Mulch Ado About Nothing

Mulch. Beginning gardeners don't think much about it. "What's the big deal, why all the fuss? It's not necessary, is it?! I can still grow veggies and fruit without it, so why bother?"

Here's my 2 cents on the subject. Mulch is a huge part of my backyard. I use it on my raised beds as well as on the ground beneath my fruit trees, berry canes, flowers, and herbs. Heck, I spread the stuff everywhere!

That's what I'm talking about! 5 cubic yards of mulch delivered from a local garden center. I already spread 2 cubic yards the other weekend, but completely underestimated how much I needed.

Why use mulch? I use mulch for multiple reasons. First, it helps maintain even moisture in my raised beds by minimizing moisture evaporation and blocking bright sunlight from "baking" the soil in brutal summer heat. I use considerably less water in the warm months for my raised beds when they are mulched. Second, it smothers growth from unwanted weeds, grass, and seeds. That's the main reason I use it over my entire backyard, and I will continue to use it so I never have to mow grass again. So far, so good. Third, mulch breaks down over time and adds nutrients and organic material back into to the soil. Fourth, appearance. Mulch adds a uniform look and rich color to any yard or raised beds.

What type of mulch? Mulch comes in dozens of varieties. Hardwood, softwood, ground up trees debris, wheat straw, pine needles (for acid loving plants), cut grass, leaves, rough and fine texture, even recycled tires and other "green" options. Basically, anything that can be applied in a thick layer for the reasons listed above.

Detail pic from the huge mulch pile. It's nearly impossible to shovel this stuff with a regular shovel or spade. Use a pitch fork or special mulch fork instead.

Where can I get some? Most large nurseries and greenhouses carry mulch. I prefer to buy it in bulk (cubic yards) rather than the bagged version from the big box stores. It is considerably cheaper this way. You can also find it at city waste processing facilities. Hit the internet to find the best sources near your house or yard. I also like to look at and feel what I'm buying. All mulch is not the same in quality, color, or general appearance.

Freshly applied wheat straw mulch around recently planted cucumber vines. I covered the entire raised bed with this straw mulch to conserve water and moderate soil temperatures. It also decomposes and adds organic material to the soil.

How should I apply mulch to my yard or raised beds? I won't speak for every gardener because we all have different mulch preferences and uses. But I will tell you what I do at .09 Acres.

For raised beds: I apply 3-4" thick layers of wheat straw over all my raised beds. I simply pull sections of it off a compressed bale of straw and spread it over the beds. Sometimes after a few weeks or decent rain a few sprouts of wheat straw will grow from seeds in the bale, but it is easy to pull them by hand. I delay mulch application on warm-season crops that prefer higher soil temps, like sweet and hot peppers. I let the soil sit exposed in the sun until temps are generally warm, then I mulch. It is May 12 and I still haven't mulched my pepper beds. I likely won't until next month. I also mulch heavily for fall and winter crops. The added layer of protection often means that I can leave root vegetables and hardy greens uncovered (no hoop house or low tunnel).

For the rest of my yard (walking paths and beneath fruit trees): First, I pull any existing weeds or unwanted seedlings from the ground before I spread any mulch. Then, I'm ready to spread a 3-4" thick layer of mulch over the entire yard. It will take me dozens of trips with a wheelbarrow, but I load it with a pitch fork and then push it into my backyard. I then dump the wheelbarrow and repeat the process. Only after I have dozens of piles scattered in my backyard do I attempt to spread it. I use a bow rake rather than a leaf rake because it is stronger and I can use it to push and pull the mulch into a uniformly thick layer.

Three distinct layers of mulch in my backyard. Last year's layer of mulch is visible on the right near the raised beds. This year's layer (not fully spread over entire yard yet) is the dark brown stuff visible on the left.  I will eventually cover all of last year's mulch with a thick layer of new mulch. Also, note the wheat straw mulch directly beneath the fig trees.

Will I still be singing the praises of mulch when I'm sweating my tail off in the midst of shoveling and spreading 5 cubic yards of mulch? Probably not. But as soon as I'm finished, showered, and standing out in the yard with a cold beer in my hand, I'll quickly remember why I do this every year. You should try it to.

Frost Protection

We had our first frosts of the year in late November. Two or three of them. Fortunately all the fall/winter veggies survived, but I'm making preparations to protect the crops once the temps remain consistently cold.

