How to Use Organic Mulch in the Vegetable Garden

While all organic mulch is perfect for the vegetable garden, some organic mulches just make more sense than others. After all, wood chips and shredded bark are the best idea for a garden that’s going to be planted, harvested, and replanted again. Before you add mulch, consider these organic choices.

Grass Clippings as Organic Mulch

I think the average homeowner overlooks the many joys of grass clippings. The optimal place to use grass clipping mulch is in with the vegetables like tomatoes. The grass had a tremendous amount of nitrogen to burn. So, when you put the clippings around tomato plants, it warms the soil up – which gets the plants on their way to production. Not to mention all the nitrogen that’s released into the soil as they breakdown.

The trick with grass clippings, is to keep the layer under 4″ because if it’s piled much higher, the grass begins to mat becoming oxygen deprived (anaerobic). Which give off – you guessed it – bad odors. Don’t let this tip scare you off, grass clippings are an extremely useful resource.

Compost as Organic Mulch

Compost from your compost bin or pile is probably the ultimate in mulch for the vegetable garden. It’s loaded with turbo nutrients that leach right into the soil immediately. Not to mention it builds soil texture and tilth.

Dry Leaves as Organic Mulch

Gather as many dry leaves as you can in the fall. Bag them up or put them in a hoop cage because there are so many things that leaves can be used for. You can use the leaves immediately after collecting them on your harvested vegetable bed by turning them under the soil and letting them break down over the winter. Come spring, you’ll have a nice humousy soil to work with.

Alternately, you can save the leaves until you plant the vegetable garden and use them as a mulch during the growing season. After the harvest, then turn them under; taking advantage of the mulching aspect before they work for you as compost.

Newspaper or Cardboard as Organic Mulch

Ah, the virtues of newspaper – I could sing its praises everyday (and I do). Newspaper is fabulous as an organic mulch. Most people have it readily available to them and if they don’t; their neighbor does. It’s 100% biodegradable and the critters in the soil love it.

I usually make it about 5 layers thick or more as newspaper decomposes pretty quickly. If the wind is blowing it around while you’re trying to spread it out, just dampen the newspapers with some water. Cardboard works exactly the same way, but it’ll last longer. Cardboard makes terrific paths between vegetable rows.

Straw or Seedless Hay as Organic Mulch

Both straw and hay (seedless) work well as mulch although some people would rather not use it. Obviously, you wouldn’t want to tuck it around landscape plantings if beauty is your goal. Also, if you use thin layers of either one, they tend to blow away easily, so there’s that.

Straw is one of my favorites for vegetable beds and works well for paths between rows. In the pathways, not only straw or hay suppress weeds, but they keep my feet out of the wet soil or mud.

Living Mulch as Organic Mulch

While cover crops and green manures are sometimes called “living mulch”, In this case I’m referring to those crops that can be grown in between main vegetable crops.

Plants like vining vegetables such as pumpkins or those with a wide spread like potatoes. Vine crops like pumpkins, squash, melons, zucchini, and cucumbers shade out and smother weeds while they physically bind the soil to the earth. Plant these trailing veggies among the taller crops like pepper plants, sunflowers and corn.

Crops like tomatoes, and potatoes have a wide reach and heavily shade the soil around them. They discourage weeds and shade the soil so it stays moist longer. Lettuce is a nice choice as a living mulch. Plant it around artichokes, onions, carrots, broccoli, cabbage, and beets as an effective weed barrier. Lettuce is a very light eater so it’s not a big competitor for the other food crops.

A mulched vegetable garden is going to need very little cultivating, less watering, and will yield the maximum amount of fruit.

For more on vegetable gardening, check out Green Manure and Cover Crops in the Vegetable Garden What Compost Does for the Vegetable Garden, and How Worms Improve Soil in the Vegetable Garden.