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mulch for vegie garden
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Posted by lorraine_b vic australia (My Page) on Sun, Aug 28, 05 at 19:57
hello to all , we were late starting our vegie garden this year as we had both been ill over winter ,but on the mend now so its time to roll our sleeves up and get into it ,my question is which is the best mulch to lay down for the vegies or is it to late? and can we plant straight into it and if so which is best,lucerne,oat straw, or sugar cane mulch,the vegie plot is approx 8mts long and 4 mts wide so its not real small and we turned it over in may so its been fallow for a few months, hope someone can advise the best way to go and thankyou in advance also as we live on acreage so we have access to plenty of manure etc
thanks
lorraine |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: mulch for vegie garden
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Hi Lorri,
Veggie gardening rocks and welcome back from sick bay. If money is no object, go for lucerne. It improves the soil and conditions it as it breaks down. The worms love to wriggle just below it. And you can till it in when necessary if it hasn't already broken down. I find it much easier adding the lucerne after the seedlings are in the ground. You can cup your hand over them and spread some mulch before bringing it in close to their stems. I'm not sure about your soil structure, but it should contain loads of organic material such as chook or cow poop, your own compost, and mushrom compast, blood and bone, all good stuff. I like to make the soil nice and rich (not too rich and keep N out for tomatoes and capsicums). Then I add a leaky hose and snake it up and down, fixing it with metal spikes made from cut coathangers. Then I plant or sow in drills between the hose. Then I hand water and keep the soil moist and cover the bed with chicken wire to keep cats or magpies at bay. When the seedlings have more that a couple of leaves I mulch with lucerne and remove wire. Then I water when necessary using the leaky hose hiding under the mulch. None of it is rocket science but works like a charm for me, my veggies and the flower beds. |
RE: mulch for vegie garden
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I like pea straw, mainly because I have a ready supply. But I don't mulch until december that probably happens earlier for you but I do so the soil has warmed up. Mulching will stop it drying out but will also keep the soil cool. So I like to let the sun onto the beds until there is good growth.
Enjoy
Linda |
RE: mulch for vegie garden
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Hi Lorraine,
I find any kind of mulch is good. I use whatever's cheapest really. If it's just plain straw, you can always tart it up by adding a bit of blood'n'bone or whatever.
I'm trying an early pea and barley crop, just cheap soup peas and barley from the supermarket, and will slash them down as mulch in a month or so.
Other beds are covered in straw with loads of horse manure and blood'n'bone under it, waiting for November to plant out tomatoes/capsicums/chillies.
Others have bird seed or fenugreek sown which will be slashed in a month or so as mulch. |
RE: mulch for vegie garden
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| yep go for the cheapest spoilt lucern hay mulch or whatever, i use slashed grass mulch pretty much all the time i just pull a bit of a hole through it and plant the seedlings, never had a problems also don't use any fertilisers. i do mulch very heavily though in the vege gardens around 8 or 10"s gotta keep the moisture in hey. len mail len lens garden page |
RE: mulch for vegie garden
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thanks heaps Grub, Ray, Linda and Len. I have printed your advice out and when we get into it, it will be all systems go,so thankyou
Grub I wish money wasnt an object,but bales of lucerne hay and sugar cane mulch all seems to be the same price here ,about $17 a bale,but would still be a cheap vegie garden as prices have been skyrocketing ,pea straw and oat straw is near impossible to get and Len the slashed grass would be great but there is a lot of paspalum hereabouts so not sure about that one here, but will probably mix and match all your ideas and they are really much appreciated
regards lorraine |
RE: mulch for vegie garden
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Lorraine, do you have any leaves scattered about? Rake them up and throw them on the beds. Great mulch.
We have gum trees around here and they continually shed their leaves. When we rake them up there's sheep poop mixed in (from our lawnmowers) and it's great stuff for mulching. Good luck with your garden! :) |
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