Mulching with the Mulch-o Man

I’ve just returned from Melbourne, Victoria where I was for a week, leaving LTSH (Long Term Suffering Husband) in charge of the menagerie here at home… as well as my organic garden…

And being LTSH he set up an XL Document listing the details of every feed or activity he needed to carry out, backed up with an alarm notifying him when to begin and complete each.

Well, it must have all worked like magic because not only are the birds healthy and happy, my vegetable garden has flourished – Bok Choy leaves shouting to be snipped, fat little zuchinis eager for the wok, and several tiny Roma Tomatoes are peeping out from their stems quivering with delight as Spring Breezes whisper past.

Oh! I love my garden!!!

Thanks LTSH – all’s well in the Sustainability Nut Household.

Except…

LTSH built a fascination for the ‘dead grass stuff’ that was layered around the plants and wanted to know what it was all about.

I’ve informed him that it’s Organic Sugar Cane Mulch, and being LTSH he wanted to know why it was there. So here’s what I told him: Mulches…

• keep the soil’s surface cool during hot days, encouraging earthworms and microflora to remain active near the surface.
• prevent rapid fluctuations in soil temperatures, which tend to stress plants.
• reduce air movement over the soil, helping to retain moisture. (Hot, dry winds dry out soil).
• eliminate the need for frequent watering due to the moisture retention.
• create a continuous supply of humus (nutrition for the plants and soil) as it breaks down.
• help to keep weeds under control.
• help to stop ‘mud splash’ – something which creates fungal diseases. Mud contains spores and it is splashed up onto the undersides of leaves during rain or overhead watering. Because the under surfaces of leaves are not as tough, and lack the impervious cutin of the above leaf surfaces, the fungal diseases are able to penetrate and sicken the plant.
• are great hiding spots for garden insects.

We use the Organic Sugar Cane Mulch, but there are a huge variety of mulches out there, from Grape Residue (make sure it’s organic), stones and even old carpet or clothing. And then there’s the ‘living variety’ – which are other plants.

An important rule to follow when using mulches is to keep it slightly away from the stems and trunks of your plants, as it can cause ‘collar rot’.

Now that LTSH has developed this interest in mulches I’m sure he’ll need to become a mulching nut. He’s been sitting in front of his computer singing a variation on the Village People’s ‘Macho Man’. It’s now “Mulch-o, Mulch-o Man… I’ve got to be a Mulch-o Man…”

Great…