Backyard
Gardener So “Mulch” To Talk About
Story & Photos Contributed by Kat Long/Contributing Writer As you read this, you may have celebrated Fat Tuesday, or Ash Wednesday or both and are in the middle of Lent (for some of us). Why am I starting with this? you might ask. Well, for those who begin the Easter celebrations with Lenten practices, Lent is an interesting proposition. Not to dwell too much, but Lent is a time for some to give things up (think chocolate or sugar or bad habits) for the forty days leading up to Easter. But for me and many others, Lent has always been a time to work on being a better person in some way. Volunteering or sticking with a set health or personal regimen every day of Lent, personal development, righting bad habits; you get the gist. Some thought is required, much like gardening, and certain plans and supplies have to be on hand to guarantee success for a 40-day project. Speaking of supplies, here is what has been happening at the Long house to get ready for Spring. Types of Mulch As everyone knows, I espouse to the “no till” way of getting my planting beds ready. Along with the usual spaces covered with cardboard (see below), I am adding piles of pine and straw on top of the cardboard this year in late February/early March. This will break the cardboard down and add more material under the dirt, which will get put on top of these piles in late April when I get ready to seed and plant. Straw is a great mulch to use in the yard: it doesn’t mat, even when piled high around plants; it allows the plants plenty of air circulation and rain, and it breaks down in one season. Straw is a better bet than hay as hay still has seeds that can germinate and take root in
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your garden. Hay wasn’t too much of a problem when I had chickens because they do love the hay seed. I use hay bales in their bedding for that very reason.
Other types of mulch, and these two are near and dear to my heart, are newspaper and cardboard. Both of these can be used under a more eye-pleasing mulch such as wood chips or traditional mulches, but I use these two types of paper products to prep the ground for spring planting. When using newspaper, stay away from the slick and colored pages. These types of newspaper often contain heavy metals in the ink and paper that will be detrimental to your plants and soil. Use cardboard without plastic coatings and remove as much tape as possible. I collected a lot of cardboard from all the Christmas packages, got most of it on the
