Do you use mulch on your vegetable garden?

[headfullofbees]

Beer traps.

 

[Chuck]

Beer traps.

They work great on slugs and make it easy to collect fishbait of which they are excellent. I kind of wish I have them where I live now sometimes

 

[Carolyn]

Back to the topic of mulch in the vegetable garden. I use mulch. Since straw bales are affordable around here, about 3.50 a bale, I can easily afford to use it as mulch. It helps retain moisture and keeps the soil in great condition. I NEVER have to till. Straw is rather irritating to slugs and they tend to stay off of it but nothing is for sure. If you keep about 6 inches on they mostlyl live underneath. This summer was difficult for us since we both have back problems and each had a surgery (not a back surgery) so my gardens got neglected a bit. Try it on one and when you see the difference in the soil you will never go back to bare dry soil.

 

[Meowmie]

I don't bother washing the sand, the amount of salt is infinitesimal, and would raise the freezing point of the soil anyway.
Sand deters slugs and keeps wind-related evaporation down.
Plants like tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers will grow roots there, and they will breathe much better.
Why bother pandering to blueberries, when I can grow raspberries?

Unfortunately blueberries are one of the few fruits I'm allowed, so while I crave raspberries, I'll do what it takes to get some good blueberries.

I use a lot of mulch in my vegie garden. I don't buy it though, I use leaves, grass clipppings, etc. I Have not had a slug problem but I sure know where to come for solutions if I start to see them. Than you all for the information you provided.

 

[Chuck]

Back to the topic of mulch in the vegetable garden. I use mulch. Since straw bales are affordable around here, about 3.50 a bale, I can easily afford to use it as mulch. It helps retain moisture and keeps the soil in great condition. I NEVER have to till. Straw is rather irritating to slugs and they tend to stay off of it but nothing is for sure. If you keep about 6 inches on they mostlyl live underneath. This summer was difficult for us since we both have back problems and each had a surgery (not a back surgery) so my gardens got neglected a bit. Try it on one and when you see the difference in the soil you will never go back to bare dry soil.

Be very very careful about putting commercially grown straw or hay into your garden. Most commercial hay growers in the US spray a herbicide called Picklaram to keep broadleaf weeds out of their hay. It takes years for it to go away. It is death to anything you plant. Before putting it in the garden get a big handfull of the hay, put it in a bucket of water and let it steep for a couple of days. Then go find a dandelion or some other weed and pour the water on the plant. If within 2 days the plant is still healthy the hay is safe

 

[jade870]

I have always used mulch for indoor and outside plants, I also use it in just about everything in the garden. It seems to help in many ways such as keeping the ground moist and keeping certain insects away. I also uses this in my flower bed as well, it seems to do wonders as far as making them grow better. My mother always used to use mulch when she would do any type of planting in season or at of season. I suppose that is where I got it from, she would tell me that it would help anything that was planted.

 

[kevinkimers]

From my understanding, veggies are a major attractant of bugs to begin with and mulch houses them... wouldn't it be a bad idea to use mulch?

 

[Chuck]

From my understanding, veggies are a major attractant of bugs to begin with and mulch houses them... wouldn't it be a bad idea to use mulch?

Under an organic program insects are not much of a problem to begin with and the bugs and caterpillars you might get are easily controlled. Mulch has many benefits and as you live in NV where water is scarce and dry heat abundant mulch will help you in 2 major ways to start. Two or three inches of mulch will reduce the soil temp. by at least 25% and you water usage will be cut in half. Mulch will also stop many soil borne pathogens that occur when rain splashes up soil onto your plants.. Mulch will break down into compost which will feed the micro organisms in your soil thus helping your plants to uptake nutrients. Mulch also reduces or eliminates weeds.

 

[Meowmie]

Mulching helps to protect the crops from drying out. I find my plants to be so much healthier when I mulch them and they are better able to stand up to attacks from insects.

 

[Twinsmommy31]

Sounds like a great thing to do too. I know there are great benefits to using mulch. Mulching minimizes evaporation of water from the soil surface, reducing irrigation need by around 50%. It helps stabilize soil moisture levels, thereby improving vegetable quality and encouraging the beneficial activity of soil organisms.

 

[kevinkimers]

Sounds like a great thing to do too. I know there are great benefits to using mulch. Mulching minimizes evaporation of water from the soil surface, reducing irrigation need by around 50%. It helps stabilize soil moisture levels, thereby improving vegetable quality and encouraging the beneficial activity of soil organisms.

I don't know about your area, but we definitely need all the moisture we can get. I live in a hot and dry environment and judging from the relatively mild winter we have had, we are going to have a very rough and dry summer this year. I could use all the mulch I can get.

 

[yank]

I know many people use mulch on their flower beds and flower gardens, but I don't seem to see many people using it on their vegetable gardens. I haven't in the past, but this year I am using composted mulch around my veggies. My mom got a great deal on mulch and brought me 2 bags. She has used it on her veggies for a couple years now but this will be my first.

Do I need to water less frequently with the mulch? Also when I water the plants, do I need to give them more water at a time now since it has to get through the mulch to the soil? I have put mulch down in decorative flower beds when I did landscaping many years ago, but it was just putting it down and not maintaining the flower beds.

Back when I had a large garden, and access to many bags of leaves in the fall, I mulched them with my tree/leave mucher. I would fill up a wire bin, 6' x 6' x 4' in the fall and the next spring I would mulch the whole garden, rows and all about 3 inches thick. Not only did it keep the weeds down, but it also required less water. The ground stayed moist for at least a couple of days. This was in 90-100 degree heat in lower Alabama.

 

[yank]

Back years ago, in the late 80's up till 1998, I had a large garden, and access to lots of leaves already bagged. I had an area 6' x6' x4' fenced off and mulched over a hundred bags of leaves in the fall. In the spring after the garden was planted and the plants grew to about 4", I mulched the whole garden with about 3" of leaves. Not only did it keeps the weeds at bay but it also kept the ground moist, so I didn't have to water as often. Sometimes about every 3-4 days depending on the temp. Just a thing I did, and it worked quite well.

 

[Thumper38]

In the past ive laid out landscaping felt ansd given it a light covering of straw to keep the black felt from overheating the ground during the dead of summer. It ends up being much cheaper than using mulch. Then at the end of the season i pull up the felt and till the straw into the soil.

 

[headfullofbees]

In the past ive laid out landscaping felt ansd given it a light covering of straw to keep the black felt from overheating the ground during the dead of summer. It ends up being much cheaper than using mulch. Then at the end of the season i pull up the felt and till the straw into the soil.

What you describe is still mulch.
Mulch is what it does, rather than what it is.