I’m finding that nothing motivates me like someone telling me that something is impossible.
And that just might be the very reason my garden is doing so well this year…
Since deciding to pursue the deep-mulching method earlier this year, I’ve had plenty of naysayers shake their head and tell me I’m crazy.
But that’s OK… I like that.
It’s given me the boost I need to tackle my garden with renewed vigor, especially after my miserable failures in recent history.
Considering the garden has been in for over a month now, I figured it was time for a little update!
**IMPORTANT: If you are planning on using deep mulch, please make sure you are ONLY using hay or straw that has NOT been sprayed with herbicides of any kind! Read my sad story about herbicide contamination here.**
The Plants:
My seedlings are coming right along, and are as happy as ever.
I’ve had a little bit of trouble getting my beans and peas to show up, but after talking to several neighbors, it sound like I’m not the only one struggling this year. We’ve had an unseasonably cool summer so far, and I suspect that they just didn’t get the warmth they needed after I put them into the ground. I’ve been replanting here and there, so we’ll see how it looks in a couple of weeks. (I think the rabbits might be munching on them as well, and that definitely doesn’t help…)
The carrots finally popped up (they take for-ev-er!) and the kolhrabi germinated nicely. I have a few bare spots in my beet rows, but I think that’s due to my sloppy seeding methods…
My onions are growing like crazy–their germination rate was spectacular, and they seem to love the protection the deep mulch provides.
My cabbage seedlings were stunning, right up until they got shredded by a crazy hailstorm… Thankfully, it’s still early in the season, so they should make a full recovery; they just look a little battered right now…
The potatoes were a mystery, as three weeks after planting, they still hadn’t risen above the thick layer of mulch I had spread on top of them. (I had read rave reviews about planting spuds in a thin layer of dirt, and then covering them completely with mulch, so that’s what I did…)
Upon further inspection, I discovered that the taters were indeed sprouting, but were struggling to break through the heavy hay mulch. After doing some rummaging on the potato rows and removing a bit of mulch, happy, green potato plants emerged just a few days later.
So, that was a good learning experience—–> don’t smother your spuds.
The Water:
We’ve had the most lovely rain showers this year (except when they bring hail, then they aren’t so lovely…).
The hay mulch is keeping the ground happy and moist, and I’m watering far less than I usually do this time of year.
Since the rows are bare dirt (I’m waiting until the plants are slightly larger before I pull the mulch around them), they do dry out a bit faster, but if you pick up the mulch anywhere else in the garden, you’ll find the soil is amazingly wet and soft.
The Weeds:
THIS, my friends, is the BEST part of this whole endeavor!
Usually at this stage in the game, I’m knee-deep in weeds and losing the battle.
But not this year!
The mulch is doing an AMAZING job of keeping the weeds down. Yes, I do have to weed a bit in between the plants in the rows, but that’s it. Weeding only takes a few minutes each day, whereas in year’s past, it would take hours.
If weeds do pop up, it’s usually because the mulch layer is too thin, so I simply cover it up with a couple handfuls of hay, and call it good.
There are a few stubborn thistles that are determined to push through the mulch layer, but they are easy to pluck, as long as I wear gloves.
I’ve had a lot of folks tell me that using hay for mulch is a bad idea, since hay contains so many seeds. However, there are no hay seeds germinating anywhere–the thick mulch layer prevents that from happening.
I don’t plan to till the hay into the ground, but rather keep adding more layers as time goes by.
I’m telling ya, this is changing my life. For the first time in YEARS I don’t feel sick-to-my-stomach when I look at my garden, and I’m actually enjoying spending time out there.
The Problems:
There hasn’t been too many problems to report with my deep mulch thus far, but the biggest “issue” I’ve had is making sure the hay doesn’t get blown over the edges of the rows and snuff out any tiny seedlings.
This is mostly my fault, since I made my rows way too narrow, so next year I’ll definitely go wider. However, this “problem” is easily remedied by checking the rows every day or so and scooting the hay back in place.
