Mulching and How it Benefits the Farm

By Heather Taylor

The mulched area is between the planting rows

Last week you may have seen that we were hard at work on the student farm prepping beds for potatoes. Everyone pitched in to pull the old crops and weeds and throw them between the crop rows.

Wait…between the rows? Why did we do that?

Before starting classes at CCCC, my experience with mulch was that it was chipped up wood that you used to cover areas in your landscape that you didn’t want grass. In home gardening I would have never thought of adding it to my garden let alone between the rows.

Mulching has so many benefits to the farm and garden:

• It introduces organic matter that will break down and feed future crops as well as the various beneficial critters and microbes that live in the soil
• Mulch reduces weed pressure that reduces our overall workload and keeps those nasty weeds from stealing nutrients and moisture from the crops
• On the day that we mulched it covered up some of that sticky mud and makes walking between the rows easier
• This leaf mulch included pine needles that will help lower our pH as it tends to run a little high on the farm
• As the days start to warm the leaf mulch will help retain some moisture and keep the clay soil from drying out and crusting on top
• Mulch can also help regulate soil temperature

Aside from all these amazing benefits, leaf mulch is something that is readily available local to us and helps us reach our sustainability goals.

So next time you see your neighbor raking up their leaves ask if you can have some for your garden!