Re: Grass mulch

Schmiege wrote:
> 
> I found your comments very interesting on the use of grass clippings.
> In Greece our climate is hot, windy, dry all summer with rain ending
> in April or May and returning in September.  (Hopefully) Sometimes we
> get one or two rains in the Summer. I use drippers in my garden for
> watering and put newspapers between the rows or brown paper bags cut
> flat.  On top of that I add as much grass clippings as I can find
> locally.  Usually the whole garden gets covered like a thick carpet by
> the end of Summer.  Green wet grass is kept away from the plants until
> it is dry and then pushed closer to the vegetables to keep all weeds
> out.    In the fall it is cultivated in.  I found the soil is
> improving.  I have been doing this for 3 years.  It practically
> eliminates weeding and I do not have to water as often.  Since
> starting this system I would not consider  using any other method.
> Only sweet corn is grown without the mulch method.
> 
> One other thing I do is when I put down the drippers I plant on both
> sides of the dripper line so one dripper line gives me two rows of
> plants.  I do this for red beets, beans, lettuce and similar plants.
> Peppers, tomatoes  and individual plants get individual drippers.  I
> water my tomatoes much more because I read that blossom end rot comes
> from the tomato plant having dried out.How do you know when to water
> your tomatoes?  I buy disease resistant seeds and so far this year
> have not had to spay anything.
> 
> My garden has different things growing at different levels of
> readiness.  Some things are coming up and others are in full swing.
> How do you manage to water so little when things are just coming up?
> Also it takes me most of the Summer to get all the mulch collected.
> Therefore some things are not mulched as soon as others and mulch
> definitely affects the watering. I water when the smallest plant needs
> it and probably the mulched ones get too much water.  Periodically I
> spray with liquid fertilizer when I think the plants need something.
> 
> Lorraine 
Your method of gardening with mulch seems to be pretty standard among
organic gardeners these days and very effective it is. 

The only way my routine would differ from yours is that I wouldn't even
cultivate at the end of the season, but simply put on either a winter
mulch (grass plus autumn leaves) if the ground was to be left vacant or
a thin layer of compost over the top if it was to be immediately
replanted. Experiments have shown _better_  penetration of organic
matter into the soil where strict no-till methods are practised and of
course there is also no interference with soil structure.

Moira

-- 
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, 
New Zealand (astride the "Ring of Fire" in the SW Pacific).
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