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Re: To mulch or not to mulch....

Hi Everyone,
	I am new to this list and have been lurking somewhat for the last couple
of weeks.  I live in Northern California on 20acres of ranch land, not very
conducive to gardening but with the addition of lost of compost, manure and
other organic soil amendments we have ourselves a pretty decent garden. 

 As for mulching, it has always been my experience that if I mulch my seed
beds before the seeds germinate my rate of germination declines.  Here in
Northern Calif. it gets quite hot this time of the year and we seldom get
any rain (although this year is definitely an exception!) .  Our clay soil
has a tendency to dry out and while we are waiting for those veggie seeds
to germinate, the weed seeds sprout like crazy.  My solution has been to
mulch all the way around the seeds to keep the moisture in the soil but
leave a 2-3 inch area above the seeds that is mulch free; this allows the
soil to heat up in that area which in turn allows the seeds to germinate
more quickly w/out rotting and it keeps those weed seeds from popping up
all over the place and overpowering the veggie seeds.

Hope I haven't confused everyone with my explanation.

Dawn Desrosiers dawnd@volcano.net
MoonShadow Llamas/ Misty Moon Alpines
N. Central Ca. 

----------
| From: Louis C. LaCour, Jr. <lacourlc@arlaw.com>
| To: Square Foot List <sqft@lists.umsl.edu>
| Subject: To mulch or not to mulch....
| Date: Tuesday, June 02, 1998 5:21 AM
| 
| I've been following the discussion on the list about whether its best to
| mulch when putting down seeds, and the opinions have been somewhat
varied,
| which sent me to the books to see what the experts had to say.  The long
| and the short of it seems to be that what seeds require most for
| germination is water, heat and light, in that order.  Mulching definitely
| helps with the first, by retarding evaporation.  The heat is pretty much
| left to mother nature.  In fact, light is really not a factor in the very
| early stages of germination until the seed coat is broken down and the
| first leaves appear.  This makes sense when you consider that seeds are,
in
| fact, covered with a very thin layer of soil when planted.  My guess is
| that given appropriate water and heat seeds will germinate irrespective
of
| mulch, and I just as soon have a thin layer of mulch on from the very
| beginning, since its so much easier than trying to put it on around
young,
| tender plants.
| 
| Of course, as they say, your mileage may vary....
| 
| Louis LaCour
| 
| 
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