Do You rototill in your mulch?
Jon_dear
12 years ago
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Kimmsr
12 years agowayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana
12 years agoRelated Discussions
Do you mulch your veggie garden?
Comments (13)I have previously not thoroughly mulched my garden because of the large slug population (meaning lots of large slugs) in my area, but try different methods each year. (There's already a LOT of iron in my soil, so I go sparingly with the iron phosphate- plants can get too much iron!)So I have tried the various "in between" methods you have mentioned and my parents alway put their mulch in the paths, not directly around the plants. They grow amazing veggies... mine are fine, but theirs are amazing! Mulch is good. Sometimes it brings pest problems if certain other things are happening too. :) And some mulching materials are better than others for different areas, as others have said! So, if you were to ask "how much of which mulch should I use?" I think the answer would be "what are you going to grow there, what are prevailing weather conditions in your area like, and what do you want the mulch to do for your garden?" Don't you just love a question that is answered with a question?? But then once you answer those questions, you can probably get concrete answers (although you will still find many diverse opinions! :) ) Cheers! Sunni...See MoreDo you mulch or just stuff your beds full and weed?
Comments (18)Being the lazy gardener I am my rule is to go with easiest path- I do have few huge oaks on the property- so all fallen leaves stay on flower beds. In the spring I only remove worst pile ups leaving everything else to work itself out. I do not only overplant I double and triple plant in same spot- gardening on suburban lot is a challenge when you want one of each plants ;) so I have early bulbs and ephemerals going in the spring, then I might grow spring blooming columbine and fall blooming anemone together in same spot, or early blooming phlox subulata and fall blooming gentian will give way to each other... I do not have weeds/ they do not stand any chance with my full garden/ and I really do not mulch- mother Nature does it for me. I do transplant/ move plants around once in a while- at worst I could kill ephemerals if I am not careful or just spread around many of my naturalized bulbs......See MoreDo you mulch your strawberries?
Comments (6)hi heather- I got them over the weekend, and planted them "about" 3-4 per square foot. I think I left about 6-8" in between each plant. Anyway, I think I'll go with the (unshredded)newspaper for weed control, and cover it with hay or pine needles to keep the fruits off the wet newspaper, and to keep the newspaper from blowing away on me. I found someone's blog online about planting runners, and it seemed that it took quite some time for the runner to develop into a good-sized plant (the pic I saw was of a 9-month old plant...hold on, lemme see if I can find it again...Found it...linked below...), so I'm thinking that this new runner plant would be NEXT year's plant (but at that point would probably be considered 2 years old, so like you said, this year's runners are one year old if you take them early & root them? I guess timing of rooting the runner would make a world of difference here. It's all very confusing, and to add to the fact that this person linked below is gardening in Ireland...somewhere in Zone 9. And that info is hardly applicable to a Zone 5er's 120-day growing season. Sigh. Here is a link that might be useful: Make a Rainbow Planting Strawberry Runners...See MoreDo you Mulch your Bulb Beds
Comments (4)In late fall I put both compost and shredded pine bark mulch on all beds, including the areas with bulbs. In spring I usually remove mulch from the bulb areas though I might not do it any more because all bulbs, including early tiny ones (winter aconite, snowdrops, iris reticulata, and such), seem to do fine growing through the mulch. I noticed it whenever I would be running late removing it. The mulch I use does decompose so the thickness is not the same as when put in the fall. I think the bulbs appreciate it in winter and it helps improve the soil, so I think it's a win-win situation with organic mulching....See MoreKimmsr
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