Weed mulch. Protecting your garden from weeds: cardboard barrier and mulching your beds. We sow green manure so that weeds do not grow video

Mulching against weeds >

How to properly control weeds using mulching

Using natural farming technologies in practice, many questions arise. It is imperative to answer them. However, this should not be taken as an indisputable instruction. Everyone's circumstances are different, so take others' experiences into account, but be local.

Despite the layer mulch(still thin), weeds are pushing through it. How to weed and loosen? Move everything every time?

Weed control is

one of many functions mulch. However, there are some nuances here. For example, a thin layer of mulch (less than 5 cm) cannot provide complete darkness, and therefore does not protect against unwanted weeds.

The same thing happens if you cover the ground with thick, but coarse, large-sized material: whole straw or large weed stems.

It does not create a dense, impenetrable layer and weeds grow freely between the stems. This mulch needs much more (20-30 cm). Of course, you can’t mulch carrots with it, but you can easily mulch potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage, and peppers.

Crops that grow slowly at the beginning of the growing season (like carrots) require more thin layer of mulch. This means that it is necessary to use a material that would provide greater density. It may be foliage and the top layer of half forest litter, needle litter from pine.

Most an impermeable layer is formed by abundantly watered last year's foliage.

As a last resort, you can simply grind up the organic matter that is on your site. The denser the layer, the better.

Can be used in a very simple way.

In spring and summer, lay straw, mown grass, and weeds on the paths. During the warm season, all this organic matter is trampled and partially refrigerated. By the spring of next year, it becomes a densely compacted crumb that can be used to mulch anything.

But even the densest material, laid in a thick layer, cannot contain some perennial weeds: bindweed, sow thistle, burdock. This fact is often cited by gardeners who are disappointed in the use of this technology. There's nothing you can do about it, these aggressors are breaking through the asphalt.

How to weed?

If you have created a dense layer of mulch, all that remains is to inhibit the growth of perennial weeds. They just need to be pulled out by hand. If the layer is thin, then cut the weeds directly under the mulch. You can use a cultivator for this.

Read more on the topic:

Effective Microorganisms are introduced into the soil in 5 types:

EM solution - the main aqueous solution of the EM preparation (obtained working fluid from Baikal EM-1

EM-compost - is the most effective basis for fertile soil EM-extract fermented plant raw materials - the most economical fertilizing and means for making EM-compost and weed control

There are several methods in crop production that make caring for the crops much easier for a gardener or gardener. At the same time, it has a beneficial effect on their growth and health. For example, drip irrigation.

But in this article we will talk about another method - mulching. If you want to understand the types of mulch, its preparation and use, read on.

Mulch is a material or a homogeneous mixture of substances whose qualitative characteristics make it possible to use them to protect the soil by providing continuous cover.

Soil mulching is used both in open and closed ground, and allows you to solve several important problems at once:

• Protecting the soil from drying out, maintaining optimal levels of moisture and acidity;

• Maintaining normal temperature conditions and, as a result, protection of roots from overheating and freezing;

For reference. Optimal temperature and humidity conditions also promote the proliferation of earthworms, which loosen the soil.

• Preventing the growth of weeds;

• Prevents the formation of a hard, airtight crust on the surface of the soil as a result of its compaction after watering and sintering in the sun;
• Protection of berries and vegetables from contamination;
• Decorating flower beds and trunk circles of trees.

The ability of mulch to perform a particular task depends on its type and quality composition. It can also harm plants if you are not aware of its properties. Therefore, it would be useful to talk in detail about each type of mulching.

Mulching materials and features of their use

Based on its composition, mulch is divided into organic and inorganic. Sodding of the soil can also be considered a special type of mulching. Let's start with it.

Sodding

This term refers to the installation of a grass lawn. Lawn plants primarily protect the soil from erosion. In addition, they protect it from drying out and retain nutrients.

As a protective measure for plants, sod is used mainly under trees, planting lawn or ground cover grass in tree trunks. In this case, select grass crops that are resistant to natural shading created by the tree crown.

Note. When sodding or mulching tree trunk circles, the soil immediately around the trunk should be left open.

Organic mulching

Mulching with organic materials is considered more preferable, since, along with protecting the soil, it increases its fertility.

There are many types of organic mulch:

• Sawdust. This is a universal material that can be used on any soil. It covers the ground tightly while maintaining good breathability. It is maintained by periodically loosening the mulching mass and preventing the sawdust from caking. In addition to their main functions, they protect plants from slugs that cannot move on their surface. But the most important thing: microorganisms actively developing in the lower layer of dense mulch gradually transform it into fertile soil.

• Bark and wood chips. Like sawdust, bark and wood chips turn into humus over time, improving the composition of the soil. Their fairly thick layer perfectly preserves the looseness and moisture of the soil, stimulates the formation of microflora useful for plants, while having very little weight. And the phytoncides they secrete repel insects and cleanse the air of harmful microorganisms. But such mulch contains a lot of tannins, especially oak and birch. When they move into the soil, they slow down plant growth and acidify the soil. Therefore, the bark is used mainly in tree trunks and coniferous plantings, which just need acidic soil and are not afraid of the influence of tannins.

It is important! To prevent plants from experiencing nitrogen deficiency, urea or manure is added under them before mulching them with sawdust, wood chips or bark.

• Hay and straw. Like sawdust, straw is a difficult barrier for slugs to overcome. This material is convenient for covering wide and deep row spacings. For example, in a potato field. The initial layer of straw mulch should be at least 15 cm, since over time, under the influence of natural conditions, it is reduced to one third.

• Green mass. For mulching, you can use weeds and mowed grass. The peculiarity of this method is that lawn grass growing in a sunny place quickly loses moisture and dries out, significantly decreasing in volume. During the summer it does not have time to decompose, but this process is activated with the onset of autumn rains, after harvesting. And it continues in the spring. Partially rotted mulch in the autumn-winter period is dug up along with the soil, becoming a complete fertilizer.

Note! Do not mulch the beds with weeds with ripened seeds. They will find favorable conditions and will actively germinate in the spring.

• Peat and compost. Both materials do not require removal of the mulch layer. They pass into the soil, improving its composition, and before that they do an excellent job of loosening it, protecting it from pathogenic flora and leaching out elements responsible for the fertile properties of the soil. Peat and compost mulch also retain moisture well and prevent wind erosion of the soil.

• . Sideration is a well-known method of soil enrichment. It can also be used to protect it. To do this, in the spring, immediately after the snow melts, the beds are sown with cold-resistant plants that quickly gain green mass: mustard, buckwheat, phacelia, and any legumes. 2-3 weeks before planting fruit crops, the greens are mowed, leaving the roots in the ground. During this time, the “tops” on the surface will dry out, and the “roots” will be partially processed by soil microorganisms. The main thing is not to waste time and not to let green manure bloom and grow hard stems.

Advice. Do not use green manure from the same family as the crop that will be grown on it. This will reduce the risk of related diseases.

• fallen leaves. If the trees from which the leaves have fallen have not been infected with fungal infections, it can be used as mulch without additional treatment. Otherwise, it is treated with antifungal drugs and placed in compost. Leaf humus conditions the soil well and improves its structure.

• Needles. Only flower beds are protected with pine needles, as it strongly acidifies the soil and has a depressing effect on the normal development of many vegetable crops. Although it has the ability to saturate the earth with moisture and promote its respiration. Coniferous mulch is also used to protect plants that are subject to massive pest attacks. If you feed strawberries with wood ash every year, the needles can also be used on strawberry plantations.

In addition to these common types of organic mulch, materials such as walnut shells, buckwheat and sunflower husks are also popular. But they are available only to those gardeners who live near their processing plants.

Mulching with inorganic materials

Inorganic mulching has virtually no effect on soil fertility, but does a good job of providing protective and often decorative functions.

The materials for it can be identified as follows:

• Cardboard and paper. The most accessible, but inconvenient material to use. It is blown away even by light gusts of wind, so the sheets need to be pressed down with something. It doesn't look very aesthetically pleasing.

• Black or color film. The main task of the film is to prevent the growth of weeds and retain moisture. But its use causes side effects. In particular, the ground under the film becomes very overheated in hot weather. Slugs gather under it. Watering becomes more complicated, which must be done exactly into the holes or a drip irrigation system must be organized in advance. In addition, it is destroyed by sunlight and lasts only one season.

Advice. If you cover the film with a thin layer of straw, you can avoid overheating and extend the life of the material. In flower beds and rock gardens, stones and pebbles are used for this.

