Mulch Madness!

I know, I know, I keep going on about mulch.  I can't help myself.  Mulch is making such a difference in the maintenance of our whole place that I can't help but talk about it.  For example, currently we have no functional lawn mowers.  Solution?  Mulch!  Of course!  It is literally taking over the whole yard, and in the process creating future planting beds.


That's the great thing about mulching with hay or straw (sawdust and raw sawmill wood chips too in come cases).  It starts by shading out grass and weeds and killing them (especially if you start out with that underlying layer of cardboard or newspaper).  Then it breaks down into rich organic matter that acts as a topsoil builder.  The topsoil on our place was largely removed by being bulldozed to the bottom of the ravine about 16 or 17 years ago (before we bought the place). 

I know you all love pictures so here goes!

A new strawberry bed in an area I mulched for weed control several weeks ago.

My keyhole garden full of cherry tomatoes, marigolds, and volunteer squash plants.

The recently mulched grape arbor . . .

with newly planted asparagus seedlings.

The garden itself, being overtaken by a particularly prolific squash plant!

In all of this madness we are leaving three "weed" crops, and actually mulching around them.

Red clover has anti cancer properties among other benefits http://www.herbwisdom.com/herb-red-clover.html

Plantain seeds can lower LDL cholesterol and heal infections, http://www.appliedhealth.com/med-scope/plantain-weed.html

And Mullein http://www.kingdomplantae.net/commonMullein.php

Whose leaves contain rotenone (an organic insecticide)

and the flowers are a bactericide, particularly good for earaches

In time the entire yard will probably look like a pile of hay, but shortly after that it will become a permaculture paradise!  Speaking of paradise here are a few pictures of Micah's gladiolus:

Have a lovely week!