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I was planning to mulch…
Posted on June 11th, 2009 – 9:16 AMBy Robyn Dochterman
…my plants, big and small. I was going to do it right after we got a good gully washer. But then, nothing approaching that has been forthcoming.
Now I’m wondering if I should water, water, water and mulch one plant at a time (I have a bazillion plants). Or should I mulch now that we’ve had a bit of rain, even though the soil is only moist about 3-4″ deep? Or if I should just continue pretending that the deep rain will come?
I’ve got a big pile of woods chips sitting at the ready (see below). I just don’t know if now is the right time.
What’s your call? Have you mulched yet?
30 Responses to "I was planning to mulch…"
…Why wouldn’t you have mulched yet? Short of mulching over seeds, it’s never really a bad time. You may only have 3-4″ of water in the soil, but without mulch it’ll disappear that much faster.
As a side note, I should have taken a pic of my toad that has been eating so many bugs (good toad! /pat /pat) that when he tried to crawl back into the retaining wall, he did a Winney the Pooh. I had to get a crowbar to ge the bricks separated enough that I could shove him the rest of the way in. He’ll be on a forced diet in there until he can crawl out again. 
Seriously, there is nothing funnier than a fat toad rump and a pair of madly kicking legs sticking out of the side of a retaining wall.
I haven’t mulched because I thought you were supposed to wait for the soil to really warm up. It’s been so cold. But I suppose it’s time ….
I mulched in earlier May… just because that’s when I had the time! The mulch seems to be keeping the weeds down, so that makes me happy.
Loved your toad story, Geoff. Maybe we’ll have to make an adult gardener badge for saving wildlife and make sure you get one!
As for why wouldn’t I have mulched? Well, I kept waiting for a good soaking rain. Oh, and then there were the other 297 chores that demanded I do them right now!
Might as well mulch now. Or at least this weekend. We’re not supposed to get any rain until mid-next week, and the woodchips will help save what little water is left in the soil.
In addition, a couple of inches of woodchips will help the dirt from splattering up on the flowers/veggies during thunderstorms, which is what’s coming. It’ll also slow runoff and help moderate the temperature of the ground. Anyone who had mulch around their tomato and pepper plants will have noticed they didn’t mind the cold spell we had as much. It keeps their tootsies nice and warm.
Here’s a good resource about mulch:
http://www.extension.umn.edu/projects/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/h139mulch.html
Mulch NOW. Dry weather plus pending warm temps = evaporation of any moisture you may have.
Mulch early and pray for rain
Does anyone know if the city has restocked the free woodchip piles? Last I heard, they were few & far between.
I haven’t mulched yet. I read that in MN we should wait for the soil to warm up, usually mid June. I guess I should be mulching this weekend then.
Mulch now! Mulch is your friend.
I am with you all on mulching flowers and veggies and so forth. I have lots of trees to mulch also. But if I mulch now, when the soil is dry, is there really that much benefit, versus waiting until after a good soaking rain (when, hypothetically, mulch would help hold some of that moisture in the ground)? To me, it’s a calculated risk to wait for good rain. But what I don’t know — is what’s good enough?
I’m going to mulch soon, at least the tomatoes and peppers. I thought I had been doing a pretty good job of watering my raised beds until we got some more rain. Even the warm weather plants went crazy with all of that water.
Anneesha–I think the wood chip piles will be replenished once the city workers are done using the chips for mulching parks and boulevards. I think.
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I mulched right after planting on Memorial Day, but I’m not sure if that was a good idea. My garden is so tiny that keeping it wet is not a problem. I’m afraid my mulching stunted the growth of my tomatoes and peppers during the warmer weather we had last week. I might move some of the mulch away this weekend to warm up the soil around those plants.
Absolutely Robyn. You’re going to have to wait a week for any significant rainfall, and even then you have no guarantee that it will happen. Meanwhile the water is being rapidly depleted, so that if you *do* wait until it rains, it’ll spend a good chunk of that water replacing what you just lost anyway.