• Textile materials based on polypropylene fiber. The so-called geotextile, unlike film, does not decompose from ultraviolet radiation, allows water to pass through, but effectively suppresses weeds.

• Stone, pebbles, crushed stone. These types of mulch have only decorative functions, decorating landscape compositions. Their main disadvantage is that they interfere with necessary soil cultivation work. Therefore, for easy and quick cleaning, roll materials are often spread under them.

• Expanded clay differs from stone mulch only in that it has a weak structure and crumbles into small particles over time.

What else you need to know about mulching

To ensure that mulching only brings benefits and does not cause the slightest harm to plants or is simply useless, the following rules must be followed:

• Lay mulch only on well-warmed soil. If this is done too early, the ground covered with an artificial blanket will remain cold, which will lead to a delay in the development of crops planted in it.
• Mulching can also be done in the fall to protect plants that have not yet reached ripeness from early frosts, and wintering crops from winter frosts.

• Before laying mulch, the soil must be freed from weeds and fed with long-decomposing fertilizers. And if it acidifies the soil, then scatter bone or dolomite meal or wood ash over it.

• Depending on the type of mulch layer, it must be periodically updated and replaced.
• Plants in beds covered with mulch need to be watered less frequently, but more abundantly, so that not only the protective layer gets wet, but also the soil underneath it.
• The layer of organic mulch should be at least 7-10 cm.

Conclusion

At first glance, it may seem that purchasing mulching material or preparing it yourself is not worth the money and time spent. But this is not true at all. You will save time and effort - and throughout the entire season, without spending it on daily watering, frequent weeding and loosening. And in the fall you will be pleased with a much richer harvest than before.

In the article, Oleg Telepov summarizes and analyzes organic materials for mulch.

The use of various mulching materials on the site allows you to obtain high yields without the use of mineral fertilizers and pesticides.

A large number of articles have been written about mulch. The topic has been discussed many times in periodicals and on the Internet. The opinions of gardeners are different, often diametrically opposed. There are reports of unusually high yields obtained using mulch. There are also reports of the negative impact of mulch on plants, even death.

This topic interested me several years ago. During this time, I tried to understand the issue, communicated with practitioners and theorists, and experimented. That's what I want to say. Mulching as a technique deserves more attention from gardeners and gardeners. I specifically went to the practices and saw their plots, saw the harvests. Based on this (and not my own reasoning), I can say that fantastic yields, obtained largely thanks to mulch, without the use of fertilizers, stimulants, and pesticides, are a reality. I see the same thing in my area.

Mulching reduces moisture evaporation. Protects the soil from erosion and plant roots from freezing in winters with little snow. Helps maintain and improve soil structure. Prevents the formation of soil crust. Reduces daily temperature fluctuations. Inhibits the germination of weeds, enhances microbiological processes in the soil that improve plant nutrition.

Why have so many experiments with mulch ended in failure? Under the influence of the media, certain stereotypes have developed in the minds of gardeners. These strong opinions carry over to mulching practices, regardless of what mulching material is used and under what conditions.

Often, failures are related to various types of errors: incorrect choice or incorrect use of fertilizers, planting plants unsuitable for a given climate and soil, untimely care of plantings. The diverse flora and fauna in our areas is a living system that is influenced by a very large number of factors. Without taking this into account, gardeners often make the wrong conclusions regarding mulch.

Gardeners often treat certain techniques or preparations as if they were a magic wand: just use them and a super harvest is guaranteed. One thing to keep in mind is that mulching alone does not magically correct problems. This technique does not replace work in the garden, vegetable garden, or flower garden, but it greatly simplifies the care of plantings, provided that it is used thoughtfully, taking into account the climate, plants, and mulching materials. Here everyone needs to observe and think.

On my site I used different mulch: compost, humus, straw, hay, leaves, pine needles, sawdust, green grass. In private conversations, people often ask, which mulch is better? There is no clear answer. To avoid failures, you need to take into account that each type of mulch has its own characteristics depending on the materials used.

This article is an attempt to summarize and analyze the use of different organic materials for mulch. Everything that has been said is based on experience in the region where I live. In other conditions it may be different. There are no universal techniques.

Every time the conversation turns to mulch, it is worth understanding for what purpose the author used the mulch. Often disagreements arise because gardeners set different goals for mulch, and argue without taking this fact into account.

It makes sense to evaluate mulch for two purposes:
1 -
2 -

Mulch for the second task should be assessed according to several criteria:

Even taking into account this division, it is necessary to pay attention to other aspects of technology that may affect the effectiveness of the use of this organic material.

Let me give you an example. The gardener is faced with the task of reducing the number of weeds.

A person considers two options for using mulch: compost and unfermented organic matter. B.S. Annenkov uses ready-made compost in his practice. I.P. Zamyatkin uses unfermented organic matter in his practice. Both have no weeds in their beds. What to choose? I compared: I mulched one bed with compost, the other with straw. There are an abundance of weeds in the compost bed. In the bed with straw, here and there sow thistle and bindweed have appeared. It turns out that Annenkov is lying? Not at all.

The fact is that Boris Sergeevich adds compost to the soil of the beds in the fall and spills it with a solution of the EM preparation. This provokes the emergence of annual weeds, which soon die from the cold. That is, the problem of getting rid of weeds is solved NOT by mulch, but by an EM preparation. In this case, mulch (any kind) is not needed at all to get rid of weeds. In my experience, the EM preparation was not used; compost and straw were under the same conditions. Straw turned out to be better.

I will carry out the comparison, keeping in mind the same other conditions.

1. Mulch as plant nutrition

In the minds of modern gardeners, the belief that plants need to be fed is firmly established. And the source of such nutrition is mineral fertilizers, compost, humus, and manure. Straw, hay, leaves, post-harvest residues, as a rule, are not included in this list.

Strictly speaking, organic materials used as mulch cannot be called plant nutrition. Plants do not eat grass, straw, or compost - even a schoolchild understands this. Microbes, fungi, soil insects, and worms decompose organic matter to a state that is assimilated by plants. During this decomposition, organic acids, carbonic acid, and microbial enzymes are released, which in turn make soil minerals available to plants. Carbon dioxide released by microbes and other soil digesters is used to feed plants.

Photoris1

We will not go into details of this process. The fact remains: only the use of organic mulch and the creation of conditions for its decomposition can provide sufficient and balanced nutrition to cultivated plants. And this is without introducing manure, compost, humus, mineral water, EM preparations, humates, etc. into the soil. This is what happens in nature. And I have been seeing these same facts in my garden for several years now. I saw even more impressive results on the plots of other gardeners and gardeners.

But the most impressive argument is nature. In nature there is no heap of organic matter, no heap of manure, no mineral fertilizers. And yet everything is growing beautifully.

In order for mulch to provide nutrition to plants, it is important that it quickly releases nutrients and promotes the development of microorganisms and other soil inhabitants.

Compost and humus are perfectly suited for this purpose. They still contain quite a lot of undecomposed organic residues. They contain a large number of saprophytes - organisms that decompose organic matter. They contain a lot of so-called “mobile humus” - nutrients available to plants that have not yet been combined into organo-mineral aggregates - humus. Such mulch immediately begins to provide nutrition to plants and, given favorable conditions, provides nutrition for a long time. This type of mulch is most suitable at the stage of transition to natural farming, when natural microbiological processes in the soil are still extremely sluggish, there are no worms and there is very little humus in the soil. It must be borne in mind that all of the above does NOT apply to old humus and compost that has been stored for several years.

Freshly cut grass, pulled out young weeds, green manure. When creating optimal conditions, they “work” just as well as compost and humus. They contain a lot of water and little fiber, and they decompose very quickly. At the same time, they provide plants with fast and abundant nutrition. But not for long. A thin layer of such mulch decomposes very quickly. Thick - rots and turns from a source of nutrition into a source of plant poisoning with rotting products. This mulch should be used for “feeding”. But creating optimal conditions for such mulch is difficult. Requires constant very frequent addition.

Hay, dried non-lignified weeds. Contains easily decomposed fiber. When optimal conditions are created, it decomposes quickly enough, providing good nutrition to plants. You can speed up the supply of nutrients to plants by grinding these materials. Depending on conditions, it requires one or more additions per season.

Straw, dried woody weeds. Contains difficult to decompose fiber. This slows down the decomposition process, providing nutrition more slowly than from hay. But the period of supply of food is more extended. This mulch lasts longer and does not need to be added. When crushed, it decomposes faster.

