Mulching...what do you use?

[Snoop Puss]

I'm sure you are aware Snoop but the reason for mulching is to avoid watering. After a good soaking first, the mulch put on top should then retain the moisture for quite a long period. You only have to rake back a mulch of woodchip to see how damp the soil is underneath. I appreciate your climate is different to the UK but the principles should still be the same.

I agree. It was why I tried it. But here we're in the mid-40 ºs in the shade for weeks on end in the summer, with no rain for weeks, often months. Plus, our valley gets strong winds blowing into Spain's interior every afternoon. I really wanted the straw to work, but it didn't. At least, not satisfactorily. The mulch preferred by farmers round here is black plastic, so water on top just funnels in around the plants. But I can't bear the sight of the stuff. Plus, the biodegradable stuff costs an absolute fortune here. Raking it back is a good idea though. I'll ponder more.

As for the tarantula, Roitelet, I got an almighty fright. But it was a beauty. We have a rule: anything in the house is dispatched, anything outdoors isn't. Last year I saw lots of small ones but none so far this year, though the wolf spiders are doing their bit to fill the gap.

Edited: should have said anything we don't like the look of is dispatched. Barefaced prejudice, obviously, as geckos and lizards are more than welcome to join us.

[Penellype]

I used to use cocoashell on the ornamentals and I've been struggling to find a suitable alternative now that you can't buy it any more (probably because its poisonous to dogs, being chocolate). I tried the finer shredded bark last year and hated it - the birds pulled it about and I found it didn't suppress the weeds as much as the cocoashell. This year I am trying strulch, which is supposed to deter slugs and has done a bit. It is expensive though.

On the ornamental pots I have a layer of gravel which keeps the water in and the weeds down. When I tried this on the flowerbed near the pond (using horticultural grit) it was hopeless. gravel is slightly better, but the worms soon pull soil to the surface.

In the past I have mulched veg, particularly fruit bushes with shredded hedge prunings (privet and beech) which worked really well, but all I have here is leylandii, which is too acidic.

I've used the strulch on the onions, peas and celeriac this year in a desperate attempt to deal with the slug problem, with limited success, but it is too expensive to use on everything.

On the other veg I use compost fresh out of the hotbin, which is fabulous for tomatoes and potatoes and contains very few weed seeds. I also mulched my friend's veg garden with the contents of last year's hotbed (made from fresh horse muck) and again I have good growth and very few weeds.

[ConfusedRhubarb]

Our weird soil gets hydrophobic once it really dries out so the dust layer method is actively problematic here. I've tried mulching with loads of things - wood/wood and leaf chips which we get local tree surgeons to dump in the plot car park (urban area - we are doing the tree surgeons a favour so its win-win), stable manure which we used to get dumped as previous until the stable closed, black bags full of grass clippings scrounged from garden maintenance teams, or just gathered up from mowings of "public" areas on large estates (find this has a lot of seed in tho), comfrey leaves around tomatoes (New tip this year from Gardeners QT) and I have tried rhubarb (under gooseberry for some companion planting type reason I've now forgotten) but rain on fresh leaves is kept off ground, just sits on top instead then later leaves shrink a lot so isn't great for delicately fitting amongst less widely spaced plants, and I'll use all and any green waste (including especially pulled rhubarb leaves) to cover over died back potatoes to stop them going green, or on empty beds as an impromptu "green" manure. "Fresh" garden compost/nearly-rotted manure made a strange crusty cap when there was heavy rain the next day, but the broccoli doesn't seem to mind a bit, and it suppresses the weeds, so...

Have also tried covering beds with black plastic/ taped together old compost bags and planting through into preshaped holes for the water to well in. Often use upside down 2l bottles as perma-funnel to apply water down below the dry soil level, especially for thirsties like toms, courgette, squash, cucumber. Most of this stuff seems to work, but I'm not hugely scientific about it. What I do each year with each crop just depends whats available and how much time I've got.

Other people's strategies round here: majority used to use the raw stable manure as mulch, without any evidence of "burning" or scorch. One allotment friend now uses pound shop compost or woodchip, another uses pet bedding straw or hay, immediate neighbour complains endlessly about how fast the weeds grow but never mulches (although he "organises" the woodchip dumping!) or bothers weeding or hoeing until after they set seed - then burns them off using pressurised weedkiller spray on breezy days which has often coincides with odd deformities appearing on my plants, aminopyralid style. Grrrr.

Science-y link tackling some "myths" about using woodchip mulch. https://puyallup.wsu.edu/wp-content/...wood-chips.pdf

[Snadger]

Cardboard covered witrh straw for I.

[Scarlet]

I use thick layersof newspapers soaked with water to "stick" them down,...really thick layer of grass on top. I make a little hole around the plant - they have never been burnt yet. I also use card with grass on top. though the card is easier for rats to nest underneath, for some reason the newspapers doesnt attract them as much. If I lift the card I willget tunnels everywhere I also use lots of woodchip, though sometimes they have been in the chicken run first.

Not the best of photos..

[Mr Bones]

We use home made compost or more like "nearly compost" on some beds and wood mulch on others. The wood mulch beds do benefit from a liberal sprinkling of chicken manure pellets to add nitrogen. Agree with others, it's difficult to find or make enough mulch.

[4390evans]

I used hay last year and it was brilliant, I only put it on once but really thick leaving a ring around plants till they established a bit more then I would just move it closer to cover the soil. I hardly had to water, I would pull a bit away to see if I needed to water but a majority of the time there was no need..
Only draw back was I got loads of new weeds like plantago, thistles and a tiny little dandilion that I don't know the name of... In the previous 5 years I'd never had these.

Think I'll give sawdust a try

[ecudc]

Some coffee and supermarket chains give away coffee grounds... Probably best to use in rotation in case you affect the ph of the soils.

[Snoop Puss]

Thanks for the link, ConfusedRhubarb. It was a very interesting read.

[Guest]

Veg patch I use card/newspaper/feed sacks (depending on what is being planted and how long till the bed is needed) topped with either horsey poo or chicken poo mixed with woodshavings (again bed dependent). For fruit trees and boarders I use wood chip