Chopping, shopping and mulching!
Hello friends!
The week has sped by, and I haven't had much time or inclination to post on instagram. The garden, on the other hand, has been calling me, and I've spend some seriously regenerative five minuters there this week. There's very little to beat coming into the warm from outside, having done something WHOLESOME. If you want some wholesome then, just get yourself some manure and start spreading it about a bit.
My five minute forays this week
Monday: I chop down some brown stuff - bits of peony foliage, and some nasturtiums that are past their best. Nasturtiums really are one of my fave things ever...they make rather good ground cover too, if you have a space to fill - but it's their obliging habit of spilling over the sides of things that makes them so winning for me. There is one which is still very much going strong, as if it never got the November memo.
Tuesday: I do a bit of armchair gardening, ordering a big pile of horse manure, and some more lights for the apple tree. Things are getting really chilly, which makes the idea of going outside rather less appealing, and this is where the five minute thing makes you a total winner. I go and tidy my potting bench for five minutes, brushing cobwebs out of the terracotta pots, and making neat piles of things. It becomes almost immediately addictive and I have to tear myself away to deal with my pesky little barnacle children who will CLING so.
Wednesday: I take delivery of some horse manure, and shovel the contents of two bags-full over one of my flower beds. I call this a #halomulch (because it gives you a halo...yes, really) and you can do it at any time of the year, but this is a particularly good one, because the borders tend to be a bit clearer once you have cut back various things. Lowdown on five minute mulching below.
Thursday: I shovel another barrow load of manure onto the flowerbeds. Autumn mulching is SO much quicker than at any other time because the beds are so much clearer. I notice how dry the ground is, and spend quite a bit of time watering over the top of the manure in order to keep things not just warm and cosy, but relatively damp too. If you put mulch on top of dry earth it stops moisture from penetrating, so it's imperative that you water either deeply, either before or after mulching.
Friday: I buy more bulbs, knowing that this behaviour will bankrupt me if I keep going. Six tulips for £2.99 is just NAUGHTY and WRONG but I cannot help myself. I put them in all the hard-to-reach places that I know I didn't reach the first time round. Twenty four more bulbs in. I wonder if this will be the end of the silliness.
The five minute halo mulch
Mulching, preferably with something which will feed the soil as well as supress weeds and keep moisture locked in, is normally on ones list of things to do in Spring, but Spring sort of sprung off somewhere with my mulching halo and the pride that comes with it. Autumn is actually a better time than Spring to mulch, as there are not nearly so many delicate shoots to worry about. If a full covering is too much of a sweat, then a generous mound of whatever you are using around your most treasured plants will suffice. Containers too will really benefit from the addition of an extra layer; again ensure that they are well watered beforehand.
As far as what to use, the options are manifold, but none would beat your own, homemade rich crumbly garden compost (my kingdom for more of this!) In reality, good quality bought compost in bags, really well-rotted manure, lawn mowings, or a mixture of these will all give things a boost. It doesn’t have to be a back-breaking thing; an inch or two is ample, and as a rule, try to keep stems from direct contact with mulch to avoid burning them with compost that may not be rotted sufficiently. There…angelic status restored (until the next time anyway).
All the good things, always
x Laetitia