Mulch

[Brenjon]

Having harvested my onions and other veggies is it O.K to mulch the beds with grass seeds, if so do you advise covering rhe mulch with some sort of plastic cover so that hopefully the worms will take the mulch down into the soil, providing the ground with nutriants to start sowing and planting out next spring.
Regards Brenjon

[Pol]

I hope you mean grass CUTTINGS Brenjon not seeds! If you do I would like to know the answer to the question as well
Pol.

[Brenjon]

What a silly mistake. I do mean cuttings. Thanks for pointing it out Pol.
Regards Brenjon

[Jenny Green]

Yes, sounds like a good idea to me. Just not too thick, maybe a couple of inches?

[Marge]

if I can be bothered to shell out, then I like to use composted bark chips. They are smaller than normal bark chips and really do improve the soil.

[sprout]

I mulch my whole plot heavily with whatever is to hand - spent hops, leaves, comfrey, straw, hay, grass clippings, kitchen veg waste, compost etc. Fresh lawn mowings shouldn't go on too thick as said previously, as they will heat up! They are best spread out and dried a bit before layering in your mulch. If you aim for a good eight inches of layered mulch, you'll have lovely soil in the spring. One drawback - mulched soil warms up later than unmulched, so cover with black plastic in early spring or scrape the mulch aside in piles to encourage the soil to warm faster

I use wood chips (provided by the Council) on the paths - if I had no other organic matter, I'd use them on the growing areas too.

[Johnboy]

Hi Sprout,
A word of caution with the use of Wood Chips. It is essential that these chips are really well composted before you use them on your beds. If you use them for mulching, as the council provides them, you could very easily deplete your Nitrogen from the soil. Wood Chips, if used uncomposted, will draw Nitrogen from the the soil as they biodegrade.
Probably best used as pathing for a couple of years and then used on the beds.

[Weed]

Sprout

Your soil sounds wonderful after its winter rest.... I don't think for one minute I could find enough waste organic matter to spread around as you described, so this year I am going along the green manure route.....first settings of overwintering varieties being sown this weekend.

I will let you know how I get on next year after the harvest

[Mike Vogel]

Hello Brenjohn. Elsewhere in the Forum there are discussions about Green Manures. You may find it better for the soil to use these and keep the grass cuttings etc for mulching round plants. the great thing about GMs is that they not only provide bulk for the soil when dug in, but also, in some cases, fix nitrogen. You can choose which GM to use according to what you intend to put in in that place next. E.g. if you mean to grow broad beans there, sowing in the autumn, phacelia or Hungarian Rye will produce a crop for digging in. It may be too late for that this year,but the rye overwinters. If you mean to plant brassicas there next year, try winter tares or field beans or crimson clover. Sow these in September and dig in in the early spring. A caveat about Hungarian Rye and Vetch [= Winter tares]: they inhibit germination, so avoid sowing them where you mean to sow carrots, lettuce, etc.

good luck

mike

[Tigger]

Don't forget shredded paper in your discussions about mulching. Most of us can produce it for free and it's quite useful.