WEEDING AND
WATERING
GARDENS
How To Spend Less Time Weeding And Watering Your Garden This Summer!
So the garden is planted – and now your thoughts woefully turn to
the multitude of hours you will need to spend weeding and watering
your plants until harvest time. Don’t despair – it doesn’t have to
be that way – especially if you use the power of mulch in your
garden this year!
Mulch is truly a lifesaver and a gardener’s best friend. When used
properly – it can save hours of back-breaking work spent weeding,
watering and maintaining a beautiful garden. A simple two-inch layer
about 8 to 10 inches around each plant can go a long way to keeping
your plants healthy. And when used in your walking rows – mulch can
help eliminate the need for time-consuming repetitive row-tilling
to keep weeds at bay.
Mulch performs 4 important and valuable functions in the garden:
(1) It insulates the soil,
(2) It helps to retain moisture,
(3) It suppresses weeds,
(4) It enhances your soil as it breaks down.
Weeding
Tomatoes require a lot of moisture – and a healthy mulching around each
plant keeps the root zone from drying out.
As an insulator – mulch is extremely helpful in regulating soil temperatures
from wild fluctuations. It keeps the hot summer sun from heating up the soil
too much, and helps that same soil from losing too much heat through cool
nights. That constant temperature is a key to strong and healthy plant growth.
Mulch is also perfect for helping to retain moisture in and around your plant’s
root zone – keeping them from drying out in between rain or watering.
As a weed suppressor – mulch is the king. A healthy 2" layer of mulch around
your plants eliminates weed seeds from blowing in and taking hold – and it
also helps keep those that may already be in your soil from germinating.
All of this results in less weeding for you!
And maybe it’s best quality is that of soil enhancer. As mulch breaks down
it slowly adds organic matter to your garden, and over time will improve the
structure and health of your soil.
Great Choices For Garden Mulch:
Grass clippings, straw, shredded leaves, and compost are all excellent choices
for mulching around plants. Compost is our personal favorite – acting not only
as a mulch, but as a slow release natural fertilize to the roots below each and
every time it rains or we water.
Grass :
Grass clippings are an excellent mulch for garden plants. Green clippings are
full of nutrients – including nitrogen, which plants need to grow strong. Dry
grass works as well – and still adds nutritional value to your soil as it breaks
down. Both help retain soil moisture and suppress weeds. One thing to consider
when using grass clippings is their origin. If you use fertilizers, pesticides
or weed killers on your lawn – you are going to pass those right on to your
garden plants as well. So, it is best to only use grass clippings that come
from untreated lawns.
Compost :
Compost is my single favorite mulch to use around plants. Not only does it have
great structure – it also of course adds valuable nutrients to your soil and plants
as it breaks down. We use it in all of our planting holes – and then as a 2" thick
layer of mulch about 8? around the base of each plant.
Shredded Leaves :
Leaves are the perfect garden mulch – especially because you can usually find them
in abundance in the fall for free! We shred ours with the lawnmower and use them
as mulch in the garden around both plants and in the walkways.
Straw :
Straw is a great all-purpose mulch. We use it in our walking rows to help suppress
weeds. It also an excellent moisture retaining material when used around plants.
Wood Chips :
Wood chips and shavings can also be a great mulch to use for your walkways in garden.
They are great for suppressing weeds – and can usually be obtained for minimal cost
or even free from local tree-trimming companies or sawmills. I do not use them
around the plants simply because of the coarseness and because it takes them too long
to break down.
One to Avoid – Hay.
Unlike straw which is made up of the waste portion of a field cutting – hay is made up
of the entire portion of grass – including all of the seed heads that come with it.
Using hay as a mulch can result in a mass of weeds and leave you with a far greater
problem than you had before mulching in the first place.
So get mulching in that garden and save yourself some watering and weeding all summer long!
How To Spend Less Time Weeding
And Watering Your Garden This Summer!
https://oldworldgardenfarms.com/2014/05/20/weeding-watering-garden/
How To Grow Inexpensive Garden
Mulch – No More Costly Straw!
https://oldworldgardenfarms.com/2022/11/03/inexpensive-garden-mulch/
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