Covering soil is one of the most widely talked about topics in gardening, but there are many people who see mulch as exclusively wood chips. This couldn’t be further from the truth! In this episode we will talk about the importance of covering your soil, what makes a good mulch, and some common misconceptions of mulch.
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I just finished mulching all my garden beds with decomposing wood chips I've had piled up for 6 months. All I've got left is to winterize my fig trees, strawberries and make sure my chickens are cozy also! Just in time to the weather is showing it as low as 25 next week!
Saw your hives in the background there, do you winterize the hives much?
Great Channel… I was wondering… I mulched my beds with leaves last year but not all of it was broken down despite the fact that I dug it in in the spring. Are you supposed to remove the mulch again? My soul was quite course and full of half broken down leaves when I started sowing, not the best soil to start seedlings in!
Great presentation. I had no idea of the importance of mulch. I'm in Nevada and going to compost and cover my soil based on your recommendations. my dilemma is that I have an ash tree right next to my gardening area and I've seen roots coming up for water. I'm concerned that that these roots will overtake my garden area.
anyways, you've taught me to use these ash leaves for mulch. This tree dumps it's leaves all at once which will be symbiotic for my winter beds! AHA built in yearly mulch! I plan to rent a tiller for this area as well as it used to be my kids sandbox. now it has compost, high quality locally mixed Garden soil and native barren cliche. I have bought alfalfa pellets and sulfur to decrease the desert pH, bone meal and will get worm castings and rock dusts. can't wait til spring!
I gotta say, not only are your videos highly informative, but your love for nature is so infectious. It really is a treat to watch you.
Ayear ago i put down 12 bags of shtedded leaves, my Seedum ground cover did there best last summer.
Would you go out in a rainstorm without a raincoat? Would you lay in the sun all day without sunscreen or a shade hat? Would you walk into a lab at the CDC without personal protective equipment/uniform? Mulch! Mulch! Mulch!
That's spectacular lactino kale behind you. Great info too!
awesome vid bro, I liked and subcribed, checkout my vids!
Your web site is probably the best set up seed site Ive been to and the prices are fantastic as well as the best quality seed Ive ever bought. Youve been and inspiration so Ill give back by making you my go to seed site for now on as well as spread the word to anyone else looking to buy seed. Great work, keep up it!
In my area good soil is expensive. Keep it alive and growing. Replacing is not an option.
fauna is animals loool
I live in Texas and we have an abundance of Juniper cedar. I have read mix reviews on cedar mulch and wood chip. Could ya shed some light on this subject? So far I got don't do it. There toxic to just leave an inch around the plant to the its all good to go in the garden. Any input ya might have is greatly appreciated.
I didn’t shred my leaves will it still work on my garden beds?
Your videos are always very informative but if you don't have access to a mirror always ask your wife if you have white lint hanging off your facial stubble. ( :
Are there certain kinds of leaves that are not good for your plants like hickory leaves or oak leaves?
Ack! I've been eyeing the bare naked dirt sitting in my garden area all winter thinking about what to do about it. And then there's all those fall leaves mulching my lawn. So even though I have the most awful dead fill on my property I am planning on doing soil rehab this year. Time to go do some garden work later today! Thanks for the motivation!
I am surprised after 2 years of growing flowers /bulbs with mulching in a ring around my birdbath and just how rich the soil is. I don’t even need a shovel to dig a hole, I can do it with my hand! This makes me excited esp after going into my poor lawn soil and have it hard to do anything with except grow weeds. 1 step at a time! Any thoughts on how to get rid of moles?
I had to smile at this one. Not once did you use the word 'dirt'.
I'm a home brewer who is getting ready to start gardening this next spring using cinder block frame raised beds (4'x8'). I'm in Washington state, so we get quite a bit of cold and wet weather as well though not likely as stormy as Michigan; we also rarely get more than an inch of snow. I was wondering what your thoughts are on using a layer of straw topped with spent grain and covered by a flat frame with plastic/tarp cover for "winterizing" and protecting the beds when they aren't being used for growing. My thought is that adding weekly doses of hot damp grain (I get 4-8 gallons worth per week from brewing) plus the straw might work as a mini compost (perhaps add some other stuff) that could be tilled into the bed soil before growing starts. I wanted to get a more experienced take on the idea before I do something that might not help and cause me more work down the road. Great videos, glad you're still keeping up with them two years later!
What would be best for during the summer? Unless I missed it, this seemed geared towards covering over winter. Should I cover with grass clippings or buy a compost from the store? I'm sure I could do either, but I'm looking for what is "recommended". I'm new and theres so much ti learn that j want to make things as simple as possible and trying to take choices out of the equation for certain things. Once I get some of the core things down I will feel better about trying things
Luke, does it matter if the leaves I put on my raised beds are black walnut leaves? We unfortunately and fortunately have quite a few in/surrounding our yard. I want to use my leaves to cover but want to make sure I'm also not causing an issue with jugalone. Thanks!
I was wondering what I could put on the beds where the potatoes was that I just harvested.(Leaves have not dropped yet and I need the bit of meadow that's ready to be mowed else where) I could get kelp easy enough but that has pebbles in it so it goes in the compost. I have an overgrown grape vine and a catnip plant (those things grow fast! great for chop and drop!) I'll see how much I can get from there.
Also, for those that live where the garden will be covered in 1 foot of snow or more, snow is an insulator. The snow/soil boundary doesn't go much below freezing. If the bed is mulched it would be the snow/mulch boundary and the mulch/soil boundary would not freeze. That's my experience in zone 4b and 5a.
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Did you say Cindy or Sydney? I really needed to know about mulch, but I just can't watch you! OMG you should have been a woman, you are just too much drama!
@MIgardener we have SO many leaves, bit they are all oak leaves. I'm hesitant to use them in my garden because I don't want to mess with the pH- it sits at neutral as is. Thoughts?
You have answered a question that was on the tip of my tongue. I used this last year on one of the raised beds and it looked good. You just gave me the confirmation that what I did was just right!!
Thanks for the carpet mulching tips.