Weeds, Weeding, and Mulching

Happily mulched tomato plant

Happy 4th of July!

With the fireworks and barbeque's of July 4th comes the unavoidable truth of any garden and that is WEEDS and weeding! As the summer solstice (June 21st) approaches and wanes the weeds can really take hold of our gardens. It is very important to try to stay on top of weeding. There are several ways to interpret the task of weeding. We can look at it as a dreaded chore, meaning we won't do it. Or we can try to enter a bit of a zen type state and see weeding as a wonderful excuse to get into your garden and stay intimate with it.

Seeding and planting are mostly behind us except for some 2nd or 3rd plantings of things we want succession harvests of such as lettuce, beans, coriander, radishes, carrots. Composting and mulching are probably done by now too. If we planted some cool season crops we've been able to harvest some things like lettuce, radishes, greens, asparagus, and some herbs. Peas have started to come, as has broccoli and garlic scapes. We've probably even had to deal with some pests like flea beetles, potato beetles, cucumber beetles, and aphids.

So now let's turn to weeds and weeding. Weeding is important for several reasons. The first is totally aesthetic. I don't know about you but if my garden gets away from me for some reason and I return to see nothing but weeds my first reaction is to walk away in frustration and disappointment. That's never a good thing. But if your garden is fairly weed free you are more likely to spend enjoyable time in it. It just looks nicer and is inviting. We want to be invited into our gardens. That encourages us to stay connected with it. Also, weeds compete for nutrients and water. They take them away from the plants that we want to grow, our vegetables, herbs, and flowers. So we do need to get those weeds out of there and keep them out of there. That's where mulch comes in.

If we've mulched our gardens then the task of weeding (notice I am not using the word chore) will be much, much easier! If you've never mulched you should strongly consider it. Mulching does several things for our gardens. It keeps weeds down! Just for that reason it is so worth it to mulch! It also keeps the soil moist. Granted this year in Maine we don't need more moisture! It's rained for the past month and more is predicted. But this is a very unusual summer here. Usually moisture is a big issue in any garden. Roots need to have consistent moisture and mulch will help with that - a lot! Another reason for mulching is that mulching adds to the soil. The mulch eventually decomposes and works like adding compost to the soil. And mulching looks nice. And like I said, there is something to be said about a garden looking nice. So again, if you don't mulch put it on the top of your "to do" list. In my opinion it is an absolute must for any successful garden and gardener.

What to use for mulching? There are lots of choices. Experiment to see what you like and what you have available. To me the absolute Cadillac of mulches are ground up coco hulls. You can get this in bags from places like Agway and local garden centers. The smell is heavenly and it's a wonderful deep brown. But it is very expensive! I rarely use it but if I see it on sale I may buy a bag or two just to put somewhere to experience that wonderful smell and color. I first learned about this mulch from Caprilands Herb Farm in Coventry CT. I use to visit there when I was in college and have always remembered that wonderful mulch. http://www.caprilands.com/

But let's get back to reality. Reality dictates that we want to use what is local and available and inexpensive. All of which coco hulls are not. We have the tried and true option of hay. The problem with hay is that it's a perennial grass. So the odds of it introducing weed seed into your garden is very high. But I use hay and I use a lot of it. I get it from a farmer down the road. I transport 3 bales at a time in my car. I don't have a pick up truck so need to do it this way. I bring 2 sheets with me. I lay one down in the car, put bales on top and then cover them with the 2nd sheet and tuck in sides. Works like a charm. I usually need to make 3-4 trips a year. And I like to use older mulch hay. It's cheaper. If your hay gets kucky (black and gewy) in the middle that's OK to use just try to avoid inhaling any mold spores. What I do is I use hay in the pathways. After the garden is planted and on a day that isn't windy I mulch my paths. I first put down a few layers of newspaper and put a heavy layer of hay over that. I never have hay sprouting up. The secret is the newspaper barrier. I use newspaper because it will stop any hay seeds from taking root in the soil. That's why it's considered a barrier. I also use hay because it decomposes back into the garden soil. Newspaper is plant based (another reason to purchase recycled paper products!) But I also use hay without newspaper over my potato plants. But the secret here is that I put about a foot of it down. So it's so deep that light doesn't penetrate through and allow any seeding to take place. I put it down right over the potato chunks right after I plant them. Personally, I don't like to use plastic because it's made from fossil fuels and it also makes the hay slippery. Hay also has that gardeny look, whatever the heck that means. But it just does.

Hay in the paths and straw around the bean plants

Then there's also straw. Straw comes from annual grass, oats. So if you see straw sprouting up at least you know it's an annual. But that is an issue with straw, it sprouts. Sometimes it bothers me but mostly it doesn't. But I do pull it and keep it at bay. I love when it seeds; it's so pretty. But just like a weed you can't let the straw take over your garden. So that is definitely an issue. You could put newspaper under it. That would make perfect sense. But since I use straw in the plant beds and I tend to plant really close together putting down newspaper first would be quite a "chore". So I don't. When you mulch your plants be sure to do this after a nice rain fall. That way the soil is moist and your mulch will keep that moisture down in the soil. I sometimes will water my beds after I mulch so the mulch is wet as well as the soil. But that's probably overkill. The reason I don't use straw in my pathways is that it is usually twice the price of hay, sometimes even more. I get my straw from a horse stable/supply place. It's a great excuse to drive into a more rural area and look at gorgeous horses! Again, experiment to see what works for you.

Anther option is grass clippings. Now this is an excellent choice but one I don't usually use. I know, go figure! The reason being I'm too lazy to rake the lawn after it's been mowed. If you have one of those grass catchers on your lawn mower than by all means use your grass! You can use it without newspaper as long as you're mowing your lawn before any seeding is occurring. Which I think most of us tend to do. But like anything else there's always that, but...
I've read that leaving grass clippings on your lawn is good for your lawn. Just like in a garden those clippings decompose and return nutrients to your lawn. That's another reason I don't collect grass to use. Yeah right!

Some folks use compost as a mulch. That's a great idea but to be honest I use almost all my compost at the beginning of the season when I'm planting. I do save some to make compost tea (more about that in a future post) but I usually just don't have enough to mulch my garden with it. Well, I can put handfuls around plants but I don't usually have enough to put several inches over my entire garden. I already put tons in and worked it into the soil at the beginning of the season when I was preparing my beds and planting. But if you have tons or access to tons then by all means give it a try!

So... weed away!

Coming next coriander...I promise; and pruning tomato suckers!