On the flip side, I’ve been impressed with how much the mulch has stayed in place, even with our hurricane-force Wyoming winds. Even after fierce thunderstorms, there are usually only a few patches that need readjusted. The rest stays in place nicely.
The Verdict:
So far?
I’m LOVING this method! Yes, I supposed I could change my tune by the end of the year, but I don’t see that happening. It’s saving me so much time and effort, I don’t think I’ll ever go back to “bare-dirt” gardening.
Stay tuned for more updates later this summer!
Have you ever tried deep-mulching? What do you think about it?
Glad to hear I’m not the only one having trouble with beans. They’re just not doing anything this year while everything else is going gangbusters! I’ve even got tiny tomatoes already when last year I didn’t see one until late July!
Yeah… you’re not the only one! Usually beans are easy for me to grow, but not this year!
One year my mother mulched with ground-up corn cobs and it was fantastic. Nary a weed in sight, and at the end of the year just plow it in to start over. Would have loved to try it myself, however corn cobs are a rare commodity in these days.
Keep these posts coming! I love to hear he progress on this, I think I might do it next year if all goes well for you this year. Thank you so much for the updates.
I am determined that deep mulching is the best thing to do in dry climates like WY! My garden is piled with grass clippings from the yard which is win – win because I HATE throwing out good grass. Weeds are under control, I only water twice a week as opposed to daily like I need to without mulch. I actually put soaker hoses under the mulch and it’s like a dream. It is so dry and the sun shines enough that the grass dries out very quickly. I love seeing how well your garden has done. I have things more on top of each other in my garden – very limited rows, I think folks call it square foot gardening, which has cut down on watering, too. It looks like this week is warming up so our tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers should be happier. Happy harvesting and thanks for giving an update 🙂
I’ve been deep mulch gardening for 3 seasons now. Some folks still shake their head at me. It sure lessens the weeding and I too water less.
Do you plow it in every year?
If it were me, I think I’d set a few snares for the rabbits so later I could have some protein with my veggies… Just sayin’!
Goooood idea! They are starting to make me mad…. 😉
I deep mulched two years ago and loved the weed control, and water conservation – but I did not love the meadow voles that decided to take cover and have lots of babies in all that lovely straw. They ate the top of every single carrot, most of my bean plants and many other delectable treats. I am majorly rodent-phobic so I am back to battling the weeds. The pesky buggers keep coming back, but I am ruthless about destroying their tunnels and holes and am slowly seeing less evidence of them. I would love to hear if anyone else has had a similar problem with deep mulch- and found some kind of solution.
Going back to a non-mulched garden has meant lots of oat grass to pull – since those seeds are getting warmth and sunshine now.
I started using deep layers of hay as mulch several years ago, and I LOVE the results! I changed it up a little, though- I put down a layer of cardboard and throw the hay on top of it. You can get a heavy Kraft paper mulch on a roll at some garden centers, and some stores get stock on pallets, which have a sheet of cardboard under the boxes…excellent for mulch! This is how I do it: use a weed whacker and cut everything down to the ground. If the weeds are seedy, rake and dispose of it. Lay down your cardboard, layers of newspaper, etc. Cut the ropes on your hay and take the bake apart in “flakes” and lay the flakes around in the sun for a few weeks, then spread out at least 4”-6” deep. NO WEEDS!
Jill,
I’m so happy to hear this is working out for you. Sounds like you are using the hay correctly. Just don’t forget, add another 6-8 inches of hay this fall when the leaves start falling and it will break down this winter.
You WON’T BELIEVE how rich and nice your soil will be next year. If you think weeding is easy this year, wait until next year when you are weeding from great soil.
And, you won’t need to till. It will destroy all the work you’ve done this year. Just put a layer of hay on this fall, and in the spring, make little rows for your seedlings. We space our rows out by uncovering a row (for beans, etc) and then laying down a square of hay (off of a square bale) to make sure we have enough room to lay a complete square between the rows, and then start our next row.
Excited for you!
