Mulch Gardens

[Shydog]

Getting the gardens ready for next spring. Anyone ever hear of Ruth Stout, the mulch garden guru? I'm developing my own style. Combined with "Gaias Garden" an influencing book about perma-culture.
That and crap.:) Also Buffulo Bird Woman. It's starting to come together after three years.

[LIBRA]

Well do tell... what are you doing, what is your style?

I covered my garden with leaves, thats about it.

[NCW_Woodnymph]

Our big tree died last year so I am short on leaves for mulch this year. Do you guys have any suggestions.:confused:

:hippie:

[LIBRA]

lay newspaper down
compost
cardboard works too
grass clippings if thats available

Ask on freecycle if anyone has leaves, I have and got tons of responses.

[Shydog]

Hay and or straw mulch. Square bales. I use hog panels for the garden fence, they are about 3' tall, easy enough to step over but keep rabbits and such out. Train vine types onto panels, also along the fence go the volunteers. The mulch composts in the garden, (sheet composting). I put up my own hay and always make extra for the garden. Mulch thick on each side, leaving a sweet spot (row) add in manure and bird droppins in the fall or early spring. I use a little cultivator with a two-cycle engine. Seed and as the plants emerge sneak the mulch in a little closer as they get taller and bigger, add new fluffy mulch in the summer as it comes in out of the field. Keeps weeds down and minimizes watering. Spend most of my time spreading mulch, I don't pull weeds I put more mulch on them. Grass paths in between becuase the best fertilizer is the gardeners shadow. Most agricultural communities have a sale barn, they usually have square bales. Wood chips are great but hard to come by, maybee the electric co.

[Shydog]

Hay and or straw mulch. Square bales. I use hog panels for the garden fence, they are about 3' tall, easy enough to step over but keep rabbits and such out. Train vine types onto panels, also along the fence go the volunteers. The mulch composts in the garden, (sheet composting). I put up my own hay and always make extra for the garden. Mulch thick on each side, leaving a sweet spot (row) add in manure and bird droppins in the fall or early spring. I use a little cultivator with a two-cycle engine. Seed and as the plants emerge sneak the mulch in a little closer as they get taller and bigger, add new fluffy mulch in the summer as it comes in out of the field. Keeps weeds down and minimizes watering. Spend most of my time spreading mulch, I don't pull weeds I put more mulch on them. Grass paths in between becuase the best fertilizer is the gardeners shadow. Most agricultural communities have a sale barn, they usually have square bales. Wood chips are great but hard to come by, maybee the electric co.
Also, it is real easy to make a row out of those bags of potting soil. Take a sharp knife, cut slits (for drainage) on one side of the bag, place that side down, then cut open the top, exposing the potting soil. Place mulch onto the plastic flaps. Plastic mulch and hay mulch together, no weeds, and a sweet row of potting soil. Pretty slick huh?

[LIBRA]

I read that in mother earth news and Im going to try that next year, that is pretty slick! :D

[Shydog]

Yup, Mother Earth, me too, I said, "now why didn't I think of that?" It's so simple and slick.

[NCW_Woodnymph]

Thanks guys! Those are great ideas. I think I'll kind of mix and match.:D

[Shydog]

Flowers are beneficials, attracting beneficial insects.
"Buffalo Bird Woman" would plant Sunflowers around the perimeter spaced at about 4' apart. Trim the leaves up the stalk as she grows. Those "Fat Mamas" are kick ass, you can't beat them, you can't stop them, these babies have endurance, a real sexy flower if you ask me. I try to find a place in my gardens for special plants, some Zinnia seed I picked up from the dollar store went completely nuts this year. For the fall I stepped them over to the inside and threw mulch around the perimeter of them, hoping for a self seeding. The Datura flower is soooo...enchanting....I'm in love with her, and the moonlight.

[Adam Blanchard]

I would love to grow plants but I have a black thumb and I'm not talking abut my nail polish either. lol

Altho I did have a couple of pot plants growing a few years back till the cat ate all the leaves off of it before it even started growing buds.... damn feline.... :bat::bat:

[Shydog]

Put a cage around it.

[Adam Blanchard]

well, now that my son is taller older and more determined to mess with everything he isn't supposed to I'm going to pass on growing anything untill he either gets older or I can afford to get a growbox and have the room for it.

[TreeLove]

hahaha, i had some mari seedlings in a little pot, put on the floor to get some better sun, and my cat ate three of them in about 30 sec!

I recently moved, and have space to garden, finally! so i have a question for the green thumbs. . . What's the first couple things you do as winter wanes and the snow melts to get your gardens ready?

[Shydog]

If the soil be workable, cultivate in organic fertilizer. Get ready for cool season crops. Winter is time to look at all the seed catalogues and plan the garden. I need to try some Kale next year.

[Shydog]

With permaculture a person leaves little wild places for beneficial insects.
Good bugs, bad bugs. The bugs that eat produce are like herd animals.
The bugs that eat other bugs are like predators. Spray a pesticide that kills everything and the herd animal bugs will recover faster, and now without any predators to keep a balance, your garden is munched.

Beneficials need little wild places to live. My garden fences are square or rectangular, my garden rows and paths are circular. A corner here or there goes wild. www.PlanetNatural.com (http://www.PlanetNatural.com) sells lady bugs among other organic solutions. Achieving a balanced micro-eco system is the goal.

I'd also like to have a hang out in each garden, a smokers table or something...got a 100 gal. water trough in the middle.

[Shydog]

Nothing going on with the gardens now. I bet Libra has some good sauce.