what to use as a mulch?

[Andy Hamilton]

I am getting fed up with weeding and watering all the time and am thinking of mulching my allotment. What is the best thing or things to use I hear that cut grass is quite good. I have used some of my rhubarb leaves but don't have enough for the whole alltoment.

[Millymollymandy]

I'm in two minds about mulching because, whilst it keeps the moisture in the soil from evaporating, when it rains or when you have to water, it is hard to get beyond that mulch barrier. I have to move my mulch away in order to water under it, and unless we have heavy rain, all the rain just gets soaked into the mulch.

I am using some compost that had far too much sawdust in it so it wouldn't rot down. It is pretty good as mulch but a fairly impenetrable barrier when watering.

I don't actually have this around my veg, only shrubs and young fruit trees.

In the veg patch I put some grass clippings around my pumpkins and melons etc. I also do this round the carrots and parsnips as I did read somewhere it was supposed to deter carrot root fly, although it didn't work last year.

However if it is really hot the grass doesn't grow so you don't get any grass cuttings!

Other things to use are the weeds that you pull up!

[Chickpea]

Like mmm I'm unsure about mulching. Anytime I've looked underneath any kind of mulch like big leaves or plastic sheeting it's been full of slugs and snails. They love it dark and moist. And she has a point about it not letting rainwater through.

If watering is such a major chore there are other ways of easing the burden. How about a leaky hose irrigation system run from a rainwater butt, or half-burying some 2 litre bottles with the bottoms cut off and small holes drilled in the lids? Then you top up the bottles with water and it drips out into the soil, you put them right next to your plants so the water goes directly onto the roots and not justs aturating the rest of the soil.

[Andy Hamilton]

hmm, I like the bottle idea and gives me an excuse to throw a party so that I can get a load of bottles. We only seem to get one big plastic bottle a fortnight, I tend to drink tap water all the time.

Using weeds M3, we moslty have bindweed and I would be a bit put off using that incase it rerooted itself.

[lotus_eater]

Ok, would a combination of the bottles and mulching be a good compromise? You know, just not mulch where the bottles are (obviously, says the rest of the forum ) and mulching to keep moisture in?

Edited to say that on hindsight, it's probably a rubbish idea cos I'll forever be fishing out barkchips out of the bottles.

[Luath]

Straw makes a good mulch, but can blow around a bit when windy; also mushroom compost (not too large quantities due to alkilinity), homemade compost, newspapers with or without grass clippings on top, chopped weeds, sheet mulching with materials otherwise destined for the compost heap, natural fabrics (eg cottong and wool) old sheep fleeces not suitable for spinning etc (good for around fruit trees).
Hope this helps.

[Wombat]

I used to use straw or hay and newspaper, but now I just use the hay or straw so that the rain can get through the mulch. Over here it is mulch or die and I am having a go at no-dig this year (much thicker mulch )

Nev

[Millymollymandy]

Well after having to get the hosepipe out last night I've decided NOT to mulch ever again, at least not the flower beds. I spent half an hour on one flower bed with the hose, and the only thing I wet was the mulch!!!

I have to get down and scrabble in the mulch to move it out of the way in order for the water to get under it. It's OK around shrubs but in a flower bed where I can't get at everything it is just impossible.

I guess in the end it depends on the kind of soil - most of the water in my soil disappears downwards rather than by evaporation, so the mulch doesn't really help a lot I don't think.

[hedgewizard]

The best mulch I've seen is the growth on an overcrowded carrot bed. Water penetrates easily but weeds have a hard time of it, and the soil stays wet long after everything else has dried up. My ideal mulch would be like that!

I need to think how to add large quantities of organic material onto my soil as mulch this autumn (so not much worried about watering) - in bulk because there's probably about 200 sq feet to do. Straw used for sheet mulching in past years blew about and also sprouted, so that's out. Hay seems most likely but I'm going to have to rake it in a bit to stop it blowing about. Other suggestions?

[diver]

I always mulch with leaf mould or spent hops whichever I happen to have. I mulched the fruit cage with leaf mould on top of a good mulch of manure and it was graet for thr fruit cage....absolutely no weeds. I used spent hops on the winter beans and beetroot and again no weeds, and I haven't had a problem when I've been watering even though it hasn't rained here for about 2 months and I've had to water nearly every day. But then I'd rather do anything than pull up weeds.

[hedgewizard]

Where do you get those hops?

[diver]

from a local one man brewery that I found in yellow pages...and he is glad to get rid of them

[hedgewizard]

Nice tip, thanks!

[Andy Hamilton]

plenty of ideas to be going on with there cheers folks off to the paper shop then the brewery for me then.....

[Wombat]

But where are you going to get your mulch from?

Nev