Happy gardening,
Casey
I am already getting excited for next year! I plan to retire the tiller permanently–we’ll just keep adding layers of hay. 🙂
Agreed, Casey! I have raised beds and use hay in my walkways, and everyplace I’m not growing something, and it works treat! I put down a thick layer of newspaper or cardboard then pile the hat on top. When it gets thin, more hay. By Spring next year there will be no cardboard, and even fewer weeds, since they are so easy to control joe they don’t have a chance to seed! An answer to my prayers, and no more crabgrass!
Jill, I learned how to mulch like this in Australia and I will never garden again without mulching. It saves water, time and endless hours of weeding. The mulch breaks down over the winter and improves the soil. It is a win, win, win situation. =)
Hurray! So excited to hear the garden is doing well with the deep mulch! Got to love less weeds, less watering, and more fertile soil long term. All that equals less work for you, which the most exciting thing, lol. 🙂
Amen sista!
What a fun update! I’m always looking at new gardening techniques. This year we’re trying some more French style beds, and packing the plants close in a companion gardening style. But this was the first year we dug up the grass patch to try it out, so there’s still lots of grass up there to deal with. I tried some wood chips on the strawberries this year, and think I’ll move a bit more towards the back to eden garden style, though I’m not sure if I’m fully on board with it yet. I have some more pondering to do. Also, we’re staking our tomatoes differently this year, and as we were doing that, my husband and I were joking about all the experiments we’re doing in our garden one right on top of each other, the same year. We are a bit crazy. I’ve just decided that all of this experimenting is what makes it FUN for me, and I like finding out what works and what doesn’t.
We’re trying a deep bedding system in our chicken coop now, and we really like how that is working. I have tried hay on our lower garden before, but it backfired a bunch because that area of the yard is much too windy to keep the hay where it should be. The wood chips have been working better in that area as they are heavier. It just goes to show that different areas will require different things, and that’s why there’s such a vast array of methods and books! I’m so fascinated by it all!
Sara, I have not tried this but I saw a video about mulching with wood chips (free from a local tree trimmer). I think it’s called “Back to Eden.” It was very interesting. I might try it next year. Wood chips might not be as inviting to rodents as hay/straw???
Be careful with wood chips and sawdust. They will use up the nitrogen in your soil when they are breaking down. You are better off with cardboard, straw (hay) or pieces of carpet..
Good to know! Thanks, Bobbie!
If I add equal amounts of grass clippings and/or leaves with the wood chips, would that balance out the nitrogen levels?
I would imagine it would help. Anything to add back some nitrogen. You could probably use some blood meal as I know that’s a good source of nitrogen.
I’ll give it a try. Thanks again!
Wanted to say that I enjoy your writings. I subscribe to many homesteading blogs, since I’m a wannabe homesteader! Your articles are the most practical and easiest to understand (and therefore, apply). I really appreciate your style of writing, because it clarifies so many things for us newbies and wannabes!
I’m so glad you are finding the blog helpful Paula! 🙂
Your garden looks great… deep mulching excellent choice! Next year, it’ll be even better!!!
~Tess
I agree and strongly encourage you to NOT till the hay into the ground. Why make work for yourself? Let natures (God’s) plan work as designed. The mulch has been decomposing from the ground up all season and will continue to do so with no human intervention.
After harvest and before the snow flies, don’t till but add another layer of hay, grass, leaves, and/or wood chips (great if you can get them) on top of what’s there. I find the wood chips helps keep the thick mulch layer from clumping and slowing its break down. If you must do something, maybe just mix it all up a bit with a rake and smooth things out. (I do thi but I think it’s more for personal satisfaction of doing “something” rather than actually enhancing anything.)
Anyway next Spring, just scrape away the mulch layer down to the black beauty beneath that the wormies and other little critters worked on all Winter and plant away. Each year it gets better and easier because those eager wormies and friends are efficient little workers. Me, not so much 😛
What cemented my belief is this Spring, quite a few little sprouts were peeking out from the thick (6″-8″) layer of leaves we had scattered throughout our garden last Fall. I had my son go in and pull them out so we had a tidy little garden to start with. The “weeds” were easily pulled because they were rooted within the bottom layer of decomposed leaves and not yet into the topsoil.
