A muse on mulching
Of all the winter gardening jobs I think that mulching has grown to be a firm favourite. It is very heavy and manual work which doesn’t require half the skill and thinking required for the winter pruning of roses and apple trees, but it does keep you warm, provided it’s not raining and everything doesn’t get horrendously wet and sticky and claggy, in which case it’s time to down tools and go in for a cuppa or hit the dreaded office work. A quality and well-rotted mulch is such a wonderful resource that it is quite difficult to overrate.
Good soil is the foundation for all organic growers; indeed 95% of global food production depends on it but sadly *it is currently being lost at 10 - 40 times faster than it is formed perhaps unsurprising given that it can take up to a thousand years to form one centimetre. Valuing and nurturing this earthy resource is vital if we are to be responsible growers, and the act of applying a good organic mulch protects, conditions and feeds the soil, reaping rewards for years to come as most gardeners will tell you.
Recently I’ve been discovering some long-neglected compost heaps in clients’ gardens and with a little bit of digging towards the back of the pile it has been possible to unearth a sort of ‘black gold’ as I have come to think of it; dark and crumbly, of course, it always comes with sticks and bits of wood in and occasionally some leaves, but importantly it doesn’t have an offensive smell which can be an indicator of anaerobic conditions which is not good at all.
Home-made compost would be my number one recommendation for mulch but of course, building and making compost is a dark art in itself. It requires a healthy ratio of woody, carboniferous material to green, vegetative matter in order to encourage effective decomposition and requires turning to facilitate this process; otherwise, the outside doesn’t get hot enough to break down properly. Generating heat within the heap is the secret, but conversely, turning it too regularly can have a cooling effect.
Failing this option, the next best thing is often asking around locally to find and establish a friendly Muck Fairy who has a heap of the black magic just rotting idly in a field somewhere. I once discovered, through a tip-off from a colleague and with the help of a neighbour, a goat farm just outside our village belonging to some local chocolatiers. We spent a very happy morning digging and bagging up beautifully rotted manure whilst surrounded by about 40 curious female goats who had a taste for our welly tops and my neighbour’s bottom; it felt more like an Airbnb experience than a morning of gardening work.
Of course, part of the satisfaction aside from the physical warmth and vigour generated on a crisp winter’s day is that mulching can instantly transform the appearance of your garden, creating a wonderful dark canvas to show off and highlight all your snowdrops, other winter flowers and stems, but it is not just aesthetic.
Covering the soil with a good layer of any material will not only suppress weed growth but a plethora of soil invertebrates, bacteria and fungi booms and breaks down and incorporates the organic matter into the soil, conditioning it and improving the soil ‘crumb’ structure (a bit like making breadcrumbs). Helping poorer soils to retain moisture whilst making heavier clay soils more friable and workable. So it is really a win-win and we haven’t even mentioned the addition of nutrients that will be gained from this earthy resource.
A few additional tips
Don’t bury tree trunks too deeply in the mulch. Covering the bottom of a tree trunk too deeply and completely can kill it.
For mulch to be effective as a weed suppressant, it should be applied to a depth of 2-4 inches.
Avoid ornamental bark and inorganic mulches if you are really looking for a good soil conditioner.
