Question about using mulch in the veggie garden...confudido!

pretty sure its a mistake to have decomposing material in the soil, on top of the soil OK, in the soil? not unless its already mostly broken down...
if your soil is already lacking in nitrogen and you mix in some fresh carbon ex. straw, you're pissing in the wind!

 

Well we'll find out won't we ?! Fortunately I have about 1/2 pound of onion sets to plant. I have already planted another pound or so in a bed without the hay mixed in. I'll be able to compare the results. I'll keep you all posted.
Thanks @adam.ca , @carolyn @mart @Odif !!

 

Compost makes great mulch! I've used it for years.

 

Adam I have sandy soil and I have always worked organic matter into my garden. I have never had veggies yellow because of this. I was under the impression that when you dig green material into the ground that you can get nitrogen deficiencies. Her garden is no dig so you just put on top without digging.

 

It does not work that way in the forest does it?

 

it doesn't work that way in the forest.
the decomposing material rest on top of the soil, it dosnt get mixed into the soil.

 

Thats what I meant.

 

compost is gr8 mulch and can be worked into the soil. because its already mostly broken down.
BUT its not a good mulch because it drys up quick.

green material is probably not as bad as brown material when it comes to mixing it into the soil. green is a source of nitrogen brown is carbon.
no dig is hard to achive from the looks of it.

maybe what @Cayuga Morning shoudl have done is throw a little compost and grass clippings into the hay before using it as mulch, that way it would have broken down faster, at which point it would of been safe to simply cover over with compost.

I will be very interested to see the results.


I also made a mistake last year, I have a bed that has some cedar mulch worked into the soil. From looking at videos and whatnot, i now know that was a mistake, and has problem made my soil more acid and also robed ( and continues to rob) the soil of nitrogen. things seemed to grow alright in that bed, but I have very little experience and had nothing to compare my results with. my plan this year is to 1) remove as much of the pieces of mulch I can find. 2) add a 5-5-5 all-purpose fertilizer 3) top the bed off with compost.

i will make new beds this year and this time not add any darn cedar mulch INTO the soil, but I will add the recommended amount of 5-5-5 fertilizer , and fill the bed with a mix of compost and garden soil.

so I guess I will be also running a similar experiment to your own. bed that had mulch mixed in Vs bed with proper soil mix.

I am Also trying to achieve a "no dig" style garden beds, and i'm looking for a mulch that will decompose threw out the growing season such that i can safely just throw compost ( or just more mulch ??) ontop of it the fallowing year and "build up the soil"

 

This is an interesting discussion. I know that bacteria that break the wood down will take away some nitrogen in the soil. Normally this occurs on the surface. This will also happen deep underground e.g. when a tree dies it’s roots will eventually decompose.

Very popular with gardeners here is BRF ((Bois raméal fragmentée)). This basically means wood chips. What they do is grind up young wood in winter and lay it on the garden. At first is 20 cm and subsequent years 8 cm. When you put the Wood Green onto the ground and you plant in it your plants will be yellow from nitrogen lack. You have to wait at least 6 months and then if you pull the woodchips back you should see loads of mycelium. This means you can plant. I have used woodchips after first stocking them for a year or so.

 

Just observation, but imo the thickness of the top layer as it relates to oxygen is key, and changes with the material in the sense that the layer being digested is at the oxygen interface rather than just the soil interface. Thus a thick layer of compost fines can cause trouble were it packed down by rain for example.

 

@Odif I had a load of wood chips delivered to the community garden 2+ years ago. They are very gradually decomposing. I have assumed they would be a source of organic matter but not nitrogen. Are you saying they would be a good mulch if I put them on my garden in early fall, & let them sit through the winter? That mycelium will grow? This mycelium is beneficial to the growth of garden plants, right?

 

@Dirtmechanic this is probably true, but you also need enough contact with the soil for decomposition. Too much air in the mulch & nothing happens.

 

Cayuga you can put them on now as a thick layer of mulch that will work well. Wood starts to release loads of Nitrogen by the time it is decomposed. Mycelium are simply the underground part of mushrooms.

 

On the atmosphere side of the interface yes nothing much happens, except sunblock from UV rays, Cooling, final dessication prior to reincorporation. A staging area basically, before the soil eats it.

 

Hay on top of the soil will not reduce nitrogen in the soil ! Even if it did,, would not hurt the plants ! Not all plants require the same amount of Nitrogen ! Nitrogen is normally for leaf production ! So if you are planting spinach,, its fine but not needed so much for potatoes !