This NGS gardener says she mulches compost and manure two foot in autumn and two in the spring. But I don't get the maths. Four feet is the height of a small child. How do you get your borders and plants to manage that much extra material? Do you really want to bury a verbascum, thalictrum or bergamot under four feet of medium? Even if you raise the edges of your borders, I very much doubt that four feet of material would reduce down to the initial height over the period of a year.
My compost etc additions don't go anywhere on small beds. If I add six inches in the autumn, it will be at that level in the spring. I am so left confused as to whether I should remove the previous year's mulch, as I have no room to add anything new... My soil is already good and full of worms (after nine years of adding to it). I've started adding metal bed edging to be able to add compost etc, but if it doesn't reduce, I will be back where I started.
Thoughts welcome.
Thanks
(Mine is a small garden with good soil over clay - about 3mx12m with two main beds 4 squ metres and two smaller beds 2 sq metres).
Sounds like they got their units mixed up, it's supposed to be 2 inches & not 2 ft. The purpose of mulching in Autumn is to protect less hardy plants in winter. Spring mulching of 2 inch is primarily for weed suppression & of course benefits the soil too but it can get rather expensive even for a small garden. I have heard that the problem with bark mulching is that it takes a very long time to break up and also makes it harder to add anything solid to the soil at a later date. I have also heard that it draws nitrogen to the surface which is not good for most plants but hopefully someone with more experience can comment on this.
I'm guessing that with the density of planting and having such large plants in the border that they use up the soil? Plus it's hard to tell in the video but the borders could be higher at the back.
But surely plants don't "use up the soil" in terms of volume. Air would be compressed out of it over the season, it might dry out and compact somewhat, but nutritients don't take up volume.
Thinking about a plant in a pot, you can end up with a lot of roots and a lot less soil, my mint has shown me this 😂 I got a hydrangea in my garden that was here when I moved in 4 years ago and it's got a very woody base jutting out, like a tree trunk, and I'm guessing the soil used to be a lot higher around it. But the years before I moved here the previous occupant wasn't able to garden other than keeping it tidy and the beds had definitely sunk. don't know the technical mechanism of how it happens though, would be interesting to know
I think WHEN you mulch should probably be determined by WHY you mulch.
If it's primarily to protect more tender perennials then autumn is the right time to do it.
If it's to improve the quality of the soil then anytime is good.
If it's to retain moisture and suppress weeds then I think spring makes most sense.
I mulch to improve soil and retain moisture and Spring is definitely the right time for me. The soil (in this exceptionally dry part of the country) is most likely to wet at the end of winter and I like being able to cut back loads of dead stuff and then mulch - garden suddenly looks great and well tended. In the autumn there's still lots of interesting foliage & ground cover so mulching would be quite difficult.
I do follow one bit of Monty's advice and that is to mulch deeply (about 4 - 6") even if it means only doing part of the garden. I mostly use homemade compost and there is never enough to do the whole garden. Tend to do half one year and the other half the next.
@fire - after a few months my mulch has always broken down and incorporated into the soil. The borders are a few inches higher than the lawn, but I don't think they get noticeably higher year on year. What are you mulching with that doesn't break down and just disappear into the soil?
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
@Topbird I'm mulching with manure, and no, the level doesn't significantly drop over the year (as I mentioned, mine are small beds). My raised beds drop around two inches a year. I have just added new bed edging and mulched to the top of it, so I will be able to clearly measure how much the levels drop over the year. Does adding four feet a year of mulch seem reasonable too you? I'm glad it works for Frances Moskovit.
Posts
If it's primarily to protect more tender perennials then autumn is the right time to do it.
If it's to improve the quality of the soil then anytime is good.
If it's to retain moisture and suppress weeds then I think spring makes most sense.
I mulch to improve soil and retain moisture and Spring is definitely the right time for me. The soil (in this exceptionally dry part of the country) is most likely to wet at the end of winter and I like being able to cut back loads of dead stuff and then mulch - garden suddenly looks great and well tended. In the autumn there's still lots of interesting foliage & ground cover so mulching would be quite difficult.
I do follow one bit of Monty's advice and that is to mulch deeply (about 4 - 6") even if it means only doing part of the garden. I mostly use homemade compost and there is never enough to do the whole garden. Tend to do half one year and the other half the next.
@fire - after a few months my mulch has always broken down and incorporated into the soil. The borders are a few inches higher than the lawn, but I don't think they get noticeably higher year on year. What are you mulching with that doesn't break down and just disappear into the soil?