Mulch is one of a gardener’s most useful tools! This video covers why to mulch, how to mulch and my favorite natural mulches to use in the vegetable and fruit garden- as well as pros & cons of each.
Related Videos:
Natural Weed Control for Gardens: https://youtu.be/gqgJQvwy2aM
Improving Clay Soil playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4zzslvkscX0uuXNvj6qJJzFG5iQvreQE
Cover Crop in the Home Garden playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4zzslvkscX39ZhMYn3TsqP3taiLRt9JF
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00:00 Intro
00:50 Benefits of Mulch
04:16 Types of Mulch
04:32 Leaf Mulch/ Leaf Mould
08:30 Grass Clippings
10:10 Wood Chips
13:13 Hay Mulch
15:33 A Word on Cardboard
17:00 Cover Crops/Living Mulch
18:41 When NOT to use Mulch (or use carefully)
#zone6gardening #ohiogardening
49 Comments
First off, thank you for all of this useful information. I love how you explained everything. I live in Virginia and just started my garden this year. I would like to start using my grass that my son cuts as much in my garden. My husband had applied some grass food and weed killer to it more than a month ago but the grass has been cut at least twice since then. Is it safe to use at this point?
I use shredded cardboard for mulching, it works great and solves the problem of having a garage full of boxes.
Hey!
One of the most helpful videos on using much that I’ve seen. Thank you!
Excellent video. Just what I needed. Thanks, Jenna!
Hi, I live in a small condo with a tiny piece of land in the front and a bit bigger piece in the backyard. This past fall I put a thin layer of straw on all my small garden areas and this spring the flowers and chives did really well! I think it gave some nice protection from the snow and a bit of salt (on the edges from the condo maintenance). There must be some really good nutrients in this straw, as I bought it from a farmer. The only downside is it attracts critters like mice and voles etc. But I may still do it again this fall unless someone from the condo complex complains.
I use leaf mold and grass clippings and develop some AWESOME soil!
Do you have issues with grass germination from using hay on your garden walk ways? Or when you take your decomposed hay into the raised rows?
I have very little lawn so grass clippings wouldn’t work! I have a large pine tree so I gather the pine needles and use that as well as chopped straw I use for the feral cat houses.
What about using a living mulch among the plants in a perennial flower garden, or in an herb and a veggie garden? I'm thinking along the lines of purslane, clover, violets, wild strawberry, or even letting creeping charlie roam free there. Would that help the ground not dry out so quickly during the hottest summer months? Also, wouldn't it be good for the soil as the plants die out each winter, and their foliage adds nutrients back into the soil?
I'm in zone 5a, so pretty similar to yours. What is your experience?
i had a raised bed garden, I didn’t have slugs until I used leaves. I mulched with leaves in the fall and the next year I had a huge hatch of slugs, been fighting them ever since.
I'm clearing areas in my last fall leave mulched areas to plant in? Didn't get good germination of sunflower seeds. On a learning curve with this one. Thanks for your video!
I have a half acre of alfalfa and never considered it as a mulch, I do put in in my compost. I will use it as a mulch, thanks!
I just found your video on YouTube. This is amazingly educational!
Very informative and factual!
You have done an excellent job of explaining all of the ins and outs of garden mulching. Thank you so much!
I look forward to learning from more videos that you have put together so thoughtfully for those of us who are still learning the best way to garden in our climate, soil composition, and what we need to know to reach our goal more successfully in our own gardens.
Thank you so much!
Mulch is magical. One of my "learning moments" in the garden was when I deeply mulched (with straw) a raised-bed strawberry patch in the fall. It was a particularly warm spring, and I planted my tomato and pepper seedings in mid-May. It was the first week in June when I realized I saw nothing appearing in my strawberry bed. I decided to investigate and remove the mulch to see what was going on. Wow! The soil was still frozen solid!
Great practical lesson! Until that time, I had never realized the insulating properties of mulch.
I need to learn about buckwheat. How do you use it, when do you harvest and how? Everything looks great!
I live in a high desert climate in Utah. The only way to keep moisture in our soil is mulch. I love woodchips on top. It works amazing in my very dry climate. Thanks for a great video
Great explanation.
Thank you for the advice with the grass clippings. Have you gotten away from using a roto tiller?
You are superb. A garden enthusiast from India in Uk. I collected fallen leaves from street using a mower last year and used straight away to my small orchard to suppress weeds and to increase water retention properties with a top layer of wood barks got from a Gardner for free.
This is the best vegetable gardening channel on Youtube
what about wheat hay ?
LoVe leaf mulch. Jeff
I guess you dont know the great properties of dandelion
I've been using shredded brown cardboard mulch in my vegetable garden for years, and i love it. Along with all the plant and soil benefits, it's free except for some of my time in non-gardening months. The I generally use shredded leaves and grass in my compost pile. In the fall, I'll top dress with a few inches of compost, then cover that with three inches of cardboard mulch. Come spring, I just move the much aside to plant. Both the compost and cardboard have been incorporated into the soil by the next fall. Anything left, I just cover with another layer of compost and mulch.