The top layer of the leaves looked relatively unchanged but the magic happened below. Left on their own, the leaves decomposed over Winter and added a rich growing medium on top of the topsoil we already had.
Not surprisingly, the mulch layer has continued to decompose this year and it got quite thin. So thin that last week I needed to add another 2″-4″ layer of grass clippings, wood chips, and whatever dried leaves I could find.
So far so good in Michigan 🙂
Randy, I am in Michigan too…and I am mulching with grass clippings, and some straw. This fall, we had planned on adding composted manure, and tilling it in. we are constantly battling the problem of dry sandy soil being in Western MI and we have that sugar sand effect. Then i will continue to put grass and straw on top of that. What are you going to plant lat summer for a fall harvest?
By no means am I an “expert” of any kind. I’m just relaying my observations and gardening by the seat of my pants so far.
That said, I’d suggest not tilling in the manure. Just spread it on the ground and let nature (wormies, little critters, and gravity) distribute it. I would also suggest putting a thick layer of straw, leaves, and grass clippings on top of that to keep everything from drying out. Let it work over winter and make its own compost, too.
I wanted to expand my small 5′ x 20′ garden to 10′ x 20′ this year. So last Fall, I just piled leaves right on top of my lawn. No sod removal, digging, tilling, nothing. This Spring, I was amazed how much wet, dark, soil-like stuff was under the leaves; at least an inch or so. I assume it was composted sod and leaves.
No major shovel work this Spring to plant either. I used a hand trowel to dig holes only big enough to put put the seedling’s rootball in and everything seems to be growing out quite well.
I’m not planning to plant anything more this year for a Fall harvest. I figure I’ve got my hands full with what I have now. Perhaps someday when I get more confident and ambitious 🙂
I can’t say I follow it to a “T” but the Back to Eden video really got me thinking. I recommend to everyone who is interested to at least watch it through once. The idea of working with nature rather than trying to tame it makes a lot of sense to me.
My husband and I are very lazy gardeners and on our permaculture property we start all our new beds without any digging. We used to put down a layer of manure (until we got a batch of contaminated stuff!) then a layer of cardboard, then a thick layer of compost. We plant in the compost and mulch with leaves and grass clippings as well as chop and drop plant material from the garden. Comfrey gets chopped and dropped as do the rhubarb leaves each time I harvest it. The more we dig the soil the more we disrupt the natural cycle of those wonderful little organisms that will do so much of the work for us, if we just leave them to it. Far be it from me to do something that nature will do for me, if I just let it!
Yes, I plan to stick to no-till from now on–I’ll just add another layer of mulch next spring where I need too. 🙂
HI. I am not and actual card-carrying homesteader, but with 60 wooded acres, and a humunguous veggie garden, fruits also, I get a lot of useful and interesting info from your site. However, the only animals I have are 2 rescued dogs. RE: deep mulching. I have heard pros and cons — the cons being that the mulch, as it breaks down, can rob your plant of nutrients. However, with a weed problem that might even come close to yours, eek!!!!! I must do something…so I am a mulching fool. and am having good results. And keeping the soil moist is a definite plus. My mulch is heavy heavy—gunk I pitchforked up from last year, plus new grass clippings. Per the grass, be sure that dh has not used week and feed too recently, or else you need to let it sit for a few days. I have herbs, beans, peas, tomatoes, corn, potatoes, onions, garlic, pumpkins, many other squashes, peppers, cherries, blackberries, raspberries, enough strawberries to put smuckers out of business, apples, an other fun experiments, as the spirit moves. keep me up on the garden news. Wish I could post some pics of my onions and mulch. blessings….
I spread newspaper then put down hay on top of it. Then of course we had a crazy windy day and some of my newspaper took flight! Grrrr! afte all that hard work! Anyone else use newspaper? I’m thinking I should put it through the shredder next time than spread the hay. Or maybe I’ll just skip the newspaper and take it to the recycling center. I’ll be spreading a bunch of hay this fall but would lilke a better way than spreading it by hand. Any suggestions? I have about an acre to cover.
