales at the end of the job.

Hope that helps.

mcream1,
Tell me some more about your garden, I would like to get mine set up that way. What type of fertlizer do you use,any comericial type besides the rabbit manure? Do you put leaves in your garden as well in the fall? Thanks

I prefer grass clippings and chopped leaves. Early in the season, both are readily available. (I wish the grass clippings wern't so dang available) They can be put on thin or thick to your preference, added as needed and for the most part, break down by planting time next year. This, IMO is the most important feature of veggy garden mulch, as I like to spread my chicken chit on the garden in the fall. I don't want to have to move mulch to do this.

I use my grass clippings fresh. As long as it is not too thick, it won't burn the plants or turn slimy. In my area we have to mow a couple of times a week from May thru' Mid-July. If I wait for the clippings to dry, they will get eaten up by the growing grass. Kay.

jigsaw,

I have raised beds in my garden. I use no chemical fertilizers on my veggies, only organics. I don't use pesticides either, instead I use organic controls. I have a special needs son who is highly sensitive to chemicals and the like, and he works in the garden with me so I stay away from most things non-organic. That said, I've practiced organic gardening for over 30 years and it just works for me.

I utilize companion planting methods and my own home grown version of intensive gardening in small, raised beds (4' x 12"). I use drip irrigation under the mulch so I rarely water from overhead. The annual doses of rabbit manure and compost coupled with a thick layer of mulch keeps the old earthworm population high and happy; thus, I never have to till the beds. I will use leaves, too, if they are available (sometimes I rake the church lot just for the leaves.) I have found that certain leaves can affect the ph levels, so check that frequently if you make heavy use of leaves.

I pretty much grow anything in my gardens. I have roses, perennials, annuals, etc. in addition to the veggies and berries. I am a Georgia Master Gardener as well.

Kay_h: I can't use my grass clippings as I have a bermuda grass lawn and I want to keep that stuff outta the beds.

mcrean1,
I have been using bermuda clippings for years in my veggie beds. Just make sure to dump it on top of other mulch or let it dry for a week or so in the sun.

I have started beds that were in the middle pure Bermuda. Amazing how turning it over a few times and mulching the area will kill it off. No sun. no dirt, no bermuda.

vaherbmom
Keep the mulch on top of the bed. The worms and other critters will mix it for you. Don't bury raw compost during the planting season. This stuff needs time to decompose. It will tie up the soil and your plants will suffer. Besides placing in on top of the soil is so easy and it keeps the weeds down and disappears by years end. Last years top dressing could be safely turned under in the fall.

CrAzY LaRrY

My mulching plan is really a continuation of lasagna. The beds are solid lasagna. I put seedlings into pockets of finished compost in the lasagna. For small seeds, I cover the area with about 1" of finished compost and sow the seds on that. As the plants get going, I mulch them with the same ingredients I put into the lasagna. I always alternate mulches. In other words, if I mulched a bed with grass clippings last week, this week I'll top it with chopped leaves perhaps, the following week with maybe pine needles. I have 15 beds and never have enough of any one thing to mulch all of the beds at once. I use anything I can get my hands on on one bed or another.

Larry_C,
Nut grass and bermuda grass are my biggest weed challenges in the garden. I simply prefer to keep them out since both seem to overcome even the thickest mulch and grow with wild abandon in my garden. Nut grass is the worst, though.

Thus, long as wheat straw is available and leaves are abundant, I simply continue to mulch mow my bermuda :)