Last year I constructed two experimental mini hoop houses in mid January after the frost had already taken a nasty toll on the greens. This year I expanded the idea by building one long, continuous hoop house.

PVC hoop house frame built over raised beds of lettuce, spinach, chard, and other tender greens. Plastic will be attached soon.

Currently only the PVC has been added to the raised beds. I used 10-foot sections of 1/2" PVC pipe and pushed it directly into the soil within the raised beds. I bent each pipe by hand over the bed, forming the "ribs". I then attached the "ribs" to a long "spine" with plastic zip-ties. The structure is fairly strong and will withstand wind and snow. We are expecting warmer weather for the next 5 days so I likely won't secure the plastic covering until sometime next week.

Note how the PVC is pushed into the soil against the interior sides of the raised beds. No screws, brackets, or fasteners are required. It's an easy, effective, and inexpensive setup.

I only opted to cover my more tender vegetables like lettuce, arugula, spinach, and chard.  I did not cover the kale and root crops like carrots and beets. They are, however, heavily mulched with a thick layer of wheat straw for protection. They withstood just about everything last year and I'm hoping they do the same this year.

From left to right: Buttercrunch, Winter Density, Parris Island Cos, and Rouge d'Hiver lettuce. Spinach is barely visible farther down the bed. This hoop house will function like a mini refrigerator once it is covered with plastic, protecting the vegetables and keeping them cold but not frozen.

Colorful head of Rouge d'Hiver lettuce.

Ruby Red Swiss chard. I planted these seeds on September 15, but they took a long time to germinate because of very hot temperatures in late September and early October.

Not everything in the garden looks great right now. I had a heck of a time battling  caterpillars on my broccoli and kale. Fortunately they only seemed interested in those two plantings and not the other veggies, but it didn't take long for them to completely defoliate this poor plant.

Kale that was completely devoured by caterpillars. Lots of carnage and not a lot of leftovers.

There are a handful of chemicals and products (organic ones too) to battle these beasts. I did buy a bag of powdered Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), an organic bacteria that is effective on caterpillars, but I got lazy and never applied the stuff.

Now I just need somebody to play Taps on the trumpet while I add these remains to the compost pile and pay my respects.

Late September

Late September at .09 Acres is a transitional period in the garden. The fig trees are lush and still loaded with a secondary crop of figs, reminiscent of mid-summer flavors. The slightly cooler weather, ripening pomegranates, and newly planted lettuce and spinach seedlings welcome the arrival of fall.

I put together this photo-mosaic on September 29 to give you an idea of what's taking shape in the yard. Please disregard the sunbathing hairless terrier lounging between the raised beds.

September at .09 Acres in Newport News, Virginia.

If you compare this picture with the main photo in the banner of my blog, you'll notice some pretty significant changes. The fig trees are quickly filling out against the south-facing fence (left). The espalier fig is reaching for the sky agains the shed (back left, near center). The raspberries and blackberries are looking a bit rough after the hot summer (back right). The peach tree has been replaced by 3 small rabbiteye blueberry bushes (right). I've found that peaches are nearly impossible to grow organically in this climate. And the pomegranate tree is flourishing (near right). I've also kept the grass and weeds in check with diligent digging, weeding, and mulching.

The raised vegetable beds look nearly naked, with the exception of a few emerging seedlings. You can see beet and carrot seedlings mid left and lettuce planted at staggered intervals near right. Within 30-45 days I'll be harvesting lettuce, spinach, radishes, and chard. I also plan on covering most beds with hoop houses to extend the growing season. They will also act like outdoor refrigerators keeping plants growing slowly but well preserved even during periods of frost and snow.

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

We've had rain here in Newport News for the past week. I'm talking lots of rain. Morning, noon, night.

The rain has been a bad thing and a good thing. I'll start with the bad. My last few precious tomatoes from a generally measly summer crop were ripening on the vine last week. I was hoping for one last harvest. Then the rain moved in. It split the skins of my Black from Tulas and they quickly went downhill from there. See for yourself.

Black from Tula tomatoes after a week of relentless rain.

The rain brought somewhat cooler temps for a day or two, but then the temps climbed back into the 80s as the rain continued to fall. The warm, wet conditions weren't great for the tomatoes, but it was ideal for MUSHROOMS. I woke up last Friday morning and there were mushrooms as far as the eye could see!  I'm talking hundreds, if not thousands, of mushrooms in my backyard.

Cluster of small tan mushrooms in the garden.

