Re: Mulch vs reseed?
- Subject: Re: Mulch vs reseed?
- From: s*
- Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2001 11:01:10 -0700
Hi Nan --
What I do in cases like this is just top-dress with compost when the plants
are reasonably tall (6" or so). This gives some organic matter to the soil
but also (by the time the seeds are falling, at least) is a substance in
which they can grow easily. It is kind of tricky figuring out when and
where you can squeeze a bit of compost in between the plants :-). I'm sure
I end up doing less amending than I would if I weren't trying to let them
reseed, but I try to tell myself that next year's plants will be in
slightly different places and everywhere will eventually get some
compost. I'm assuming organic matter is your main concern, since once
these puppies get reseeding I don't think there'll be any space for
weeds! And being all extremely drought-tolerant, you're probably not
worried about water, unless San Diego is a lot hotter than I imagine.
Here in western Oregon, I find that California poppies left to reseed
themselves take over the yard -- they produce tons of seed, and it washes
into other beds with the winter rains. If I just want them to reseed the
area they're in, I need to deadhead them about once every couple
weeks. The seeds I miss are plenty to reseed the bed very densely :-).
Hybrid poppies don't behave the same way here, because we get freezes in
the winter that kill most of the seedlings. If you didn't have the hybrid
poppies -- which need light to germinate -- or if they sprout for you the
way California poppies do for me, then you could mulch the bed with
whatever you want and I'd think you'd still get plenty of seedlings. Sweet
peas, up here, reseed just the right amount -- not too many, not too
few. They don't mind having their seeds covered by most mulches.
I love trying to establish these little self-maintaining 'ecosystems' with
shrubs and trees above, and perennials, reseeding annuals, bulbs, etc.,
below. It's so neat to see how the colors and locations and ratios of
different species change from year to year. I have some beds that are
stable enough in this way now that I just water them once a month in the
heat of the summer, and weed them twice a year in spring and
fall. Eventually, when I have less time to garden, I will just let the
whole yard go and see what happens.
Have a wonderful time experimenting! I'm sure your conditions are a lot
different from ours up here (climate, soil type, etc .) so all I can really
offer is info on how these things go up in my neck of the woods.
-- Susannah Meininger
Eugene, Oregon
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