Leaves of trees and shrubs. They take even longer to decompose than straw. Accordingly, plants receive less nutrition. In addition, the nutrition for garden crops from leaf decomposition is of lesser quality. It becomes complete nutrition after processing by worms.

Sawdust, bark are decomposed by microbes extremely slowly. To use them as a food source, mushrooms are needed. Worth using on perennial crops.

Conifer needles It is advisable to use it as a source of nutrition on crops that prefer acidic soils. In other cases, needles should be used with caution; in some cases, soil acidification may occur. Mushrooms are also needed to quickly decompose needles.

A mixture of different mulch materials can be very effective as a source of plant nutrition. The more diverse the composition of such a mixture, the more fully the composition of microelements and other useful substances is represented in organic residues. A good effect is achieved if dry plant residues are mixed with green parts of plants. Rotting will not occur in such a mixture, and it will decompose quickly enough. There are no places on my site where exclusively one type of mulch is used: I always use “mixtures”. But they are not specially prepared, they are not mixed - various uncrushed materials are simply layered on top.

All of the above assumes that favorable conditions have been created for microbiological activity in the mulch. These conditions are: favorable temperature and optimal humidity.

2. Mulch to provide favorable environmental factors

Here we will talk about the classic use of mulch, without taking into account the above.

- mulch as protection against weeds

Weeds do not grow under mulch because mulch blocks sunlight. In this regard, the main requirement for mulch is its light resistance and density. The denser the mulch is, the more effectively it protects against weeds. In this regard, the undisputed leader is the foliage of trees and shrubs. Wet and caking foliage creates a very dense layer, completely impenetrable to the sun, and accordingly leaves no chance for annual weeds. To control weeds, 3-4 centimeters of compacted foliage is enough.

The hay lies densely, but its layer should be somewhat thicker than the leaves. Even more straw is needed. It is not advisable to use needles from coniferous trees. They create a loose layer, and weeds easily grow through such mulch. There are reports that a layer of needles of at least 30 cm is needed to keep weeds out. In my experience, a 10 cm layer of needles did not constitute weed protection.

Compost and humus offer little protection from weeds, and more often they carry a large number of weeds.

Newspapers and cardboard are effective for weed control. They need to be laid so that there are no gaps between the sheets and pressed so that they do not blow away with the wind. You can press it with straw, hay, or other organic matter.

It is sometimes recommended to carefully weed out the weeds before mulching. I never do that. I simply trample down annual weeds and cover them with mulch. If the weeds are very large, it makes sense to mow the greens and only then cover with mulch.

In some cases, powerful perennial weeds are worth weeding. But weeding will not get rid of all the weeds; some will grow back. For example, bindweed and thistle pierce the asphalt; none of the organic mulching materials will contain them. Other perennial weeds should be gotten rid of in advance.

Some gardeners believe that straw is preferable to hay because hay retains weed seeds. From my own experience, I know that straw can contain no less weed seeds than hay. In my practice, I don't look for weed-free mulching material. Unfermented organic matter quite effectively inhibits the germination of weed seeds. If some weed breaks through, it is very easy to remove - the roots under the mulch are superficial and pull out without effort. When mulching paths, on the contrary, I try to use seeded weeds. Weeds sprouted in the aisles at the beginning of summer are a free source of organic matter. You just need to pull them out or mow them down in time. I have already written about this in detail.

- mulch as a thermal regulator

The soil's ability to absorb and retain sunlight largely depends on its color. By changing the color of the soil surface we can regulate its thermal properties. Dark mulch on the soil surface quickly absorbs heat, partially warming the soil. Light mulch, on the contrary, increases the ability of the soil surface to reflect the sun's rays, which prevents the soil under the mulch from overheating. This must be taken into account when choosing mulch for each specific case. In addition, you need to take into account the thickness and composition of the mulch.

Mulching materials protect the soil and plant roots from sudden changes in temperature: it does not allow it to heat up excessively in the sun or cool down sharply at night, during frosts and cold spells, keeping it a little cooler in hot summers and warmer in winter. But it is precisely this property of mulch that prevents the soil from reducing the effect of frost on the above-ground organs of plants. Open soil warms up during the day. At night, heat coming from the ground warms the surface air, reducing the effect of frost.

Mulching loose substrate is a poor conductor of heat, therefore it prevents the soil from heating during the day, and at night it insulates the heat accumulated in the ground. Therefore, frost-sensitive plants should not be mulched with a thick layer in early spring and autumn. The thicker the coating layer, the lower its thermal conductivity, the more such areas are exposed to the danger of night frosts.

A thick layer of mulch will prevent the soil from warming up quickly in the spring. To warm up the soil as quickly as possible, it is better to expose it. But this leads to rapid loss of moisture. For arid regions, this option is extremely undesirable. Therefore, in the spring it makes sense to use a thin layer of mulch, dark mulching materials, but not completely remove them. This solves the issue of warming up and preserving moisture at the same time. Warming up of mulched soil can be accelerated in other ways, but this is a topic for another conversation.

In regions with hot summers, protecting the soil from overheating is an urgent problem. This problem is well solved by foliage, hay, straw, bark. Humus and compost have a loose structure, due to which they protect against overheating, but the effectiveness of these materials is much lower than that of leaves, hay, straw, and bark. Compost and humus are dark in color, which means they heat up quickly.
The needles provide little protection from overheating.

- mulch for preservation in logs

Mulch helps retain soil moisture at the roots of the plant. For this, the density of the mulch is also important. Here the places are distributed as follows: foliage, bark, hay, straw, compost.

In this matter, you need to take into account that when watering mulched beds, more water will be required to wet the mulch layer and moisten the soil underneath it. The thicker the layer of mulch, the longer it retains moisture and the more water is needed when watering. Different mulching materials react differently to watering. For example, sawdust absorbs a lot of water, and until it is saturated, it does not allow water to reach the soil. The bark, on the contrary, almost does not absorb water; all the water goes to the soil. During hot and dry periods, water mulched areas less frequently, but more deeply. If your main goal is to save water, then it is worth considering an irrigation system under mulch.

Also, make sure the soil is well-moistened before mulching. Light rains will not be able to wet the mulch, and the soil will remain dry, which means the plants will not receive nutrition. In areas where water stagnates for a long time in the spring, there is no need to rush with mulching.
Shaded areas are usually less susceptible to drying out, and a thinner mulch cover can be used there.

Apparently, in regions with high rainfall, mulch is not required to retain moisture. In an arid zone, especially in a non-irrigated garden without moisture-saving mulch, it is extremely difficult to obtain a high yield, and this technique becomes decisive for an intensive garden.

- according to the degree of durability (time until complete decomposition)

In some regions, the need to use mulch is due to unfavorable climate factors: too hot or too dry. If you choose mulch based on these criteria, then it is desirable that the mulch lasts longer without losing its properties. Mulch has these qualities and does not decompose for a long time. The leaders here are bark and sawdust, then, as efficiency decreases: foliage, straw, hay, compost.

- in terms of accessibility and ease of use

Here everyone decides for themselves, based on their own conditions. Some people have the opportunity to make hay, while others have access to straw or leaves. It is more convenient to use small organic material, for example, it is more convenient to mulch beds with root crops with leaves than with hay or straw. If it is possible to grind organic materials, this makes working with mulch easier. It’s worth thinking about this issue and asking around. It is quite possible that there will be a way to obtain the required amount of mulch without much time, money and labor. It is not advisable to prepare compost for mulch. In this case, labor costs increase greatly, and the volume of raw materials decreases several times.

- beneficial or harmful effects on plants (allelopathy, acidity, etc.)

It has long been noted that plants react to their neighbors. Some neighbors stimulate growth, while others, on the contrary, repress it. It is believed that litter, post-harvest residues of plants, have the same properties. For example, there is information that wormwood, wheatgrass, bromegrass, and feather grass do not allow other plants to grow next to them. It is possible that mulch from these plants will also have a negative effect on vegetable crops. Unfortunately, this topic is little studied. And it remains to be seen how mulch made from this or that material affects specific crops. Using different mulches on my site, I did not notice any inhibition of plants by any type of mulch. But this, of course, does not mean that there is no oppression or stimulation. There is a universal option that will allow you to avoid the strong influence of allelopathic plants: you need to make the mulch varied. The more components, the better. Then the influence of any one component will not play a role.

