Bill Jones wrote:Many of these same ambivalent feelings about mulch are echoed by Steve Solomon in his book "Gardening West of the Cascades". I find the self-shading leaves of intensively planted crops to accomplish many of the same results.
But I've had poor results with leaving mulch on and expecting it to decompose into something useful. The fact is that it just
disappeared, presumably taken by critters to make their nests.
Taken by critters???
Wow, it'd take something like Godzilla to remove my mulch.
Ironically I've found the least use for traditional mulch here.
There's rarely a need to keep the soil cool, when it's so cold all
the time. Intensively planted crops shade their own soil anyway, and
a mulch can stop the soil from warming up enough to grow
warmth-loving crops, in addition to drawing slugs.
Mulching is essentially composting in place, at least in my beds. That
process produces heat, which warms things. I suppose mulching is
different for everyone, but here in the South, it warms the beds in
early Spring, holds in moisture in the heat and drought of summer, keeps
the underlying soil soft for root development and earthworms, and of
course, degrades and puts nutrients back into the earth. Two sides to
every coin..
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