permaculture

[<bmn@iglou.com>]

that's what happens when I get in a hurry!  I didn't look as I was 
answering remote.  I thought I was on a different list.  I should have 
been more clear.  The mulching "system" I meant to refer to was that 
typically furthered by nurseries and landscapers.  Properly done, you're 
correct...it has the aforementioned benefits.  The only disagreement I 
have is that bare mulch (which is what the overwhelming majority of 
practioners I see leave) does set up what acts like disturbed ground to 
drifting seeds.  However, most of you are also planting or working your 
areas...again, slightly different than what I run into in urban areas or 
with the commercial gardening/landscaping folks.  Obviously, you're doing 
more to clear the beds than folks in these systems.  

...anyway... my apologies for any confusion I might have created.

-----Original Message-----
From: Toby Hemenway <hemenway@jeffnet.org>

> on 4/18/02, bmn@iglou.com wrote:
> > This mulching will inhibit a lot of what is already on the site, but
> > typically the soil dies underneath.
> 
> That's never been my experience. All the soils that I've deep mulched,
> whether clay, sandy, or what have you, show an immense increase in soil
> life, organic matter, and general tilth, down to a foot or more below
> the
> mulch. It's how I renovate poor soils without tilling, and I've
> examined and
> tested them to a good depth below the mulch. Far from dying, they
> become
> much more alive. I'm puzzled as to what kind of mulching kills soil as
> bmn
> says (as I type I'm looking out my window at a foot of mulch on top of
> what
> a year ago was hard red clay and is now brown, wormy earth at least a
> foot
> below the mulch, soft enough to shove my fist into).