Mulching

From eagle-rock.org
Higher topic: Gardening
Underlying topic(s):


Topic in Gardening courses

Chunks of information

  • Why should the soil of a garden be covered, preferably also through winter? Firstly, this protects the soil, against drying out but also against rainfall. When rain hits the soil directly, the soil fills up and there's little oxygen left. This causes the demise of many micro-organisms that are needed to keep the soil healthy and fertile. Also the roots of plants need oxygen. Furthermore a soil depleted of oxygen lowers in pH, which means that many nutrients in the soil are not available to plant anymore. Second, plants growing in autumn and some in winter use the nutrients available in the soil. In that way they don't go lost for your garden as the crops are either eaten or put in the compost heap. If the soil isn't covered with plants, rain rinses many nutrients into the ground water. A soil that goes through winter in this manner will be ready for new crops in early spring. It won't be much work to loosen it and it needs less compost or other fertilizers. It's a soil that invites to sow and plant.


Gallery

See also

External links