Lets talk about mulch, ba-by.
Let’s talk a-bout de-bris,
Let’s talk about all the green leaves, and grass clippings,
Mulch can be…
Lets talk a-bout...Mulch.
Let’s talk a-bout de-bris,
Let’s talk about all the green leaves, and grass clippings,
Mulch can be…
Lets talk a-bout...Mulch.
It’s much more provocative than it seems. It’s like the “plain jane” you know that has a wild and crazy side once you get to know her.
In case you were worried I was just writing about things for moms, I'm here to tell you no! That's not it. My purpose of starting this blog is to share about my many - sometimes unconventional - interests, which span a wide spectrum - in the hopes that maybe you'll learn something new (because I LOVE learning new things). So we’re heading into the topic of permaculture: a topic we have not breached yet. We’ve done oils, we’ve done mama, we’ve done parties, music, chanukah...we're on this journey together. But now it’s time to talk about how to change the world, and how mulch is going to help do that, and make your life more exotic at the same time.
If you don’t know about permaculture, go look it up. Or if you’re too lazy to do that we will get into detail on what it is some other time (it’s like the universe of all things “sustainable gardening-ecosystem-building” - an expanse of unexplored information constantly burgeoning). I’m going to start with something more simple, an important element in permaculture. Mulch.
Think: Water retention. Soil protection. Organic resurrection.
If I can rhyme to make it more alluring, I will.
Can I just say something, before I start? I hate hearing people say “I have a black thumb”. Because it’s a straight up lie. It really is one of two things.
1. You have not mulched.
or
2. You just don’t care to really learn about growing things.
Sorry not sorry. I used to have a “black thumb”. But actually I was just a laggard who thought I could shove a seed in the ground and it should grow. Plants have preferences too, you know. They like water, some like sun, some like alkaline soil, some like acid - if your soil sucks, they need nutrients to grow just like anything else. So don’t tell me you have a black thumb. Just say you’re not interested in learning about what plants need. You want your tree to give you fruit? Lets learn to give your tree what it needs to give you fruit. It will return the love a hundred fold. You’ll be swimming in fruit.
Whew. Needed to get that off my chest. So mulch. Let me tell you how I personally feel about mulch. I have a friend who is a tree trimmer. He has mulch coming out of his ears, and I haven’t told him yet, but I literally dream about the day our house is done so that if he needs to unload some mulch he can dump it all over our yard.
Another friend of mine used to trim trees with my tree trimmer friend. He made connections with some county tree trimmers and now they come drop piles…magnificent piles of mulch in his yard on a regular basis. Want to know how I feel about that? Totally jealous. I want mulch. I want it all over, everywhere. You might think “well that’s a little quirky” - but that’s because you don’t know mulch yet. The pictures in this blog are credited to our friend with the mulched garden. It is certainly paying off...look at those kabocha squashes! I admire what his diligent work & creativity and a ton of mulch is resulting in for him and his beautiful family. He's doing some awesome permaculture work here on kauai on the west side. Check him out @westkauaifarms
So you want to know: Why do I need mulch?
Here you go:
1. N(C)+3-6”M= -W (I made that up - don’t you miss math class?) In other words: Newspaper (or cardboard) + 3-6 inches of mulch = organic weed eliminator. Ciao, Round-up! I don’t even need you, vinegar. Im’ma mulch these weeds to death. Mulch makes for a nice garden path material as well.
2. Hey, did you know after you throw down that newspaper/cardboard and the thick mulch layer, you’re also naturally attracting beneficial wormies into your garden? These guys LOVE to enrich your soil and convert the paper/board into garden gold (worm compost).
3. THEN, get this. If you sheet mulch an area, the mulch breaks down over time and becomes SUPER EPIC soil for your plants. It’s EASY and it’s called “no-till gardening” or "sheet mulching" and it’s amazing. It takes more time if you’re in a dry climate, but you are literally enriching the quality of soil just by topping it off with an organic mulch that has tons of other useful qualities. Adding some organic manure before putting down your cardboard in the beginning process helps with fertility.
4. Mulch RESERVES moisture. When you have a solid top layer of mulch, you need as little as 10 percent of the water that other gardens do. Some also acts the opposite in super wet situations - it absorbs excess moisture in flood, saving your plants from an anaerobic situation. Sign. me. up.
5. Mulch comes in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Some organic material options: spoiled hay (make sure no seed!), grass clippings, wood chips, rocks, dead leaves, garden clippings, living mulch…etc.
If you want to fall in love with mulch, watch this vimeo sensation: Back to Eden
I promise you, plain jane is gonna take off her shoes and show you her dance moves.
Shaloha!
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