Janet, I use newspaper as well. I layer everything. In the square foot gardens, I put down newspaper and wet it heavily so it won’t blow away before I get to the next step. Then I load it down with chicken poop hay from the coop .Then I usually put ground leaves/limbs on top and soak it again. This is my end of the season mix. I did it so thickly last fall that all I had to do was rake it back to plant and spread it again. I also use newspaper when I start new beds to smother weeds. I started several pallet gardens this year and newspaper was my 1st layer. Also shred and add to worm composting bins for the brown layer.
I wouldn’t use newspaper as it has bleach in it along with the chemicals from the ink.
Better to use cardboard or I have a friend that used old carpet to mulch between the rows of his garden. Keeps the weeds down and it helps keep the shoes clean..
Jill
I was really excited when I saw what your email was about today. I have always been a garden tiller user. Till every spring, sometimes waiting extra weeks till the ground dried out enough to get in there. This was one of those years. Everything went in late. Now, I’m fighting an indescribable nightmare of weeds because last year’s weed seeds were scattered all over the garden by the tiller. I’m working six hours or more every week pulling and hoeing, only to see more sprout behind me before I’m even done going forward.
Happily, I started grass clippings over newspapers around the cucumbers and squash, melons and zucchini and I am very pleased with the results. I chose those veggies because they run and spread
out. As I mow each week I am raking and using the clippings in more areas, hoping to eventually cover the whole garden.
Some of the comments recommend not tilling what’s left of the mulch next spring and I see the logic in that. My dad used to cover the garden with a thick layer of leaves in the fall, but he always tilled them in the following spring. I am more determined than ever to reduce my hours of work weeding and tilling. I ain’t gettin’ no younger, if you know what I mean. There are better ways to pass the time than sitting on an upside down bucket with a hand hoe pulling out pounds and pounds of weeds all summer.
Keep us posted. I am looking forward to your updates.
Awesome! I’ve done my gardens this way for three seasons now and am never going back. My soil has improved drastically, and my garden has gone from an overgrown newly dug plot to almost no weeds ever. One suggestion, though. I noticed you had problems with the hay blowing and planned to switch to wide rows for easier cleanup. I had the same problem, but I actually switched to tighter rows- so tight that I can almost never step foot into most of my garden til harvest- but I have much higher production, the plants crowd out the weeds (effectively behaving like weeds themselves), and the hay stays squished in between. Check out native american/ biointensive style gardens. Good luck
Thanks for that gardening style tip! I have not read up on that one yet… I need to make a dictionary/Encyclopedia as I go…
You likely are building up a decent seed accumulation using hay, and it has the potential to rear an ugly head later. However there’s an easy, win-win solution. After the growing season, kelp your chickens in the garden area to clean everything up! They’ll eat any weed seeds, along with garden pests and larvae and spent greens… All while processing that mulch for you into new soil and fertilizing while they do it!
I love deep mulch and as a Permaculturist, it’s one of my mandatory three-tiered techniques I teach people that should help them in 99% of their situation. Glad it’s working well for you!
Great tip Mike–yes, I’ll definitely be turning the chickens into the garden this fall!
I love this! Wish I had a garden to mulch. I used to use grass clippings when I lived in Nevada and had a huge garden. I chased down gardeners when I went into town and then hauled their grass clippings out to my place. It worked very well keeping weeds down and the ground moist, which is very important in the Nevada heat. I watered at night between 10 and midnight. I also loved the look of my garden covered in a blanket of green 🙂
A garden can start with a pot, some soil, and some love 🙂
Then I suppose my apple tree and flailing, potted orange tree and flowers could be considered my “garden.” 🙂
The first rule of per a culture is “get a yield!” If you have an apple tree and some pots of plants you are on your way! Can you turn the space under the apple tree into a guild? The area under my apple tree has turned into the most productive area in the yard. Blueberries, gooseberries, currants, rhubarb and numerous herbs all grow together under my apple tree, creating the most beautiful forest garden in a very small space.