There seemed to be two different varieties of mushrooms, and it was interesting to note that they grew wherever I had spread wood mulch earlier in the spring. I guess the wood chips contained the spores even before I spread them in the yard, or the spores found the moist wood mulch an ideal environment for growing. Either way, .09 Acres turned into a mushroom farm overnight. I don't know much about mushrooms, but I wasn't taking any culinary chances. I took my cues from my dogs and the neighborhood wildlife. Since they wouldn't eat them, I wouldn't either. There were so many mushrooms that even the resident Smurf population had a hard time navigating their way around .09 Acres.

Papa Smurf navigating his way around a morass of rogue mushrooms.

Rotten tomatoes and a plethora of mushrooms were two ill-effects of constant rain. But the upside of all that moisture was ideal seed-starting conditions. Before the rain, I planted a variety of seeds including broccoli, kale, beets, carrots, onions, Swiss chard, spinach, and lettuce.  Almost all of the seeds germinated, and I'll provide a detailed update about my fall garden in an upcoming blog post.  

Stay dry and keep your fingers crossed for cooler weather.

Early June

I'm back.  It's been almost 2 months since my last post.  Too long. Figured I'd do a big pictures post from the yard.  It's been an interesting and productive Spring, with a few setbacks as well. Generally speaking the garden is doing great.  Let's start with the good then I'll move on to the bad and ugly.  I successfully saved seed from my Vates kale and two varieties of Swiss chard.  They get tall when they bloom.  I'm talking 6-feet tall!  I added about 4" of fresh compost to each bed and built a small extension designated for herbs. Cucumber production has been nothing short of amazing.  I've got 5 Burpless plants in the ground and I'm pulling about 8 cukes/day.  I planted borage as a companion plant to my tomatoes, and it  is growing very well.  Beautiful flowers and they are edible too.  Peaches are hanging from the tree, the pomegranate is still in bloom. Raspberries were a tasty treat for about 3 weeks and are slowing now, but the blackberries are starting to kick in.  Figs have also put on new growth and, more importantly, many figs.  Not as many as I hoped for, but I pruned them back in early spring to encourage more branching for larger future harvests.  The fig espalier is developing fairly well.  I also just finished harvesting approximately 50 heads of Inchelium Red garlic and they are drying in my shed.  That's a short version of the good.

Now for the bad.  My precious, beloved, sacred, and coveted heirloom tomatoes are taking a beating.  They grew well for the first 6 weeks after I transplanted them into the garden, and they grew large.  I'm talking appx. 4-5 feet tall.  Then I started noticing what I believe to be blight.   It first appeared on a few leaves, then a stem, a truss of tomatoes, an entire stalks.  I quickly pruned those areas, sterilized my pruners, and then moved to the next plant.  But it kept moving.  So this past weekend and evening I ripped out 5 of my 7 in-ground tomatoes.  2 German Johnson, 1 Black from Tula, 1 Bull's Heart, and 1 Marvel Striped. I don't know why it hit so hard.  I immediately tossed them in the garbage bin.  I've been careful about watering, 2 doses of organic foliar feed (spaced 4 weeks apart) in the early morning, etc. etc., but I guess a large harvest like last year wasn't meant to be.  I'm planning on purchasing a few more plants and probably dropping in a few seeds as well, but I'm flat out bummed.

And the ugly.  Despite my best attempt at smothering the grass, it's back.  And lots of it.  Multiple layers of cardboard, 4-5 inches of mulch, periodic hand weeding of the errant shoot of grass, all for nothing.

Alright, enough gibberish!  Let's do the photos, shall we?

This is a mix of the good and the ugly.  Figs down the left, raised beds front and center, berries/peach/pomegranate on the right.  Oh yeah, and grass everywhere...son of a...

Row of figs down the left wall of the yard.  They are all fairly small, but are adapting well to their permanent location.  I grow a mix of brown, purple, and green figs.   If you look closely, you can spot Scout.  She's the hairless wonder dog.

Peter's Honey fig.  In some areas this plant is putting out 2 figs per leaf, and I don't think that's very common. I'm not complaining.

Violet de Bordeaux figs.  I will pick individual ants off the tree to protect these, partly because I'm crazy but mostly because these things are heavenly.

The Red Haven peach tree is getting very large.  I pruned it heavily this winter and again about 3 weeks ago, and it keeps on growing.  I also thinned the fruits a while ago, but it's still hanging about 25 peaches.

