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The Simplicity of Deep Mulch Gardening - Page 2

© Gloria Morris

In the spring, rake the mulch back from the beds. Plant your seeds or transplants. Gradually add the mulch back around the young plants as they come up and begin growing. You don't want to smother the young plants, but you want to protect them with mulch as they grow. Add mulch through the growing season, as needed to maintain a good mat.

The benefits of this system are many. Your hard labor will be reduced; there is no need to wait for the soil to dry sufficiently for spring tillage; there is no need to buy and maintain and fuel a machine in order to garden; you can garden in peace and quiet, enjoying the songs of birds, with no roaring machine; and your gardening tool needs are simple. Perhaps best of all from an eating perspective, your plants will thrive. Since I quit tilling and started mulching, there has been a population explosion of earthworms in my soil. The worms "till" the soil for me and incorporate the compost and the rotting mulch into my soil. My soil is now rich and crumbly under all of that mulch, thanks to the hard work of my now very happy worm population.

The mulch holds in moisture, reducing watering requirements. That is very important in a drought, when our well does not produce enough water. It also reduces the work of watering. The soil does not stay soggy, however, so in times when we get lots of rain, the plants do not drown. And, though the soil is moist, I can walk in the garden to harvest and care for plants without getting muddy.

The mulch helps to suppress weeds. While perennial weeds will sometimes work their way through the mulch, they pull out easily, or you can smother them by adding more mulch. I find this to be much easier on my back than the long sessions of hoeing that I used to do.

Finally, a word about slugs: When I first started using this method, I heard dire warnings that I would lose my garden to slugs from people who had no experience with deep mulch gardening. I have never had a serious slug problem in the years that I have been using the deep mulch system. Perhaps there is someone out there who had a bad experience with slugs. However, there are now people all over the world successfully using this gardening method, and slugs have not been a serious problem for most. If one encountered a slug problem, using beer bait traps and other slug removal methods would probably keep them under control.

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