I also use the deep mulch method, but use double shredded wood mulch in my 3 raised beds. I don’t usually turn the beds over at the end of the season, but just add a layer of leaves at the end of fall and another layer of mulch at the beginning of the season. I have seen vole holes here and there, especially in the early spring, but haven’t had problems so far.
The only down side, I feel is that it’s a little frustrating to have to pull back the mulch every spring for every single seed I sow, so I usually resort to buying seedlings, because it’s easier to just plant those.
We are trying the deep mulch method this year as well. The areas we have covered are great. The weeds are few and easy to pull. We are using the spent bedding from our animal pens and the chicken house and are waiting for the tree trimmers to bring us a bunch of wood chips. We like it so well that we never want to back to any other method. We are also about to try putting carpet down along the path beside the tomatoes and them will cover that with deep mulch to control the thick growth of thistles we always have there. Of course, along with wood chips comes ticks, so we are looking into getting Guinea hens to help with that.
Would my grass clippings work for a deep mulch? I don’t really want to buy hay……but I have plenty of grass clippings……..
Yes, grass clippings will work!
I’m doing hay mulch this year because of that same book!!! It is awesome for all the reasons you mentioned and moldy hay is easier to locate than properly composted wood chips. Can’t wait too see what my soil looks like next year too!
Our homesteading is coming along slowly, especially since I am the only one on our property who is trying 🙂 I think the rains maybe subsided for now, and I spent the morning trying to hunt down my watermelon vines…. I was trying something like this before I found you. I had cut holes in old sheets from my friends thrift shop, for my watermelons to grow thru. Unfortunately with the rains I did not have time enough to batten them down with mulch and it created a green house effect underneath… oddly, however, only the grass grew and no weeds at all… I don’t know what that was about, but it did create a wonderland for the garden spiders 🙂 they are “eatin it up” under there … lol.. So i spent the early daylight hours this morning pulling as much grass as I could by hand from as far as I could reach under the edges and spread a heavy layer of hay under all my vine the best I could with out disturbing them to much. Some of them had grown into the blackberry bush across the fence, but I won them back with minimal permanent scarring 🙂 The sheets are cotton so they should break down, and they are so old I’m sure there is nary a chemical left in them to harm my yummy goods.. I wonder if I can still consider them organic? Oh well they will still be homegrown and waaaaay better than store bought -GMO-pesticide laden picked to early and ripened in a truck ones…
OMGosh I’ve been following this project closely. I love my garden and raised beds, but the grass is impossible to keep out of the fenced garden area and it’s way more maintenance than it needs to be. Like you, I’m typically losing the battle this time of year. We just had our hay pasture baled so if RancherMan will allow me to steal one of those bales our cost will only be the cost of having that one bale done, certainly less than having to buy and pick up a roll. Additionally I’m thinking of laying down paper feed sacks to act as an additional weed barrier since the hay will only be in the walkways initially.
One question about the deep-hay mulch actually being in the beds (which I’ll probably do next year) The one year I deep-mulched my entire garden, squash bugs decimated each and every squash-like plant, including zucchini, spaghetti squash, summer squash, etc. They hit each & every one until they were gone, I could not win that war no matter how diligent I was. I wondered if it was the mulch providing them a place to hide. Now I heavily much everything else in my garden but NOT my squashes and I’ve only had minor problems with them since then. Have you experienced any negative effects around your squashes with this method?
~Taylor-Made Ranch~
Texas
Taylor Made Ranch,
2 years ago we had some young turkeys that we turned loose. They headed right to our garden and much to my shock they went right to my squash area and attacked with a vengeance and gobbled up every squash bug they could find and yabbering with delight all the way. Now these were good sized turkeys that did flatten a few vines and some plants did need some gentle attention and nurturing (lol) afterwards but i was willing to let them do their thing and suffer a small loss rather than the entire crop to bugs or use harmful pesticides. Not to mention free natural food for the flock, fertilizing the garden as they go.