Mulch constituents can affect mulched plants through many factors. For example, this fact is known. In the Main Botanical Garden in Moscow, wind-broken poplars and ash-leaved maples were passed through grinders, and the resulting mass was mulched over heathers. As a result, many valuable species of heather crops “fell out” (as botanists say). For them, for complete prosperity,
a layer of mulch is really necessary. but only from coniferous pine litter, in which mycorrhizal cultures live and reproduce well, with which heathers (like some conifers) coexist in close symbiosis. Apparently, the wood and bark of poplars and maples contained substances that were poisonous to heathers (or fungi that were friendly to them).

For different crops, you need to take into account the mulching time and the thickness of the mulch. For example, carrot seedlings can easily overcome a centimeter layer of compost. But the same layer of straw, hay, and leaves will be an insurmountable barrier for tender shoots - you will not see shoots. But the seeds of mustard, radish, daikon pass through a centimeter layer of hay and straw. Garlic shoots can easily penetrate any organic mulch, but onion shoots are much weaker. The seedlings of beans and potatoes have great strength. You need to observe and use mulch based on these observations. So it is better to mulch carrots after germination, and garlic and beans immediately after planting. As winter mulch, organic matter should be placed under perennials after the ground has frozen.

The fraction of the mulching material also plays a role. Crops that develop slowly during the initial period of growth are best mulched with fine or crushed organic matter.

Plant preferences for soil acidity must also be taken into account. For example, there are known facts when coniferous plants died after using chips of deciduous trees as mulch under them.

- according to the degree of aesthetics

Here, to each his own. Some people do not accept straw in the garden, while others can easily tolerate any organic matter. I think shredded organic materials always look better in the garden than whole organic materials. Bark mulch looks beautiful.

From all of the above, it is clear that no type of mulch is ideal for performing both tasks. The material that is best suited for solving the first problem is poorly suited for the second. And without solving the second problem there will be no solution to the first. For example, compost mulch will dry out quickly without watering. No water - no solutions - no food. You can, of course, make the layer of such mulch thick, then in the lower part of this layer we will obtain the necessary conditions. But thickening the layer will significantly increase labor costs.

The conclusion naturally suggests itself that the ideal mulch should be layered: on the bottom there is mulch that best solves problem 1 (compost, hay), on top there is mulch that is more suitable for solving problem 2 (leaf, straw). This is how it is in nature: fresh litter remains on top and solves problem 2, below are layers of organic matter in varying degrees of decomposition, they solve problem 1.

What should those who don’t have the ability to create the perfect mulch do?

First, decide why you need mulch, what task you set for it.

For example, in early spring you need to quickly warm the soil and retain moisture. To do this, it is rational to use compost (it has a dark color, almost black). Dark mulch, by reducing the loss of water from the surface of the ridges, helps to accelerate the warming of the soil. In summer, the soil will overheat under dark mulch. In this case, you can add cut grass, which becomes lighter as it dries, or straw on top.

If you have a mixture of different mulching materials, then you should decide where it is best to use it. To speed up the decomposition of the mulch, the mixture should consist of post-harvest vegetable residues, grass and weeds. Rough materials in the mixture will prevent caking and rotting of the mixture and provide aeration. This mixture is better suited for mulching annual crops. When a long duration of action of mulch is desired, wood waste should predominate in it: bark and leaves, sawdust and shavings. This mixture is good for mulching perennials and garden crops.

Once you figure out what’s what, it won’t be difficult to create very comfortable conditions for your plants.

Dividing mulch according to tasks and criteria is absolutely arbitrary. This division is only necessary for understanding. In reality, this is what happens: you lay mulch on the bed to solve problem 2. In the presence of moisture and heat, microbiological processes begin - layer-by-layer decomposition of the mulch. The lower layers of mulch already solve problem 1. And the top layer decomposes slightly; it acts as a protective covering, smoothing out external influences. Gradually, the upper layers are exposed to microbes. If you annually use mulch from undecomposed organic matter, you will automatically have flaky mulch, just like in nature. And the longer you do this, the greater the effect of such mulching - the soil becomes more biologically active.

There are different recommendations in the literature regarding mulch. Some of them, based on personal experience, seem unnecessary to me. For example, there is a recommendation that before mulching it is necessary to loosen the soil. And during the summer, even if mulching is applied regularly, heavy soil needs constant loosening. Perhaps this is necessary at the stage of transition to the constant use of mulch, on very heavy, clay soils. On my heavy loam, loosening is not required either before mulching or during the growing season. Under mulch, the soil itself, under the influence of microbes, insects and worms, comes to the desired state. I think that on sandy loams and sand, loosening before mulching is all the more unnecessary.

For perennials, there are recommendations to incorporate old mulch into the soil in the fall, and mulch the soil surface again in the spring. In my opinion, this is labor-intensive and pointless - it is more advisable to lay a new layer of mulch on top of the previous one. This will ensure the natural scenario for the flow of soil processes.

Authors of articles about mulch sometimes warn about various undesirable consequences of this technique. For example, they write that organic mulch, rich in worms and insects, attracts birds from all over the area. Secondly, it serves as a reliable refuge for mice and moles, which undermine and gnaw young plants. When using mulching, you have to fight rodents.

In eight years of total mulching (20 acres), I have not noticed that my site is particularly popular with birds. The only problem I had with birds was the neighbor's chickens. But this issue is resolved by fences.

I didn't have any problems with rodents either. Minor damage to potato tubers and root crops (less than half a percent of the crop) occurred only in an extremely dry year. I think this was due to a lack of succulent food for rodents. The rest of the time I don’t think about rodents, and I don’t fight them in any way. “Just in case,” I don’t use straw under garden trees that can be damaged by mice; I use potato tops and coarse weeds for mulching. I must say that several cats live on my property. But they clearly couldn’t get the mice under the thick mulch on the potatoes.

I can’t say anything about moles. We simply don't have them. In our region there live shrews, whose lifestyle and diet are the same as that of a mole, but I have never seen them on my site.

Slugs are often mentioned in connection with mulch. The messages are the opposite. And the arguments of both defenders and opponents of mulching are quite logical. Slugs feel great under mulch. But the decomposing mulch provides them with the nutrition they need. And yet, in some cases, slugs harm with triple the force, in others they stop harming completely. I have a lot of slugs, but they don’t cause any noticeable harm. The conclusion suggests itself that there is the influence of some other factor. Apparently, under certain conditions, plants simply become “unpalatable” to slugs. Perhaps, by receiving balanced nutrition, due to the active action of microorganisms, plants significantly increase immunity and become unattractive to slugs. But the soil cannot instantly restore its best properties; this takes some time. At first, the effect may not appear. It may be that some other factor plays a role that we do not yet know about.

Opponents of mulch say: “You need a lot of mulch. This requires large material or labor costs.” In some cases this is true.

For example, my plot uses a lot of mulch (compost paths). There are reasons for this - this is a topic for another conversation. But the amount of mulch needs and can be reduced after a certain limit, and in my case. At the initial stage, it is necessary to increase the potential fertility of the soil, accumulate humus, restore the optimal structure - create a favorable background for dynamic fertility. When this problem is solved, much less mulching materials are needed. The amount of mulch needs to be understood and used rationally. This is a matter of practice. For example, on my site there is an active increase in the thickness of the fertile soil layer. This means that a lot of organic material is not used for dynamic plant nutrition and is stored as a reserve. Today I am faced with a task: to find the amount of mulch that would allow the plants to be provided with dynamic nutrition as much as possible, but not accumulate reserves. I have already written about the sources of mulch that I use. If desired, almost everyone can find opportunities.

Is it possible to use less mulch than I have? It’s easy to follow the example of I.P. Zamyatkin. Make narrow fenced beds and wide passages. Use mulch only on beds. Leave the passages under turf. Then much less mulching materials are needed, and the grass growing in the aisles will be a source of mulch. In addition, local conditions must be taken into account in each specific case. For example, I have 2/3 layers of mulch to retain moisture and protect the soil from overheating (average annual precipitation is 300-350 mm; July temperature is up to 40 degrees). In regions that do not experience problems with precipitation and less hot summers, these problems most likely do not exist, which means much less mulch is needed.

Mulch is not a technique of purely natural agriculture; it is also used by adherents of other areas of gardening. And quite successfully.

Nature specialists and organicists urge people to give up mineral fertilizers and pesticides, considering them harmful. Agrochemists, on the contrary, say that these things do not cause harm. Many practitioners believe that they need to use both “reasonably.” Most likely the truth is somewhere in between these opinions. Everyone has the right to their opinion. The dispute has been going on for a long time and to no avail.

