Kitchen Gardeners International: Marvelous mulch

by Cindy McNatt, printed February 17, 2007 in the Orange County Register

I dropped a pile of books off at the local library the other day and saw the groundskeeping crew blowing the last gram of organic matter out of the landscape.

The leaves were gathered to throw in the trash and the plants that lived there, daylilies and rhaphiolepis, looked stunted and sad as they choked on the fumes of the leaf blower and shivered at the loss of their leafy blanket.

Mulch is a simple idea. Leaves that fall to the ground and carpet the surface to keep it cozy are an essential part of how nature makes soil. Leaf litter is a mulching process as old as the planet.

Yet we routinely clean up the litter that ironically leaves only dirt behind. And dirt isn't soil unless it contains organic matter.

A top dress of mulch not only provides it, it offers other immediate benefits. Joanne West of Sierra Soils in San Juan Capistrano offers five:

"Two to three inches settled on the top of exposed soil helps hold moisture in, keeps the soil temperatures even around the root zone of plants, prevents weeds from germinating, prevents erosion and makes landscapes look neat and tidy," she said.

The long-term benefits are more mysterious. When organic matter is within reach, earthworms will work their way to the surface, aerating the soil along the way, to pull bits and pieces of plant matter down to ultimately make soil.

Worm colleagues such as insects, fungi and bacteria get into the act also in an exercise that makes the environment come alive.

You can make your own mulch by simply letting leaves lie where they fall. If you don't like the look, a second simple approach is to rake the leaves into a pile, run the lawn mower over them, and then throw the clipped contents back into your beds.

Photo courtesy of Cherry and Eric

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Posted by KGI on February 19, 2007 11:06 AM to Kitchen Gardeners International
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