Wolf Spiders ? It must be pretty hot in Ohio, this spiders are pretty large and live in holes in the ground. I should have some relatives in Cleveland Ohio, but we lost ourselves…😊
In my tiny little garden in the downtown Toronto, I absolutely love the Cedar mulch! I discovered that city rats hate them and now I have noticed way less pest on my plants too.
And I was told that cedar mulch repels termites too which is awesome
Can i use compost
I made a “lasagna” of cardboard, then compost then wood chips
This was very helpful!
Hi Jenna, I have been saving my grass clippings as mulches, thanks to you! Cheers, Albert
I thought that was an Air Jordan hat at first hehehe
I have been using Leaf Mulch from our neighbor hood for 10 years or more and I also do not Til my ground . I grew some of my Potatoes this year by simply laying them on the ground in Leaf Mulch and Grass Clippings and they grew larger and more productive than my other potatoes that I used Composited Manure as the base. The ground where where I used Grass Clippings and leaf Mulch created a rich black soil already and I will cover that with Straw over the winter so I can NO Til plant here again next spring
I've been using Aromatic ceder mulch. Is there a down side to this type of much. I haven't seen any yet.
My neighbour wants to give away cotton wood chips which he gets from stump grinding. Should i use weed fabric before i put wood chips for the area where those apple tree suckers sprout alot going out of control. I don't plan to grow anything at that area. I just wanna stop those suckers.
All the tips below I got from sharing with local gardeners, they are your best friends! I call leaf companies in the fall and give them my address so they can dump the leaves for free. Also discovered a golf club community that rakes all leaves in the community up, puts them in huge piles to make leaf mold and then gives that away for free! Local saw mill gives away thier waste saw dust and wood chips for free, Lastly the county dump hires a giant grinder tub company to mulch up all the branches and tree logs they get and also gives that away for free.
I always leave my straw and hay bales out in the weather. If there are any seeds in them they will germinate after a rain or two. Once they die, perfect mulch.
I'm going to be using wood chips next year. have a 40×40 and adding a 30×40 in the spring. is it complicated to mulch the entire garden(pathways) after planting transplants?
i dont like ur tatoos. dont like it especialy on women. diz for that.
Mulch with something that was sprayed with any of the pyridine derivative broad leaf herbicides and your gardening worries are over… you will have no garden to worry about. How to know if it was? You can't. You can try to test it and hope for the best.
Jeena your garden is very smart
Jenna, can carrot tops be used for mulch? I’m thinking dried and shedded, kept dry throughout winter and allied after seedling pop up. What about any veg crop tops like zucchini and cucumbers etc.?
Since I put trunk protectors on my new apple trees I was able to run the mulch all the way up to the trunk protectors. As they get bigger I will remove the trunk protectors and pull the mulch away from the trunk. I used Scotts Red Mulch, a wood chip mulch. I live in. Low Ph rea, naturally about 4.5, so lime is very important. I lime my yard twice during the year – Spring and Fall at a setting of 7 on my Scotts rotary spreader. If I do not do this, I get sticks for bushes and no grass, unless it it is crab grass. I have my yard pretty well stabilized at 6.5-7.0, now. It is still short on organic matter but I am working on it. It is primarily sand with a clay underlayment about a foot under ground. Water permeates through it, like crap through a goose. I aerate my soil at lest once a year, sometimes more, with my Mantis tiller. If water starts to stand in areas or run off, I Aerate it. FYI, I have a granite quarry a few miles from my house. If that tells you my problem with soil Ph.
I do the same thing. I slope any remaining dirt into a bowl type container around new bushes or trees T direct any water back towards the bush or tree. I then cover the bowl with mulch so rain will not wash it away. If the bush or tree has a spiral trunk protector around its trunk then I spread the mulch all the way up to the protector. If not, I pull it several inches away from the bush or tree.
I discovered your videos recently and have been catching up on past content. I've learned so much through your direct, knowledgeable explanations. Your beautiful gardens provide inspiration and your celebrated blunders give reassurance. As you observed, we use what is locally available. I garden in what is effectively a desert (the southern San Joaquin Valley) but many residents think that (tropical) palms are appropriate for our climate. I love to dress my garden paths with palm fronds collected from my neighbors. I cut the fan from the stem and 'tile' the path with the former. They are a delight to walk on barefoot.
Excellent video Jenna and thanks for the information regarding different types of mulches to use in garden beds, in terms of the flower weed, those are quite healthy and arent really a weed its actually a perennial (chicorium Intybus) especialy the ones you have in your fields the leafy ones are wild and you can eat them as a salad when you boil them and garnish them in olive oil and lemon juice as a side serve with your lunch or dinner. your videos are great! Greetings From Melbourne Australia.
You don’t get Asian jumping worms in the leaves?
Where have you been all my YouTube life?! ❤
I love eating mulch❤❤❤