The main thing is clear to me now. Regardless of whether mineral water and pesticides harm the soil and plants, you can get large yields without them. If mulch is used correctly, they are simply not needed - yields can be much higher than with a complex of agrochemical techniques. Unfortunately, the results of mulching heavy soils do not appear quickly. It takes time to increase yields significantly. This stops many impatient gardeners. All processes can be rushed by using EM drugs. Among my friends there are people who have achieved very good results with the help of EM.

I don’t presume to discuss what, how and with what to mulch in conditions different from mine. Very often in practice “illogical” things happen. For example, “contrary to logic,” mice and slugs do not cause problems for me. I talked quite a lot with people who have studied some issue theoretically (and more often who have read 1-2 articles), and who believe that they have thoroughly know topic. Such experts foam at the mouth to prove “their” rightness, without having any real practical experience.

For example, I recently read the following comment on the Internet under one of the articles: “You are doing everything right! Next year, I WILL TRY TO DO THIS, too.” When you read this, it becomes sad. How do you know what is right and what is wrong if you didn't do it?! There are plenty of such people in the camp of opponents of mulch and no less among its supporters. Alone, having reasoned, “saw” a bunch of disadvantages of mulching. Others blindly copy someone else's experience. This approach can discredit any worthwhile technique. I would like to advise those who want to try using mulch in their garden: try to understand what your main goal is. Observe whether the mulching materials you have serve this purpose and adjust the application time, layer thickness, etc. Chat with those who really get good results from mulching in your region. And only after this is it worth drawing conclusions.

Oleg Telepov,
member of the Omsk Potato Growers Club

Mulching with grass is an agrotechnical measure with the help of which more favorable conditions are created for plants and soil.

However, its effectiveness depends on many factors.

After all, improper preparation of collected vegetation, carried out without taking into account its species and the general situation on the site, can not only block the entire beneficial effect, but also cause significant harm.

Therefore, it is very important to understand not only the general principles of mulching, but also the processes that occur in the soil and the mulching layer.

From this article you will learn:

• how and from what to make such mulch with your own hands;
• how and with what to chop/chop grass;
• Is it possible to mulch with grass, including lawn grass, cucumbers, cabbage, peppers, potatoes, put fresh grass under tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries, roses and other crops in greenhouses and open ground;
• about the benefits of mulch from mowed grass for plants, and under what conditions it can cause harm;
• how to mulch beds correctly;
• about hot grass for mulching - what it is, pros and cons, how to use it.

To answer this question, it is necessary to understand how grass that is mowed or separated from its roots in any other way affects the soil and plants.

Once on the surface of the soil, such vegetation reduces moisture loss caused by evaporation, and also makes the life of snails and slugs very difficult, that is, it performs the same functions as mulch made from any other materials.

In addition, it protects plant roots from summer heat and winter frost, although it is less effective than shavings.

That is, any healthy vegetation separated from the roots is suitable for use as mulch, however, in some cases, preliminary preparation of the material will be required.

Weeds

Despite the fact that weeds are also grass, the situation with them is somewhat different, because they are for mulching suitable only until mature seeds appear. If they have already produced seeds, then trying to use them for this agricultural activity will only lead to their rapid spread throughout the site.

However, even they can be used as mulch if they are first subjected to liquid composting, which we talked about.

The advantage of liquid composting is that the aqueous medium dramatically increases activity, so they break down organic matter faster and more efficiently.

This means that after 3–6 weeks most of the seeds will lose their viability and will not pose a threat to cultivated plants. In addition, a by-product of such preparation is a liquid fertilizer, which can be used as a good complex fertilizer.

Depending on the degree of decay, it can either fill the soil with humic substances (humates), accelerating the development of plants, or accelerate the process of soil regeneration, attracting worms that will process all organic remains and loosen the soil.

The disadvantage of such preparation is the deterioration of the protective properties of mulch in relation to summer heat and winter frosts, however This problem can be compensated for by increasing the thickness of the mulch layer.

In addition, the more rotted the starting material is during liquid composting, the less effective it is at attracting worms, since most organic matter has already been fermented and processed into intermediate or final products.

Therefore, such mulch has less effect on the process of soil regeneration, but quickly turns into humic substances, which are natural nutrition for plant roots.

Plants with diseases

A plant affected by some kind of disease is a source of infection even after it is separated from the root as a result of uprooting or weeding.

Moreover, even rotting under natural conditions does not always destroy pathogens.

That's why first you need to determine the type of disease, and then compare it with the cultivated plants located on the site.

If this type of disease does not pose a threat to plants on the site, then such grass can be used for mulching. If cultivated plants are susceptible to this disease, then such grass cannot be mulched even after it has completely rotted, including using liquid methods.

Plants affected by pests

Garden and vegetable pests often leave eggs or larvae on the grass, and when this happens, the vegetation over a fairly large area is affected.

Such grass cannot be used for mulching even after rotting in a barrel, because the larvae and eggs of many pests are very tenacious, so they remain viable even after exposure to bacterial enzymes.

If such grass is used for mulching, then the grown pests will move on to the cultivated vegetation and greatly harm it.

Preliminary preparation of collected green mass

For mulching, grass is used in the following states of aggregation:

• fresh;
• dry;
• partially rotten.

Fresh

If you plan to use freshly cut grass as mulch, then no preparation is required - it is immediately laid out around the site.

This material contains the maximum amount of nitrogen, so its consumption by humus-forming bacteria compensates for the excess of this material and after mulching the soil does not lose nitrogen.

The disadvantage of this method is the strong toxic effect on cultivated plants, which is stronger the less compatible the plants are.

Therefore, for fresh mulching Green manure is best suited, which, after ripening, are cut or trampled so that they die and begin to rot.

Partially rotten

To obtain partially rotted material, the collected vegetation is placed in a composter or barrel for the time necessary for the rotting to reach the required level.

By waiting for one or another stage of decay, both the mechanical properties of the mulch and its attractiveness to worms are regulated, this makes it possible to obtain mulch that is better suited to a specific situation than other materials.

The advantage of partially rotted mulch is its high content of transition substances, due to which bacteria produce humates much faster than in fresh grass, and there are still quite a lot of substances attracting worms in such material.

Dry

To dry, the vegetation is collected in stacks and left in a well-ventilated and lit area, then, when the humidity drops to the required level, it is used for mulching.

If it needs to be stored until spring, then the dry green mass is placed in a closed, well-ventilated and insulated room. This material contains less nitrogen, so in spring and autumn the area mulched with it must be fertilized with nitrogen-containing preparations.

In addition, dried vegetation much less toxic than fresh, so for mulching you can even use grass that is usually incompatible with the cultivated plants located on the site.

The main advantage of dried grass is that it can be mulched even in early spring, when fresh grass is not yet available. The main thing is not to lay it close to cultivated plants.

At the same time, dry mulch retains the attractiveness characteristic of fresh vegetation for worms, due to which its introduction into the area leads to an increase in their number, which means increases the efficiency of regeneration processes soil.

It is also more effective than fresh grass if it is necessary to protect plant roots from heat or frost. The only downside is that violation of drying and storage conditions can lead to mold or rotting, which will negatively affect the effectiveness of the mulch.

How to cook it yourself?

In order to prepare the collected vegetation for use as mulch, it is necessary to chop it using any of the devices that we talked about in.

This operation is not needed only when the average length of the cut fragments does not exceed 10 cm, that is, the grass was collected from a lawn that is regularly mowed. If the material is obtained as a result of weeding or pulling out weeds, then grinding is always necessary.

Then collected vegetation is dried or composted to bring it to the required state. The choice of the required state and the method of bringing the plant mass to it depends on the purposes of mulching.

Fresh and dry material is used if mulching is carried out for:

• reducing water loss due to evaporation;
• weed and pest control;
• protection from heat and cold.

If the mulch should quickly affect the structure of the soil, as well as fill it with nutrients, or if you need to lay it close to the plants, it is better to use partly rotted in a barrel vegetation.

If, in addition to all these effects, mulch must compensate for the microelements spent on plant development, then it is better to take grass composted with the addition of manure and other components. Read more about this type of grass preparation.

What can you mulch with?

All vegetation suitable for mulching can be divided into:

• lawn;
• meadow (forbs);
• weeds.

Lawn grass has a beautiful appearance and poor vitality, so without lawn care it will quickly give way to more tenacious forbs or weeds.

In addition, seeds of lawn vegetation germinate well only in specially prepared conditions, therefore probability of spread of this species vegetation through mulching equal to zero.

