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Re: Mulching

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

Hi Kristine---

Mulching raised beds with grassclippings is a great idea.

Use clippings that come from lawns not treated with herbicides, as these can
kill your plants and not be something you would want in your food...

A thin layer of clippings, or clippings that have dried out, are best...

Mulches generally should be applied after the soil has warmed up, for heat
loving crops...

Grass clippings will inhibit weed growth..however if the clippings contain
alot of weed seeds, you may have some weeds in the future once the clippings
decompose, say this fall or next spring...For those of us with Mel's mix or
other rich soil, weeds are easy to control, as they pull easily out of the
organic soil....

Leaves and straw are no problem in a grass clipping mulch---in fact they can
be used as mulches in their own right!

Avoid mulching with too thick a layer of fresh grass clippings as they can
heat up and damage your plants---one inch is plenty for fresh clippings, two
inches of dried is fine.

Mulches generally help the soil by conserving moisture, reducing
temperature, and feeding the soil organic matter.

Grass mulches provide more nitrogen than straw or leaves, so should be seen
as a 'feeding mulch' rather than just a covering mulch.

Hope this helps,

Frank Teuton
-----Original Message-----
From: Kristine Furner <furner@oak.cats.ohiou.edu>
To: Sq. Ft. Gardening list <sqft@listbot.com>
Date: Wednesday, May 12, 1999 12:56 PM
Subject: Mulching


>Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html
>
>Does anyone have any info on mulching their raised beds?
>
>I recently heard of someone mulching their garden with their grass
>clippings.  I am thinking of doing this but was curious on couple of
points.
>
>Does this promote actual weed or grass growth in garden from the clippings
>themselves or cut down on it because of the mulching factor?  Also, what
>about other components in grass clippings, such as, pieces of dead tree
>leaves or straw (from a recently seeded patch of grass)?  Does this hurt or
>help the garden?
>
>Please excuse my incompetence -- I am a first-time sq fter this year!!!
>
>Thanks a bunch,
>Kristine
>
>
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