Now we are in November it is time to put the garden to bed. This simply means applying a mulch such as homemade compost or our soil improver to your beds. Mulching now is a great way to ensure your garden is ready for growing come Springtime.
No digging required
We asked around the office and it turns out people’s least favourite part of gardening is digging. Not only does it give you a bad back but after reading Charles Dowding‘s books on no-dig gardening it is no longer necessary. The idea behind the no digging is that the earthworms come to the organic matter and pull it into the beds rather than the organic matter coming to them.
Choosing the right mulching material
If you are a seasoned gardener and have a well-established compost heap your homemade compost will be the ideal mulching material. Homemade compost is often rich in nutrients and organic matter. If you are unsure your homemade compost has enough nutrients you could mix in some Worm Castings. Used as a fertiliser or soil conditioner, this completely natural product can be mixed at 10-30% dilution with your compost or ours.
Should your homemade compost not quite be ready, or you don’t quite have enough for all your beds, we have a product that is great for mulching. Our peat free compost is a great soil improver, made from green waste products. As a mulching product, it will help to conserve soil moisture and suppress those pesky weeds. This will reduce your watering requirement and improve drought tolerance. If you have sandy soil this can be particularly beneficial.
Benefits of mulching
With us now being in the wetter months of the year, persistent rain can wash away the nutrients in your soil. A good layer of mulching will prevent the rain from washing away your soil nutrients. It will also help the soil to retain moisture ensuring your plants are more resistant to drought next year.
Worms within your beds will become highly active due to the new organic matter you have added. This along with the reduced weed growth due to the mulching will ensure your soil is ready for planting in spring.
3 steps for mulching your beds
- Weed the area thoroughly. Ensuring you have removed the roots and not just the leaves. Along with any plants or veggies that have now finished for the year.
- Spread your mulching material evenly across the bed. You want to be covering the bed with a thick layer of eight to ten cm of compost. If you still have plants in the garden such as leeks and kale you should only spread the mulch to four to five centimetres. Ensuring the mulch is pushed away from the plant stems to allow for airflow and prevent them from rotting.
- To prevent weed growth, lay sheets of cardboard over the compost. Use large stones or bricks to weigh the sheets down and prevent them from blowing away.
We hope you have found this helpful, if you have any questions regarding mulching your beds please get in touch with our team.