Forbs, that is, any types of grass that grow in meadows or fields, and also often appear in the garden or vegetable garden, are much more viable than lawn grass or even most cultivated plants.

Therefore, vegetation mowed after the seeds appear, even if they are not yet ripe, can be used for mulching only after partial or complete rotting in a barrel.

Weeds are the most viable plants that take over living space from any other plants and easily choke out lawn grass and cultivated plantings.

That's why after the appearance of even immature seeds, weeds should not be used for mulching, unless after complete rotting in a barrel or composter.

But even after such treatment, there remains a fairly high probability of their spreading throughout the garden.

In addition, weeds that have been torn out of the ground along with their roots cannot be used for mulching, because even after rotting they remain viable and, once in fertile soil, they will immediately begin to take over the territory, suppressing other plants and depriving them of nutrition.

Lawn

Lawn grass does not contain weed seeds, so mulch made from it is safe for any plants. In addition, after mowing the lawn, the roots of the grass remain in the ground, so even theoretically it will not be able to begin to take over the living space of other plants.

This is especially important in cases where the lawns, for some reason, were planted not with special plants, but with forbs, trying to create a more natural appearance of the area.

In addition, lawns are mowed regularly, otherwise their appearance becomes noticeably worse, so the length of the mowed vegetation is optimal and can be used for mulching even without prior chopping.

Therefore, freshly cut grass from a lawn mower can be used to mulch any garden and vegetable crops, but its use most effective where plants are planted to improve the appearance of the area, and not for the sake of growing fruits.

It is not suitable for mulching any fruit plants (such as tomatoes, peppers, strawberries and others), but if, apart from the grass from the lawn mower, there is nothing to mulch them with, then after laying the mulch layer it is necessary to water it with preparations containing microelements.

Forbs

Forbs differ from lawn grass in the variety of species, so the mulch made from it contains much more microelements, which means it is better suited for fruiting plant species.

N most effective forbs mowed during the period of active flowering, because it is then that plants extract a maximum of microelements from the soil, which then return to the ground with fallen petals.

If this material is obtained not as a result of mowing, but after processing the area with a walk-behind tractor, then it can be used for mulching only those areas where it is planned to plant forbs.

The use of such mulch in areas planted with cultivated plants can lead to the fact that the surviving roots will reach the ground and the area will quickly be taken over by forbs, which are noticeably more vital.

Weeds

Weeds that are freshly cut, pulled out, or left after weeding cannot be used at all for mulching without drying or rotting, because several days after separation from the root and several years after separation of the root from the ground, weeds can still take new roots.

Therefore, weeds that are mowed or cut down as a result of weeding can be used only after rotting, and the vegetation that has been pulled out by the roots cannot be used even after rotting.

After all, even a small part of the root that survived during decay, once in the ground, will quickly give new roots, after which the weed will begin to take over the area, drowning out the cultivated plants and depriving them of nutrition.

In the open ground

The soil is mulched for the first time after the height of the young plants exceeds 5 cm. At this age, the plants do not yet have a strong trunk, which means that care must be taken when laying mulch around them.

Therefore, all the mulching material is first laid out around the trunk, then the space between the plants is filled. Layer thickness 1–3 cm. In addition, there should be at least 2 cm of space between the lower leaves and the mulch, otherwise the leaves may get sick from contact with rotting grass.

For the first mulching, it is necessary to use partially rotted lawn grass or forbs that have lain in a composter or compost heap for at least a year.

Moreover the greatest effect will be achieved by using compost, which includes or other components.

If you use fresh vegetation, then there is a high probability of burns on cultivated species caused by enzymes released by bacteria.

The next mulching is carried out at intervals of 3–6 weeks, and the more often this activity is performed, the thinner the new mulching layer should be.

After laying each new layer cultivated rocks are watered with a solution that includes ash and any nitrogen fertilizers, including feeding from manure or droppings, which we talked about. Nitrogen fertilizer compensates for nitrogen, which is actively consumed by bacteria, and ash neutralizes soil acidification.

If the planted plants need to be hilled up, then mulch is applied on the same day or a few days earlier, thanks to this the soil will cover part of the grass and speed up its rotting, which means that the plants will quickly receive additional nutrition.

This use of grass does not reduce the effectiveness of mulching, because one of the main objectives of this action is to reduce moisture loss due to evaporation from the soil surface.

If after hilling it is necessary to protect the plant from slugs, then The mulching material is divided into 2 parts, one is laid before hilling, and the other after.

In the greenhouse

The general principles for using mulch from cut grass for tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and other crops in a greenhouse are the same as in open ground.

In this regard, the differences relate only to the method of preparation and the condition of the material.

When any fresh grass, including that from a lawn mower, rots, the bacteria release a lot of carbon dioxide, so the amount of carbon dioxide in the greenhouse or is constantly growing, which can pose a threat to anyone who will be working inside for a long time.

To reduce carbon dioxide emissions, it is necessary to use partially or completely rotted vegetation, which was kept in a compost pit or composter for at least a year.

However, before using even such mulch, it is necessary to check the operation of ventilation, without which the proportion of carbon dioxide will constantly increase.

in autumn

The main purpose of autumn mulching is to restore soil structure and replenishment of nutrients spent on plant development and microelements.

Since worms are the most important participants in the process of soil restoration, autumn mulching should attract them to the site as much as possible and provide them with sufficient food.

Any fresh or dry vegetation is suitable for this, with the exception of weeds that have retained at least a small piece of root. The prepared material is scattered over the area in a layer 2–5 cm thick, then the area is plowed and disked.

No plowing or disking such mulching will not be effective enough, and some of the thickest stems will not rot until spring. Small areas, instead of plowing and disking, are first treated with a walk-behind tractor and then leveled with a rake.

Another way to accelerate decay is to treat the mulch with bacterial preparations, which can be purchased at most stores selling goods for gardeners and gardeners.

These drugs will not affect the attractiveness of worms and will speed up decay., due to which by sowing the mulch will completely turn into humus and significantly improve the structure of the soil, as well as fill it with nutrients and microelements.

You can also reduce the labor intensity of the process by mulching with partially rotted compost, which has lain in a composter or heap for at least six months.

Moreover compost should contain, including fruit or vegetable trimmings that contain enough complex organic matter to effectively attract worms even after sitting in the composter for so long.

The nuances of using mulch for different crops

Despite the fact that the general principles of preparing and using grass as mulch are the same, there are nuances that will help you do this more efficiently, which will have a beneficial effect on the yield and quality of the fruit.

However, it is necessary to understand that the maximum effectiveness of this measure will be achieved only when mulching is part of the soil fertilization and regeneration system.

Moreover, all actions of this system must necessarily complement and not duplicate each other.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes are very heat-loving plants, so the first mulch layer on open ground need to be laid after the ground has warmed up well, that is, when the daytime temperature exceeds +20 degrees and lasts for at least a week.

If tomatoes are planted in a greenhouse, then mulching the soil can be done after the length of the tomato stem exceeds 5 cm.

Before fruit ovaries appear, compost that has been stored for at least a year should be used as mulch.

Wherein it must contain green manure tomatoes, that is:

• rye;
• lupine;
• oats;
• rape;
• white mustard;
• alfalfa;
• clover.

After the fruit buds appear, you can use dried lawn grass or dried forbs, that is, one that has lain in the sun for 1–2 weeks after mowing (however, it is better to use partially rotted compost), as well as completely rotted weeds without seeds.

After harvesting, the tomato stems are trampled, then green manure is planted. If it is not possible to plant green manure, then the entire area is covered with a layer of freshly cut green mulch, including any grass and weeds without seeds.

Then the area is sprinkled with a small amount of manure and lime, as well as potassium-phosphorus fertilizers and watered.

cucumbers

The first mulching should be done after the cucumbers have real leaves and grow a little.

Moreover, only compost that has spent at least 2/3 of the time required for complete rotting in a composter or pit can be used as a mulching material.

The next layer is laid after the fruit ovaries appear, and the third layer after the fruits acquire a clear shape. It is best to use partially rotted compost., however, you can get by with slightly dried lawn grass or forbs, sprinkling them with ash on top and watering them with properly diluted liquid fertilizer.

After harvesting, the stems and leaves of the cucumbers are trampled down, then green manure is planted (the same as for tomatoes), and after the green manure has ripened, they are also trampled down and mulched with any vegetation, except weeds with seeds, or partially rotted compost.

To speed up decay, the mulch layer is sprinkled with ash and watered with an aqueous solution of bacterial preparations.

