Mulching
Applying mulch to your garden is a good conservation practice.
Thick mulches help prevent loss of top soil from wind and water
erosion; reduce soil compaction; decrease water loss through evaporation;
lessen soil temperature fluctuations and, as they decompose and
incorporated into the soil, improve soil tilth.
Weathered wood chips, nuggets or bark; sawdust, grass clippings;
straw; pine needles or oak leaves; dehydrated or aged manures; chopped
leaves; and compost are good mulching materials. A three- to six-inch
layer of any of these is effective in conserving moisture, keeping
roots cool by shielding them from the sun, and a six-inch layer
will control most weed growth. Be sure not to bury any plant. Do
not pile mulch against plant bases, always keeping mulch away from
plant crowns by a good three to four inches. Moist mulch laying
against the plant's bark eventually results in trunk rot.
Clippings from alawn which has not been treated with a broadleaf
weed killer make a good mulch when mixed with another material such
as peat. Clippings alone are inclined to pack down and interfere
with water penetration of the soil.
Straw or salt marsh hay are excellent mulching materials. They
do not pack down. However, they can be a fire hazard. Be careful
of smoking materials when working near them.
Winter mulching is of prime importance to transplants and of great
benefit to all established plantings. Mulches for winter protection
are applied after the soil has begun to harden. Too early applications
provide "room and board" for small animals which move
in making their nests under the mulch in the fall. Protected by
the mulch and a snow cover they feed on bark and roots of thin barked
ornamentals, of fruit trees in particular, during the food-scarce
weeks of winter.
Winter mulches are pulled away from garden plants in early spring
to promote earlier warming of the soil by the sun. New mulches for
the summer are laid down after the soil has warmed and fertilizer
has been applied, usually by the first or second week of June in
New England. If the old winter mulch seems to be in good condition
it may be raked back into place for another year.
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