Overhead view of the Red Haven peach tree showing the main scaffold limbs.  I'm trying to maintain an open center to allow light in and air to circulate.

I haven't sprayed this tree with a single thing this year and it still looks healthy.  I hope that holds up for the rest of the year.

The Russian Pomegranate also likes its sunny but sheltered location.  It's approximately 7' x 7' and was covered in blooms for 3 weeks.

A tiny pomegranate and a few blooms in the background.

This is a young Haku-Botan pomegranate tree, courtesy of Sybil Mays.  It will eventually produce yellow/gold pomegranates.  Sybil, this is the little plant you dug up from your side yard.  It has recovered and grown ALOT!

It's a cucumber jungle out there.  By now they've established very deep roots and don't show much wilting during the hottest (98 degrees) driest weather this year.

These beasts make a mean cucumber salad.

Ouachita blackberries beginning to ripen.  I'm not sure exactly what happened (or didn't happen), but I think poor or incomplete pollination led to irregularly shaped berries.  Look closely in the picture and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Almost ready.

All the literature says that borage flowers have a cucumber taste.  I disagree.  They taste like borage flowers.  Not really cucumbery, but just a general leafy green pleasant flavor.  I grew these as a companion plant for the tomatoes, but it clearly hasn't helped this season.  

Don't ask me how this partially ripened black cherry tomato tasted.  I wouldn't know.  My dog Diego ate it so you'll have to ask him.  

When most people draw a picture of the devil, they draw a red devil.  The devil is NOT red.  The devil is green.  Check out this mix of Bermuda grass and some other green beasts that are growing well despite Operation Smother.

Bermuda grass a-creepin'.  This is the aforementioned ugly.  I plan on pulling everything I can by hand rather than using some ineffective organic herbicide or crazy poisonous herbicide.  I do not want to mow this back yard ever again.  

I'll post again soon with pictures of the garlic harvest as well as the fig espalier.  How are things growing in your gardens?  If you are fortunate enough to have a bumper crop of heirloom tomatoes later in the summer, I'll likely be begging at your front door. That's a promise.

Happy First Birthday .09 Acres!

It's officially been one year since I built the first raised beds and planted a few berries in the ground at .09 Acres.  The time has flown by so fast.  But before I even dug a spade into the ground or removed a single overgrown vine, I was running through all the possibilities in my mind.

Let me go back a little earlier than a year ago.  I want to start with a few photos I took in September 2009, a month before we purchased the house.  The yard was nice....quiet, private, and ordinary.  It was the type of yard you'd expect to find in my neighborhood.

September 2009 at .09 Acres.

The main problem I saw was that the yard was the exact opposite of what I wanted in a yard.  Grass that needed to be mowed, fertilized, and edged.  Overgrown bushes, shrubs, and invasive vines and ground cover that needed to be tamed and maintained.  I didn't want any of that.  I wanted to create an edible landscape filled with veggies, fruits, and herbs.  No grass, raised vegetable beds, a variety of different fruit trees.  This couldn't be the place for me.  Or could it?

Despite the numerous drawbacks, the property offered many things I was looking for in a yard.  Full sun exposure for 8-10 hours per day.  A manageable size.  Privacy fencing that offered seclusion and also created a slightly warmer micro-climate.  And a fairly open layout that I could configure any way I wanted.  Maybe this was the right place!

We eventually purchased the house but I didn't dive into the yard until we had spent a few months working on some DIY renovations inside. I finally got out into the yard in early spring and pruned or removed many overgrown shrubs, bushes, and trees.  I ripped out the creeping groundcover, and even moved the fence closer to the property line to reclaim some additional footage (it all counts in a small yard!)  By that point it was April, 2010 and I was ready build some raised beds and plant some edibles.

April 2010 at .09 Acres.

You can see a large difference between September 2009 and April 2010.  I gained quite a bit of square footage by removing old plants and moving the fence.  I also pruned the grand old Japanese Maple (back left in the above photo).  Unfortunately I had to remove it later on after I discovered that its roots caused some major damage to some nearby plumbing.

I worked when I could.  An evening here, weekends there, official holidays, work holidays. I even dragged myself outside when I was sick to pull a weed or water a new plant.  It borders on obsession at this point.