Strawberry

Strawberries are a perennial plant, so completely different technology and materials are used to mulch them. The best mulching material for strawberries is considered partially rotted compost containing green manure from this plant, that is:

• legumes;
• rape;
• dill;
• fennel;
• marigold;
• rye.

Sequencing

Immediately after the snow melts around each plant, the winter mulch is raked to the sides, clearing a circle with a radius of 7–10 cm, this is necessary so that the soil warms up faster.

At the same time serve every strawberry bush, that is, they remove diseased and excess tendrils, but if there is a suspicion that the roots of the plant did not survive the winter, then they remove it entirely, and in its place they plant and pinch one of the tendrils of the nearest bush.

After the flower ovaries appear, the old mulch is returned to its place, then the soil is carefully loosened to a depth of 1–2 cm, without getting close to the roots of the bushes. Then the first mulching is carried out, and the layer thickness should not exceed 1 cm.

After the first berries have formed, another mulch layer of the same thickness is laid. The third mulch layer is laid while the berries are ripening., which will greatly reduce their watering, which means the berries will be sweeter and can be stored noticeably longer.

After harvesting, regular maintenance is carried out, that is, diseased tendrils or plants are removed, and weeds that have made their way through the mulch are pulled out. Excess tendrils, as well as healthy leaves, can be composted.

However, any diseased parts of plants must be destroyed, because rotting is poorly suited for destroying pathogens. Also it is necessary to destroy plants affected by pests or their parts.

From spring to autumn, it is advisable to grow green manure on a designated area, and it is necessary to collect their green mass before the fruits form and the trunks become coarser.

As it ripens, the green mass of green manure is cut off and added to the compost, making it as balanced as possible and better suited for mulching strawberries than fresh grass.

Autumn features

In autumn, the soil is loosened, then covered with a layer of mulch 3–5 cm thick, which will protect the roots of plants from frost, and use only partially rotted compost.

If you mulch the area with fresh grass, there is a high probability that the mustache will be damaged by enzymes released by bacteria.

This mulching procedure allows you to grow strawberries in one place without depleting the soil for 5–7 years, whereas even with the use of modern fertilizers, the maximum period of effective fruiting in one place does not exceed 2–3 years.

To prepare a new area for transplanting strawberries, it in summer or early autumn they are planted with green manure, and when they have gained sufficient green mass, they are trampled down and mulched with partially rotted compost, after which they are watered with water and bacterial preparations.

After the snow melts, the compost is raked and after the soil has warmed up, the bushes prepared for transplanting are planted.

Cabbage

Cabbage is very demanding on the quality and nutritional value of the soil, so mulching should not be a one-time action, but a system, because only this approach will allow you to get large, healthy heads of cabbage.

Proper soil preparation begins in the fall, immediately after harvesting, and is planting green manure - legumes, clover and others - followed by trampling them down and mulching with compost mixture.

If you use only partially rotted grass to create a mulch layer, after 3–5 years the soil will become poorer, and the cabbage will have to be moved to another area. If, in addition to grass, you use manure and other components, then you will have to transfer the cabbage to a new plot in 8–10 years.

Before laying mulch It is advisable to loosen the area using a Fokin flat cutter or any other suitable tool that gently and shallowly loosens the soil.

Immediately after this, the area is mulched with partially rotted complex compost, and in warm regions you can even use fresh/dry lawn grass or forbs, a layer thickness of 3–7 cm.

To accelerate decomposition of plant material water generously with water and bacterial preparations.

In the spring, immediately after the snow melts, the remaining mulch is raked to the side, forming an empty space the size of the future hole or hole, and the soil is slightly loosened.

If cabbage is planted with seeds, then the autumn mulching material is returned to its place after the appearance of several true leaves at least the size of a child’s palm.

If seedlings are planted, then the autumn mulching material is returned to its place immediately after the first watering, that is, on the same evening when the seedlings were planted.

The next mulching is carried out after the appearance of the fruit ovary. When the head of cabbage reaches the size of a child's head, you can lay another layer of mulching material, using almost completely rotted complex compost for this.

Raspberries

Raspberries are a very unpretentious and tenacious plant that is much less afraid of summer heat than most garden crops. In addition, replanting a raspberry tree to a new location is a rather complex and time-consuming process, so mulching should be part of the overall plant and soil care system.

In early spring, when the snow melts, space around the trunk is cleared of winter mulch, so that the roots warm up faster.

The soil is carefully loosened, trying not to go deeper than 2–5 cm, so as not to damage the roots located at the surface.

After the first leaves appear, the autumn material is returned to its place and a new layer of mulch is immediately laid, which can be used as partially rotted compost from lawn grass or forbs.

The second mulching is carried out at the beginning of summer, before the onset of intense heat, and in this case it is better to use partially rotted compost with any number of components.

The third mulching is carried out after harvesting, on remontant varieties after the first harvest, and then another after the second harvest.

Exactly the third application of mulch material is the most important, because the effectiveness of the soil regeneration process will depend on it.

Therefore, for final mulching, partially or 2/3 rotted compost with the maximum number of components is used, including:

• manure or droppings;
• ash or lime;
• kitchen vegetable waste.

Also the ground needs to be loosened: if you have a Fokina flat cutter, then it is loosened before adding mulching material, but if you have a manual cultivator, then it is loosened after laying the new mulch, because this way it will mix better with the soil.

Potato

The first time grass mulch is applied to the beds immediately after planting seed potatoes, the thickness of the layer, as in the photo, above the holes is 1-2 cm, and above the surrounding area - 4-6 cm.

For this operation only partially rotted compost is needed.

The second mulching is carried out after the first or second hilling, and the same material is used.

The third time they mulch after the green manure has ripened, and you can take either fresh lawn grass or forbs (in this case, after watering, you will need to treat the mulch layer with bacterial preparations), or partially rotted compost.

This procedure for caring for potatoes allows you to plant this plant in one place without loss of yield for 5–8 years.

Peppers

These crops are mulched 2 times - first time in May-June, when the daytime air temperature exceeds 20 degrees and the soil warms up, and the second - after harvesting and ripening of green manure.

In greenhouses, where it is possible to obtain 2-3 crops per season, mulch is applied for the first time after the soil has warmed up, and then mulched immediately after planting the pepper seedlings. After the last harvest is harvested, green manure is planted, then trampled down and covered with a new layer of mulch.

Partially or 2/3 rotted complex compost is used as mulch, which is used after planting seedlings, and if it is not available, dried last year’s hay (including forbs) or straw will do.

in autumn you can also use partially rotted compost or dried vegetation, however, in the latter case, it is necessary to water it with bacterial preparations to speed up decay.

In the spring, if not all the mulch rots, you need to rake it in the places of future holes so that the soil warms up, and after it warms up, first level the old material, then pour in new material.

Fruit trees and bushes

Fruit trees and bushes are mulched three times per season:

• after the soil warms up;
• during the summer heat;
• after fruiting.

Young plants, which have not yet had time to form a thick, strong bark, as well as any shrubs, sprinkled only partially or 2/3 with rotted compost.

Trees that are 5 or more years old can be sprinkled with any dry grass or partially rotted compost. The optimal layer thickness is 5–8 cm.

The first and third mulching must be done immediately after loosening the soil under trees and bushes, which mixes the rotted remains of the previous layer with the soil.

Roses

Methodology mulching roses very different from that accepted for other plants, because it is unacceptable for them to increase the soil level, because this will spoil the appearance of the flowerbed or lawn.

Each mulching with grass always begins by loosening the soil using a special device - a Fokin flat cutter or a hand cultivator - to mix some of the rotted organic matter with the soil.

• carefully collect and remove the remaining organic matter from the previous application, which can be sent to compost or applied to other plants;
• if necessary, remove the top layer of soil to ensure the same level throughout the entire area, then dig a small hole and fill the top layer of soil there;
• remove all emerging weeds;
• lay partially rotted compost or dry grass, including forbs, around the plant; if dry straw is used, then it is necessary to retreat 1–3 cm from the trunk.

The mulch layer is laid either throughout the lawn or flowerbed, or just around roses, optimal layer thickness 7–10 cm.

The first mulching is carried out in the spring, after the soil has warmed up (mid-late May), the second - a month after the leaves have fallen. In addition to mulching with grass, it is advisable to use green manure.

The benefits and harms of covering crops with lawn grass

Freshly cut vegetation poses a serious threat to cultivated plants, because bacteria in it actively secrete enzymes that break down complex organic substances.

Therefore, covering cultivated plants with fresh lawn or any other grass will cause a lot of harm.

