Mulching: the lowdown, clearing and gardening with kids
Hello friends!
Forgive me, this is a rather rushed one - you can always tell when I've rushed something because it is usually far too long! It's been a very long week, and pretty tricky to get my five minutes in, but it happened somehow! Lots of domestic upheaval as our beloved au pair Caitlin has departed... onwards.
My five minute forays this week:
Monday: Rain. I feel like I have never seen such rain. It's definitely NOT the sort of weather to be out gardening - even for five minutes. I don't mind rain when the temperature is tolerable, but rain AND cold doesn't really do it for me. So I order my summer flowering bulbs (and that's gardening, oh yes it is). I get a load of Gladiolus callianthus - perfect sexy scented flowers of LOVE that they are, and a world away from what you might picture when you hear the word gladioli. These will come in April, and I will plant them in two stages - some immediately, and the rest in July xx as they tend to last longer when the weather gets cooler. I also got Lilium Casablanca, my old favourite, despite the lily beetle for which (as the wonderful people at Avon Bulbs say) "we have no answer". It seems to me that if there is no answer to something, then one might as well get on and plant, leaving complete oblivion to chance. I ordered from Avon Bulbs, because they are zero plastic and the bulbs are always great quality.
Tuesday: I turn my attention to the area behind what we call our 'crop circle' - a circular terrace cut into a slope. This is full of sarcococca, digitalis, rudbeckia and iris, and edged with alpine strawberries. It basically looks after itself and in return for that, I like to give it a lovely layer of mulch at least once a year, to say thank you. Lowdown on mulch is below, because mulch is lovely, but can seem COMPLICATED.
Wednesday: More mulching (just two bags full) - I'm half way through this area now.
Thursday: Such a bonkers day and I just manage to get outside before the light goes, removing the cobaea scandens climber which did such a brilliant job of covering my new trellis. I may even repeat the process this year with more cobaea as they are so easy from seed, but I also may not have to, because sometimes it comes back from the base (ever-hopeful, me!)
Friday: Au pair leave-taking has everyone in an emotional spin. Extraordinary how attached one can become to someone who lends a HAND! I decide to sow some micro greens with my youngest, and realise once again how much I loathe gardening with children. I try and love it, I really truly do. I want desperately to be one of those amazing mothers who sit calmly, Mrs Ramsay-like, through the chaos and mess that children make when they're learning something new, and delight in the knowledge that they are experiencing something amazing, but woefully all I feel is something akin to "You're not doing it right, let me do it!" and "Argh! don't touch that! And don't put that in your mouth! And not like that, like THIS!" I'm not going to give myself too much of a hard time though - we can't all be earth mothers, and look, they can eat compost at NURSERY, and bake with at AU PAIR whose youth makes her impervious to stuff that shreds my nerves. Hope I haven't made you hate me, dear readers. Anyway, we managed to sow a saucer of dill, and no, it wasn't the most calming beautiful five minutes, but it WAS five minutes, and little Domino loved it, even if I didn't.
Mulch: The lowdown
I thought I'd do a very quick simple run-down on mulch, because I've had so many questions after my instagram story this week, and because it's easy, once you've assimilated certain information, to forget that some of this stuff isn't obvious!
What is a mulch?
Mulch is anything that you put on top of your soil. It can be organic matter (like horse poo, or more soil), or it can be man-made stuff (like plastic sheeting, or old carpets) or it can be stones. The main thing is that it COVERS the soil in order to achieve one, or all of the following ends:
1. Moisture retention. Water evaporates from the surface of soil. If you cover it with something, you prevent this.
2. Weed suppression. If you cover the soil with something impervious enough, or in a thick enough layer, you starve weeds of light. Eventually they weaken and die.
3. Soil enrichment. Mulches made of organic matter add nutrients to your soil. Nutrients feed plants and they grow better.
4. Structural improvement. Mulches made of organic matter get broken down by worms who eat them, burrow around and poo, aerating and enriching the soil in the process. Plants grow better in enriched soil, and their roots also aerate the soil. All these myriad tiny burrows in the soil are SO important to its health, which is why you must try your hardest not to step on it.
5. Asthetics. There's no getting away from it. Freshly mulched beds and pots look glorious!
Different mulches
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I put it here to emphasise the wide range of options out there. Each one has its pros and cons, and some mulches have very specific uses.
Organic matter:
Farmyard manure. Different poo has different properties - you could spend hours googling different animal excrement and what it does and doesn't do well. In terms of what's widely available though, horse manure is what you're likely to come across at the garden centre. If you can find a reliable local source, then grab with both hands and order a load. The important thing with horse manure is that it must be well-rotted (i.e. not fresh)..if it's fresh it will harm your plants. It needs to come from a reputable source also, and the food on which the horses are fed should preferably be free of pesticides and definitely herbicides. Some herbicides can pass through the gut of an animal and remain intact to destroy your plants at the other end of the chain. It's a lot to think about I know, which is why I have so far bought my manure in bags from my local nursery because I trust them.
Leaf mould. Not nutritionally valuable but fabulous for soil structure, which is why I make my own every year.
Garden compost. If you have a compost bin or heap, this is the very best sort of mulch, not least because you are returning all your plants into the garden to feed the soil. Having your own compost is time and space-consuming though, and bought compost from the garden centre is a good alternative. This might come in the form of 'soil improver' or 'topsoil'.
Wood or bark chips. Not so good from a nutritional standpoint, as chips need much longer to break down, but very good as a moisture-retaining mulch and weed-suppressant. It looks nice too, and is lighter and therefore easier to disperse.
Straw, grass clippings and other things. If you have this sort of stuff lying around, definitely use it to mulch around shrubs etc. Doesn't look so fab though.
Inorganic mulches
Stones: Gravel or pebbles come in all shapes, sizes and colours and are very good at preventing evaporation and suppressing weeds. Obviously they won't add anything nutritionally to the soil, and can be tricky to plant through.
Plastic: Polyethene sheeting is obviously not eco-friendly but if you take care of it, and recycle it, it is by far the best way of dealing with a bad perennial weed problem - much better than using glyphosate or other horrible chemicals. You simply peg the plastic down over your patch and leave it there for a year or so. If you can't wait that long to grow things, then put a thick layer of topsoil or compost on top of the weedy ground, put the plastic over that, cut small holes in it and plant potatoes or courgettes through them. The weeds will die and you will still have a crop of something. No nutritional value of course, and it looks awful, but if you've got a bad weed problem it does the job.
Carpet: Used to be used as above, but so many carpets are treated with chemicals that I would shy away from using this method, particularly if your patch is for edibles.
Cardboard/newspaper: Use for weed suppression as above, but this method needs careful monitoring as the paper or card rots down, allowing light to get through and the weeds to get control again. Looks awful.
If you've read this far then you are an official mulch geek...welcome to my world...we could totally be friends!
I've missed out loads of mulches I know...if you've got one, or suggestions for me, then please hit reply and let me know, and I'll collate and let everyone know next week.
All the good things, always
x Laetitia