Vegetables: Should I Mulch my Garden Bed?

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shuggins Houston, TX (Zone 9b) February 21, 2009 05:15 PM	I have decided to convert one of my flowerbeds into my vegetable garden bed. It is full sun, has amended soil, and a drip system irrigation system, so I think it is a good candidate for the conversion. I am planning to put two tomato plants, some onions, cilantro, bell peppers and hot peppers in the bed. While using it for a flowerbed, I always put down shredded bark mulch to help keep the moisture in and the weeds more under control. For the plants that I have listed, can I put down mulch or should I avoid it? Thanks!
ZenSojourner Fairborn, OH (Zone 8a) February 21, 2009 06:12 PM	I typically mulch garden veggies with straw or hay as you can turn it right in or sweep it up and add to the mulch pile. You can use bark mulch if you like but it seems an unneccessary expense to me. I have used bark mulch over cardboard when I have access to cheap bark mulch (local landscapers often sell broken bags for a pittance because they don't want to haul them around). It's not a bad mulch but it doesn't add much to the organic matter, and it can be a pain to clean up at season's end. And you want to clean up at season's end (even if that means leaving it to compost in place) because it will be a problem to replant come spring. If it's a small space you can manage with bark, if it's a large space I'd recommend against it. I'd still recommend a deep mulch of straw or hay personally. If you use cardboard (from broken down shipping boxes, the corrugated stuff not the shiny commercial packaging stuff) around the larger plants and in the walkways you won't have any problem with weed seeds in the hay (I've actually never had any problem with weedy hay/straw because I mulch VERY deeply, weeds haven't got a chance). It sounds like a small area so it might be ok. Just be careful trying to mulch around smaller plants like cilantro.
shuggins Houston, TX (Zone 9b) February 21, 2009 08:25 PM	Thanks so much for the info. It is a very small area compared to what most people have. It actually wraps around the corner of my patio which will make picking the veggies for dinner very easy. I am starting small and then may incorporate some of my other beds next season. Because the area is so small, the expense is not an issue for me, plus I still have to mulch all my flower beds anyway, so a couple of extra bags won't be a problem. I just wanted to make sure that it wouldn't cause any problems with the plants.
feldon30 Houston, TX (Zone 9a) February 22, 2009 12:41 AM	Mulch is crucial in Houston. As long as it doesn't have any special dyes like "super black" or "super red" it's fine. I use leaves but it can be shredded pine bark, etc. Gonna be coooold tonight. Will be planting my tomatoes March 8th unless it's going to freeze.
shuggins Houston, TX (Zone 9b) February 22, 2009 08:38 AM	Thanks for the info. Mulch is crucial for me otherwise the weeds just take over, not to mention it helping hold in moisture. The mulch I got is just plain shredded bark mulch.
NatureLover1950 Vicksburg, MS (Zone 8a) February 23, 2009 09:18 AM	I would avoid using hay and use only good clean wheat straw. Down here hay will get you a good crop of Bermuda grass. I made that mistake in my much younger days :-{
Burnet Ashland, OR (Zone 8a) February 23, 2009 06:48 PM	I dislike bark mulch in general, and especialy in beds that I'll work frequently, because the hard little nuggets of bark get mixed in with the soil and seem to just sit there forever. Even if it's shredded down to pea size, I don't like it. So I expecialy wouldn't like it in a vegetable garden, where I may be re-working and re-planting a few times in a season. I mulch, instead, with commercial compost, preferably organic. This seems to start out moderately dry and fluffy - it's not really thoroughly broken down like homemade compost - so it serves as a water-retaining mulch. But when it comes time to re-dig or re-plant an area, I don't need to pull my mulch back - I just dig it in as soil amendment, replant, and then re-mulch with fresh compost. This is with a fairly shallow layer of mulch - if I spread it really deep, I probably would pull it back rather than dig in a few inches of compost two or more times a year, but even so, the bits that stay behind when it's pulled back don't gum up the soil like bark does. Burnet This message was edited Feb 23, 2009 2:49 PM
cando1 Ozone, AR (Zone 6a) February 24, 2009 12:51 AM	We always used leaves because it was so.o.o.o available. Just be sure they are dry when u add them. We also had problems with mold in wet leaves.
Hastur Houston, TX February 26, 2009 12:30 PM	I am a massive fan of leaves for gardens. My husband will even sometimes "steal" them from the neighbors that we know don't use pesticides and stuff, when they are put out for trash pickup.
TomiWildflower Fairview Park, OH (Zone 5b) February 27, 2009 11:46 AM	All of my gardens get mulched with Sweet Peat - we order in bulk from a local nursery. It's mostly hay from stables, is my understanding, and partially composted. Good stuff, smells and looks nice, and adds lots of nutrients to the soil. If we have leftover we sprinkle it over the lawn.
margocstn Savannah, GA March 04, 2009 12:56 PM	[quote] We always used leaves because it was so.o.o.o available. Just be sure they are dry when u add them. We also had problems with mold in wet leaves. [unquote] I thought leaf mold was good. The leaves in my compost pile has silver mold all through it.
ZenSojourner Fairborn, OH (Zone 8a) March 28, 2009 06:23 AM	"leaf mould" (or "leaf mold") is what you get from decayed or decaying leaves. It's the actual end product of composted leaves. MOLD in decaying leaves is a different critter entirely. Personally I would never use leaves as mulch in the garden because of the molds and fungi you can introduce this way if the leaves are wet enough to stay put. If they're dry you won't have this problem but they'll also blow all to hell and begone. Leaves are just too valuable in balancing my compost pile (carbon to balance the heavy nitrogen from grass clippings). I use other things for mulch, including cardboard, shredded newspaper, hay or straw if I can get it, broken bags of whatever from the nursery, etc. Again I have never had a problem with weed when using either hay or straw as I either mulch heavily (a foot deep) or mulch over corrugated cardboard boxes flattened to use as an organic weed block.
cando1 Ozone, AR (Zone 6a) April 01, 2009 02:06 AM	Thanks for the info between the different molds.I sort of knew but could'nt put it into words. I live in a hardwood forest and can get any amount of leaves or naturally composted leaf soil any time. unfortunately in a forest you can find many kinds of molds. But if i get dry leaves most mold spores dont seem to come with them.
tw48 Refugio , TX (Zone 8b) October 06, 2009 11:13 PM	watch out for poison ivy mixed in with those leaves, though. I learned this last spring when those little rascals just looked like twigs sticking up...:0
HoneybeeNC Charlotte, NC (Zone 7b) October 07, 2009 12:21 PM	shuggins - I wouldn't suggest using shredded bark for your veggie beds, either. The bark will eventually break down, but as it does, it will steal nutrients from your soil. I mostly use composted leaves/grass for mulch. I wait until the seedlings are a nice size before spreading the compost because I've found that if I do it too soon, the seedlings will die from something called "damping-off." If I had access to free straw, I would use that too.

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