They were also less damaging then the chickens that scratch non stop.
just an idea. 🙂
I too am battling the grass. 🙁
I’m in the Pacific Northwest. Anyone out there using the deep mulch method here? I get masses of slugs
Funny that I finally sat down to read this right after coming in from the garden. It’s been a total learning experience this year and battling people’s opinions of tilling. My Grandpa (and therefore my Mom) tills EVERYTHING in the garden, tree orchard, etc. My mom says because it “keeps the weeds down and the dirt fresh.” I told her it makes no difference, the weeds always come back. But it was useless as she’s set on tilling. lol I definitely can’t wait to have a place and a garden of our very own!!!
For years we have been buying the end rolls of newspaper (without ink) at the newspaper company. We plant our garden rows, then we wait until the little seedlings come up. We take the roll of paper butting up close along the seeding rows on one side of the row. Lay a thick layer of wheat straw on top of paper. Be careful to not cover the seedling. Repeat paper and straw on the other side of seedling row. When it rains I do have wheat greens grow, but that doesn’t bother me. You can use sprouted wheat in your smoothies and feed it to your young chickens. It is amazing how much moisture you save and the weeding is minimal, if you have the paper very close to the little plants. It works!!!!!!!!! I don’t have to spend hardly anytime weeding! In the fall we till it all under! Hope this helps!
Your garden is doing great! So glad you are trying the deep mulch method. I do deep mulch and raised beds together, and have had great success this way. If you block off part of your garden into sections rather than rows, you will find that you can plant a lot more per square foot than you’d have otherwise. That would mean, say for instance beets, would be planted in a 3 footX5 foot area, with rows 6 inches apart, and your rows would be the perimeter. More plants! Kind of like raised beds, but just inground.
My 2nd set of beans aren’t doing well. Don’t know what the problem was. Everything else is growing like crazy. I don’t mulch. It’s all compost and organic. Put a birdfood In the garden to attract the birds and I don’t have any problems so far with a hornworms or any other bug. It’ s doing very well.
We have tons of trees on our property so I put a huge pile of leaves on my garden bed last fall and this spring they seem to really help keep the weeds down . . . seems like a similar concept to the hay idea. Some leaves have broken down, but there’s still a nice thick layer left that seems to help keep the soil moist. Several volunteer plants are growing as well, more than I’ve ever had before. Makes me think the leaves have something to do with that . . .
Here in the south, I put down a single layer of newspaper and then used wood chips left by the power company…worked great, but in the Spring I had some termites in the garden, I’m trying DE to get rid of habitants in my mulch. By the way, on your onions, I learned a trick from an “old-timer”, move all of the dirt away from the bulb, except for the roots. The roost hold the plant up, replace your mulch and that allows the bulb to grow twice as large. Apparently the dirt is too restrictive. It works wonderfully, my onions are now huge! Thanks for all of the great ideas!
Cool–thanks for the onion tip– I definitely need to try that!
Hi Jill! I’m glad you’re having so much luck!
I was inspired first and foremost by the “no-till” concept and stumbled upon this awesome resource—> http://oldworldgardenfarms.com/raised-row-gardening/
I have not tried the deep mulching method quite as much as you, but I did find that mulching even a little has a dramatic effect on reducing the need to weed and water.
Thank you for sharing, and keep the updates coming! I’m extremely curious about the no-tilling part next year 🙂
Mary
Beans, radishes and carrots were the only things that did well for us this year. We had a little bit of Swiss chard and some lettuces, but out of 18 different seeds, that was it. However, I don’t think that’s too bad for novice gardeners, and here in central Florida, we get a second chance, because we have two growing seasons! And I just remembered, we did get three turnips, too! 🙂
I am from wyoming as well and i can agree with the hail storms and harsh winds from years past. I been mulching my garden with straw instead of hay. But i to can say that its awesome i am loving it. I hardly have to water, it makes the soil really nice and well conditioned, and in my yard the straw is composting down very fast. Which is awesome as i have alot of straw. I have 0 problems with weeds in my beds elsewhere thats a different story. I plan on using alot more straw in the future. Im mostly doing this for better soil, as my yard is heavy with clay.i will be following your progression and hope your gardens do great as mine are doing