Keep in mind that the dew and humidity will also help wet the soil to a degree. Dry soil put under a mulch will turn a nice darker color when it cools down, as it pulls moisture out of the air. I guess you could go really crazy and put a few 10 lb bags of ice down first. 
That’ll really jump-start the process. Ice-mulching …hmm …maybe I’m onto something.
If you’re really concerned though, just run the sprinkler for an hour or two in the morning to give it a good soak, then mulch like your plant’s lives depend on it. Your plants will love you forever for it. Or at least until the end of the year for the annuals.
I just checked with the city of Minneapolis and CindyLou is right. The park board is currently using all the woodchips it has to mulch its own trees and gardens. But a spokesperson for the city said they should be done mulching by the end of this week. Next week, there should be free mulch.
I would not trust free mulch this year unless you can guarantee that it is free of ash wood. This is the reason St. Paul is not providing wood chips this year.
According to Cy Kosel, natural resources manager with the city of St. Paul, St. Paul hasn’t offered free woodchips for years, because it has a
agreement to give all of it’s woodchips to a single source. Kosel said the city has been talking about establishing free woodchip giveaways but hasn’t acted on it. So the lack of woodchip piles in St. Paul isn’t related to the emerald ash borer.
Thanks for the 411, Connie!
First year gardener - I have not mulched yet but plan to this weekend. However, does everyone just leave it at the end of the year or what? All of the gardens I remember seeing in the fall aren’t covered in mulch.
Please help a beginner.
Angie,
It depends on what kind of garden you have and what kind of mulch you use. Typically, it’s wise to mulch annuals and vegetables with mulch that breaks down easily and can be turned into the soil (stray, hay, grass clippings, chipped leaves). For established perennials gardens, shrubs and trees, you can use a mulch that’s more permanent (woodchips, bark, cocoa bean hulls). I use uncompleted compost in my (admittedly small) veggie beds and free woodchips from the city in my perennial beds. It really does help keep moisture in and weeds out. Good luck!
“Does anyone know if the city has restocked the free woodchip piles? Last I heard, they were few & far between.”
On Wednesday some neighbors said the Nokomis pile was good. Leave some for me!
Some of us wait to mulch until the elm seeds have finished dropping; those things work their way down to soil through anything!
If you put the mulch down now, the next time it rains, your mulch will soak up the water and help form a better barrier to retain moisture, prevent weeds and start decomposing to enrich your soil.
Also, if you’re not opposed to some supplemental watering, water your mulch after you put it down to help speed up the process.
I meant Ramsey County. They discontinued wood chips this year. Sorry.
Best to mulch and then water now before the 80 degree temps. Not only will your plants thank you, but so will your body.
PS: Elm seeds? Our maples went crazy this year, sending MILLIONS of helicopters into the lawn and garden. I’m still on my hands/knees scooping, pulling, cussing them out of the garden.
Just do it now! You’ll be glad you did, it will get hot soon. Then it will be done with.
Kind of mulch. I take the neighborhood leaves and dump them over the gardens in the fall. In April, I rake them off to be able to divide and transplant. As replanting goes along, I bring back the leaves from the pile as mulch. I also scoop up pine needles from the neighbors drive way.
I really like the mulches from stores. While attractive, they are just too pricey for me.
A question on the picture, where did you get the bird/stick on the left?
Last weekend, we visited High Country Gardens in Santa Fe. On a tour by New Mexico Master Gardeners, it stressed that adding 1-2 inches or more of mulch was crucial to gardening in the Southwest. Considering our current drought and the clay (adobe like), I started mulching. My daughter always has and the differences in vigor and water consumption between plants in similar exposures is striking.
I was getting ready to mulch with some store-purchased hardwood mulch and got worried about the Ash Borer (no one wants to be the bad neighbor who infects the area). I checked around and found out the following: Mulch is OK to transport between counties if the mulch is less than 1″ in size (length & width.
So, mulch away!
Greengirls Connie Nelson, Robyn Dochterman and Jaime Chismar are dishin' the dirt from the backyard garden and beyond. Whether you're a greenthumb or greenhorn, they're eager to learn from your misshaps, mistakes -- and most importantly, your sweet successes -- all growing season long.
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