Root bed mulch suggestions

[Guest]

Just after grapes suggestions on what to mulch a bed with intended for root crops.

For me it is more for keeping weeds down, rather than feeding soil and boosting crops.

I am immensely rubbish at weeding/ hoeing, little and often and all that and it is unlikely to change any time soon

Thank you as always

[Two_Sheds]

after grapes suggestions on what to mulch a bed with

weeds



As long as they're not in seed, just chop 'em up & drop 'em on your soil. There are photos in my FB link below

[Penellype]

If you have any herbaceous perennials that need cutting back (I have a load of crocosmia), you can chop the leaves and stems and mulch with that. Just make sure that you don't include any bits of root or you will be creating a flowerbed.

[Kristen]

For me it is more for keeping weeds down, rather than feeding soil and boosting crops.

I am immensely rubbish at weeding/ hoeing, little and often and all that and it is unlikely to change any time soon

In that case I would recommend Mypex / woven weed supressing membrane.

Put down a layer of whatever compost / manure / etc. mulch you like first, for the benefit of the soil, and then cover with Mypex and plant through that. You can reuse the Mypex year-after-year (probably 5 - 10 year lifetime) provided you are organised enough to label the pieces for same-spacing crops next year. I have 4 beds in my crop rotation, all same size, and I just move the pieces one-bed-to-next each year.

Alternative to that is Cardboard, under the mulch, which will keep the weeds down for a season and then rot down with the mulch thereafter. Get big boxes - e.g. from cycle shops and white-goods ones; those shops have to pay for rubbish to be taken away, so you are doing them a favour taking them off their hands