However, if she in the fall, lay out on an area intended for planting cultivated plants next year, then it will bring a lot of benefits. After all, such organic matter will attract worms and increase the efficiency of the soil regeneration process.

If you cover cultivated plants with partially or completely rotted compost from lawn grass, they will develop in much more comfortable conditions, since such grass will not only effectively perform the functions of mulch, but will also serve as a good complex fertilizer.

Pros and cons of "hot grass"

There are many videos on YouTube dedicated to the technique called “hot grass” or “active mulch”, developed by Natalya Smorchkova. This method is called almost the best means for mulching any plants.

That is, they gave traditional compost a new name, but did not say the main thing - “hot grass” is not suitable for mulching, because bacteria do not have time to complete even the first stage of processing organic matter, so it contains a lot of enzymes that are dangerous to plants.

In order for “hot grass” to become suitable for mulching, it must first cool down, that is, the bacteria must complete the hydrolysis of organic matter and proceed to the acid-forming stage, and the content of dangerous enzymes that break down organic matter must decrease to a safe level.

Besides, nutritional value"hot grass" noticeably lower than multicomponent compost, which is more balanced in its composition.

Also, supporters of the use of “hot grass” claim that any vegetation can be used to make it, including weeds and diseased grasses, but this leads to serious problems.

Video on the topic

We have prepared several videos that will help you better understand the issue of mulching with “hot” grass. After weighing the pros and cons, you can determine the pros and cons and understand whether it is worth using this method in your garden.

From the following video you can find out how its author mulched peppers in his garden using “hot grass”:

Conclusion

Proper mulching with grass has a positive effect on the condition of cultivated plants, due to which they produce more abundant harvests.

Therefore it is one of the most effective agricultural techniques, which not only has a beneficial effect on the soil and crops, but also helps get rid of constantly growing grass, including weeds.

In this article we talked about:

• how to prepare such mulch;
• Is it possible to cover tomatoes, cucumbers and other plants with grass, put it on potato beds, as well as under fruit trees and bushes;
• what can be mulched with freshly cut lawn grass in open ground, and can it be used in greenhouses;
• how to properly mulch certain crops with grass.

We also showed what processes occur during this process. With this information, you can choose the right mulching method in your garden.

In contact with

Click to listen

It is better to mulch the soil to prevent weeds from growing. Plants can and should be mulched in the final stages of autumn. This is done mainly to avoid damage or death of the plant from winter cold. The creation of a protective coating should be preceded by clearing the soil of weeds (perennial and large) and enriching it with ash, bone meal or other slowly decomposing fertilizers. They mulch the soil with anything: fallen leaves, mown grass, moss, straw, black film, geotextile... All this, of course, is good, but there is one more material that is often forgotten, but in vain. We are talking about wood chips. What is it good for? Firstly, wood chips reduce the evaporation of moisture from the soil surface by about 15-20 percent. By covering the soil with a layer of 8-10 cm, we can significantly reduce watering in the summer. The snow that fell this week in many areas of the region is not a hindrance for mulching with wood chips. Wood chips are a good heat-insulating material. There is an even temperature regime under it: the soil does not overheat and does not crack. In the fall, it retains heat longer, giving plants more time to prepare for winter. In winter, wood chips protect the roots from frost. In spring, the ground under the mulch warms up more slowly, and, accordingly, the regrowth of leaves and shoots is delayed. However, in our area, where spring frosts are so frequent, this is only beneficial. But not all wood chips can be used as mulch. For example, birch or oak chips have certain limitations in their use for mulching related to their chemical composition. It contains tannins that can slow down plant growth. Therefore, it is better not to use mulch from wood chips in garden beds; other materials are needed here, but coniferous plantings (spruce, thuja, cypress, etc.), which are not afraid of the tannic influence, noticeably increase their development due to the acidification of the soil on which they grow by the bark . For coniferous plants, in the interests of improving nutrition, it is quite possible to mulch the soil with compost annually. A serious argument in favor of mulching with bark is its combination of good thickness compared to almost weightless lightness and a high content of phytoncides that cleanse the environment of unwanted microorganisms and insects. Bark mulch makes the tree trunk look natural. In winter, under a blanket of crushed branches, not only the roots are comfortable. The biological activity of the soil increases sharply. For example, the number of useful underground inhabitants such as earthworms increases 4-5 times. The soil becomes more “alive”, and therefore, such mulch helps to reclaim areas that have been depleted and disturbed as a result of human carelessness and activity. If you fill the paths with wood chips, the soil will not be compacted and washed away by rainfall (which, by the way, is important for areas on a slope). Water does not stagnate under your feet, and the house is noticeably cleaner. Another advantage of wood chips: mulch from it prevents the growth of weeds, especially annual ones, and Roundup will help fight rhizomatous weeds. In order for wood chips to show all their advantages, its layer must be at least 7-10 cm, otherwise the effect will be weaker. So, if you still decide to save on mulch and get by with a layer of 2-3 cm, then be prepared that you will not get rid of weeds, and if you pour too much, this can also negatively affect the plants around which it is poured . Can all plants use mulch? In rock gardens, around bearded irises and in general all xerophytic (dry-loving) plants, wood chips will only cause harm. But daylilies, hostas, astilbe, phlox, bluebells, Siberian irises, dahlias and many other flowers will be grateful for that slightly prickly woody blanket with which a caring owner will wrap their “heels”. And it is also very important to remember that when feeding plants under wood chip mulch, they use conventional complex fertilizers, while increasing the dose of phosphorus, and not nitrogen, as is usually done with quickly decomposing mulch materials. Wood chips decompose slowly and are “renewed” every four years. Published: newspaper No. 199 (4490) Read more: It's time to pay attention to grapes Recipes for fresh vegetables

Plants can and should be mulched in the final stages of autumn. This is done mainly to avoid damage or death of the plant from winter cold.

■ It’s good when it is possible to chop wood on a woodworking machine. The easiest way to do this is to contact a wood products factory or sawmill. In this way, you can solve two problems at once: obtain high-quality, homogeneous material and save yourself from the hassle of cleaning your home workshop from debris. ■ If your household has a woodworking machine, you can even save money by chopping the wood yourself. In the absence of a machine, you can get by with a garden shredder. However, you should be prepared for the fact that the crushed material will be somewhat heterogeneous.

The creation of a protective coating should be preceded by cleaning the soil from weeds (perennial and large) and enriching it with ash, bone meal or other slowly decomposing fertilizers.

They mulch the soil with anything: fallen leaves, mown grass, moss, straw, black film, geotextile... All this, of course, is good, but there is one more material that is often forgotten, but in vain.

We are talking about wood chips. What is it good for? Firstly, wood chips reduce the evaporation of moisture from the soil surface by about 15-20 percent. By covering the soil with a layer of 8-10 cm, we can significantly reduce watering in the summer.

The snow that fell this week in many areas of the region is not a hindrance for mulching with wood chips.

Wood chips are a good heat-insulating material. There is an even temperature regime under it: the soil does not overheat and does not crack. In the fall, it retains heat longer, giving plants more time to prepare for winter. In winter, wood chips protect the roots from frost. In spring, the ground under the mulch warms up more slowly, and, accordingly, the regrowth of leaves and shoots is delayed. However, in our area, where spring frosts are so frequent, this is only beneficial.

But not all wood chips can be used as mulch. For example, birch or oak chips have certain limitations in their use for mulching related to their chemical composition. It contains tannins that can slow down plant growth. Therefore, it is better not to use mulch from wood chips in garden beds; other materials are needed here, but coniferous plantings (spruce, thuja, cypress, etc.), which are not afraid of the tannic influence, noticeably increase their development due to the acidification of the soil on which they grow by the bark .

For coniferous plants, in the interests of improving nutrition, it is quite possible to mulch the soil with compost annually.

A serious argument in favor of mulching with bark is its combination of good thickness compared to almost weightless lightness and a high content of phytoncides that cleanse the environment of unwanted microorganisms and insects.

Bark mulch makes the tree trunk look natural.

In winter, under a blanket of crushed branches, not only the roots are comfortable. The biological activity of the soil increases sharply. For example, the number of useful underground inhabitants such as earthworms increases 4-5 times. The soil becomes more “alive”, and therefore, such mulch helps to reclaim areas that have been depleted and disturbed as a result of human carelessness and activity.

If you fill the paths with wood chips, the soil will not be compacted and washed away by rainfall (which, by the way, is important for areas on a slope). Water does not stagnate under your feet, and the house is noticeably cleaner.