A lesson in mulching
Mulching demands little brain power, and requires the simplest of tools. Here's how to apply an organic mulch, step by step:
1. Finish grade the area to be mulched.
To finish grade, smooth the soil, remove any surface rocks and debris, and make any adjustments to the terrain so that water goes where you want it when it rains (no point in flooding the house, right?).
Dig along the edges of walks and patios, lowering soil about 3 inches below the top of the pavement. Slope the soil gradually back into the adjacent grade so it doesn't drop off abruptly. This practice provides a lip to catch the mulch so it doesn't spill all over the pavement.
2. Murder the weeds.
Remove any weeds, including the roots. If your weeds are perennial (meaning the kind that come back from the roots), dig out as much of the root system as you can and proceed to Step 2a; otherwise skip to Step 3.
2a. Smother perennial weeds with sheet mulching.
Sheet mulching (shown in Figure 16-4) is the process of covering the soil with a layer of cardboard and mulch to kill stubborn weeds. It works better than herbicides and at a much lower cost to the environment.
Cover the soil with two to three layers of corrugated cardboard (old appliance boxes or any kind of heavy corrugated packaging). Overlap the cardboard pieces by at least 6 inches so that no weeds come up through the cracks. Wet the cardboard and move to Step 3. (Note: You don't have to remove the cardboard; it decomposes in place, adding valuable organic matter to the soil. When the time comes to plant, usually a few months after sheet mulching, just make a slit in what's left of the cardboard and plant as usual.)
In this era of recycling, cardboard has become difficult to find because supermarkets no longer give it away. Try waylaying someone on the way to the recycling center with a truckload of cardboard by offering them some money to dump it at your house. Or offer to buy it from the recycler.
3. Dump on the mulch.
Make an even layer 4 inches thick; it will settle to 2 to 3 inches over time. You need about 13 cubic yards of mulch to cover each 1,000 square feet. Be careful not to squash your plants, and lift trailing branches up so they're on top of the mulch.
- Courtesy of Joan Z. Rough
Keep mulch 6 inches away from the trunks of trees and shrubs. Contact between mulch and trunks can harbor pathogens and possibly harm the plants. Wet down the mulch to settle the dust and kill water-repelling fungus spores that can make mulch shed water like a duck.
It's important to keep mulch away from your house. Contact between organic matter and a building can create perfect conditions for the development of Meruliporia incrassata, or "house-eating fungus." This bad boy, rare but potent, can turn your home into a shell of rotten wood before you know what happened. It's caused by moisture in contact with wood; mulch can initiate the problem.
4. Maintain mulch thickness.
Remember that mulch breaks down, which lets the nutrients and organic matter in the mulch improve the soil. But it's bad because the thinner the mulch gets, the more easily weeds can pop through. Once a year or so, add mulch wherever there's no plant cover, maintaining the 3-inch optimum cover.
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