Here we are one year after I built the first raised beds.  What does the place look like now?  To be quite honest, it looks a bit bare.  But I intentionally provided sufficient space between the fruit trees to allow them ample room to grow and thrive in the coming years.  And hopefully they will.  Now the peach tree and berries are growing like crazy, the young fig trees are starting to leaf out, and I'm preparing to plant new veggies in the raised beds.  Within a few weeks the whole yard will be alive.

April 2011 at .09 Acres.

I added labels to the picture to show what is planted in the yard.  I selected the left-most fence (facing south) for my fig trees.  I have 5 different varieties in the ground.  The berry trellis is near the right-most fence (facing north).  It still gets great sun during the day.  I tucked a peach tree and pomegranate tree closer to the house for protection against cold winter winds and to ensure that they would stay dormant just a little longer than usual to prevent against damage from a late frost.

The original 5 raised beds have been joined together.  I added the rough overall dimensions of these long beds to give an idea of how much produce I can grow.  I opted for raised beds because the ground is very low and drains slowly after a good rain.  I also smothered the grass and weeds with layers of cardboard and mulch.  I'm not sure how effective that will be over the long haul.  Only time will tell.

I didn't really know what creating an edible landscape would take in terms of time, labor, and expense, but I went for it.  By no means am I done, but I've accomplished quite a bit.  I know the yard will continue to change and evolve.  I'll have more successes and setbacks, more elation and deflation (is that a word?), and that's what makes it exciting.  Equally exciting is the pride and enjoyment of harvesting a basket of ripe heirloom tomatoes, watching figs ripen in the sun, and plucking sweet raspberries and blackberries off the trellis.  Sure beats mowing the lawn, doesn't it?!

Laying Down the Law(n)

I know I've said it before, but I'm done with mowing.  No more.  Finis.  With that in mind, I have been making a concerted effort over the past few weeks to kill the grass and weeds in my backyard.  I don't want to use chemicals, out of the question.  I don't want to dig and till and pull, too much effort.  Smothering is the name of the game, or at least it's what I'm attempting to do with wheat straw, cardboard, and mulch.

Layers of wheat straw, cardboard, more straw, and a few inches of mulch on top of grass and weeds.

It rained all day Saturday.  Rained hard.  Most sane people were inside staying warm and dry.  I'm not sane.  I moved 4 cubic yards of mulch from the city compost facility in 1 yard loads, then shoveled it into a wheelbarrow and carted it into my backyard.  I couldn't think of a better way to spend 7 hours on a Saturday.  Like I said, I'm not sane.  Sanity doesn't run in the family.  I remember watching my 75-year-old grandfather climb a tree with one arm while holding a chainsaw with his other arm.  I also remember my dad mowing the lawn at night after a long day at work.  I figured moving mulch in the rain wasn't out of the ordinary.

For a few weeks my strategy involved spreading wheat straw all over the portions of grass I wanted to smother.  I followed that up with layers of thick cardboard.  I made sure to  provide significant overlap from piece to piece to avoid gaps in the coverage.  Then I added another layer of straw and finally a thick 3-4" layer of fresh mulch.

My dog, the ever loyal sentinel, inquisitively patrolling his new turf.

I did not have enough cardboard or mulch to complete the whole process, but I finished approximately 70% of the yard.  I deliberately avoided putting down mulch in the areas between raised beds.  I intend to join those sections of beds to create a longer growing area.  Yes, I'll lose the convenience of being able to walk between the individual beds, but I'll gain the extra planting space and I'll just have to take a few more steps to reach the other side of the beds.  Essentially, I'll have 2 very long beds instead of smaller ones.  It's a small yard so every inch of growing space is at a premium.

Un-mulched area between two raised beds.  The top left bed contains kale and the lower right bed contains carrots.

I plan on using the same type of untreated 2x8's to enclose the un-mulched sections for planting.  I'll likely plant the new spaces with tomatoes since I planted the majority of beds with tomatoes last summer.  This will provide me with some additional rotation space and will prevent the buildup of pests and diseases in last year's locations.  

Overall shot of newly mulched area of yard.  Pomegranate tree branches in right foreground.

I'm gambling on the idea that layer upon layer of mulch will smother the grass and weeds. The concept is also quite similar to lasagna gardening.  I have no doubt that grass and other things will conspire against me and grow, but I'm hoping for the best.  In the photo above, I still need to mulch the area between the covered beds and white fence, the area in the back right adjacent to the shed, and the area behind and to the left of where I was standing when I took this photo.  I will post more about my plans for the area near the white fence at a later date this winter or early spring.  Think fig trees...