Mulching. I started doing it for the first time this year and I really like the results! Mulching is simply putting some kind of material over the roots of a plant. Some people use newspapers, hay, leaves, wood chips, landscape cloth, grass clippings, pine needles/pine straw, or plastic sheeting. I am cheap and I use the hay that the goats don’t eat…works superbly! Whatever you use, the benefits of mulching are many-fold.
It really cuts down on weeds, which certainly helps the plant.
Mulching helps retain moisture, and keeps the plant roots from drying out and stressing, which will reduce productivity.
It has the benefit of keeping the soil temperature at a more uniform constant, which helps the plant not to stress so much in the high temperature part of the day. In the winter, a thick layer of mulch will help protect plant roots from freezing temperatures.
A mulch of organic material will break down and help enrich the soil. I have been using perennial peanut hay for mulching everything in my garden, from blueberries and strawberries to garlic and green beans…they love it!
Now…some plants don’t really need the helping hand that mulch provides. My prickly pear cactuses are on their own, as are most of my herbs that really don’t seem to need much help. Also…if you are in an area where slugs and snails might be a problem, I would suggest applying diatomaceous earth on the ground before putting down the mulch, and maybe a sprinkling over the top when you are done.
