Organic in The Garden – Benefits Of Mulching Your Vegetable Garden

Mulching is important in all garden settings whether using Organic Methods or not. There are many benefits to be gained from mulching your ornamental garden beds and many of these benefits are well known. Water retention, weed suppression and aesthetic appeals are just a few. Mulching your vegetable garden is perhaps less thought about but there is many benefits to doing it.

Vegetables are mostly annual plants, meaning they are grown and harvested within a twelve-month period. Most are typically harvested within a two to four month growth cycle. This is a quick growing phase, which can make mulching seem not worth pursuing. But there are benefits to the current crop and future crops.

  • Mulching vegetables helps prevent water loss, which benefits the soil, soil organisms and the crop.
  • As mulches break down they add additional organic matter to the soil, feeding current crops while supporting soil organisms. This organic matter is available to future crops.
  • Soil erosion is a problem faced by large-scale farmers but can also be an issue in smaller home gardens. Mulching helps prevent this by keeping the soil covered and away from the elements.
  • Mulching slows the growth of weeds making maintenance of your vegetable garden physically easier and is less time consuming.
  • Mulching vegetables makes harvesting a cleaner job. Many vegetables are due to be harvested when the weather begins to cool down. Harvesting can be a messy job.

Now you know a few of the benefits of mulching, so what do you use to mulch?

  • Vegetable gardens can benefit from Lucerne Hay mulch, which can be available as chaff for easier spreading around plants.
  • Pea Straw makes excellent vegetable garden mulch. It’s great around Brassica’s such as Cabbage, Cauliflower and Broccoli.
  • Wheat and Barley Straw is also excellent garden mulch. Like Lucerne, it is also available as chaff.
  • Organic Grass hay, is my favourite option as it is loose, easily laid, can be added in “bricks” or fluffed up. It is freely available in my area and is generally well priced. Some people prefer not to use it due to the presence of grass and other seeds, but I find they are not a major issue when used in conjunction with lawn clippings or other green matter between crops.

Mulches are usually available from you local garden centre or can be purchased directly from farmers if you live in a country area. Old season mulches are ideal. You could also use mulch collected from stables or other farm sheds using hay or straw as bedding material.

August 1, 2010  Tags: , , , , , ,   Posted in: Growing Organic Vegetables

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.