Adding a Living Mulch

popular living mulches

Red Clover - If you want a live mulch that does double duty and attracts a lot of pollinators, consider growing red clover. Your local bee people will thank you.

Roman Chamomile - This short relative of the German chamomile is often used as a floor covering to enjoy nature and make a good living mulch.

Smaller vining crops- Let your cucumbers roam freely, or the Cuckoos will run wild and not rule out that patty bun squash. By allowing the winery crops to grow where they want, you have got an excellent low-growing mulch that you can eat.

White Clover - An ideal living mulch to use around low-growing crops that will not grow too tall and provide shade for your vegetables. Be sure to prune it before going to seed at the end of the season.

Buckwheat - Buckwheat not only grows fast, it stifles weeds, but it is also a phosphorus fixer. Chop before going to seed.

Alfalfa - It is common practice to use this nitrogen-fixer as green manure, but it makes a good living mulch. However, depending on where you live, it can grow into a perennial plant, so cultivate or plant it wherever you are, regardless of whether it returns each year.

Get Creative - Living mulch does not have to be a plant. Fill in the blanks with herbs and fast-growing annual flowers.

Adding a Living Mulch to Your Garden

For live sown mulch, sow them shortly after you set up your transplants; That way, your vegetable crops will have a good start on the mulch. Consider the mature height of the living mulch you choose and make sure you do not cover your vegetables compared to the crops you grow on it. Do not forget your paths. If there are paths between your rows, plant low-growing live mulch like white clover in your paths to reduce weeds.

Experimentation is the best way to find out which mulch is best for your growing zone and the vegetables you usually grow. Use more than one living mulch for the best results. Think of sub-plants like marigold and nasturtium and use them to cover the bare soil around their companions.

Living mulch problems

Using mulch to live in your garden is not a free lunch; It has its drawbacks. It is important to weigh the benefits with potential complications and determine which mulching method will work best for you. If the plants are not properly connected or your soil can not tolerate both plants, the use of live mulch will make your crop vulnerable to getting nutrients and sun. Live mulch can spread to other parts of the body if it is not cut before it reaches the seed.

If a live mulch is used, the creeper provides more coverage to cover the creeping birds. Although bad garden dwellers are not necessarily, if you do not appreciate the sight of a snake or a snake, it would not be a good idea to plant your entire garden with a living mulch. Although living mulch is better than dormant mulch during the rainy season, especially during the rainy season, even living mulch can withstand high water and prevent adequate ventilation. As with almost every aspect of horticulture, using a living mulch requires a lot of testing and error to plan and find out what works best for you. You will find that you are constantly coming up with new ways to use herbs, flowers, and green manure crops as living mulch in your garden.