Living mulch (covering the soil with plants), is I’m beginning to believe, the most nourishing mulch of all. It makes perfect sense to me, as this is how mother nature does it and all my garden journeys loop back to her. Think prairie, meadow, forest – self sustaining “gardens” that need no care, no fertiliser, no weeding. All their needs met via animals, birds and a rich diversity of plants. All connected. Every part – you and I included – a cog in the wheel of life.
Though our food gardens wont ever be as hands free as one of natures gardens, we can certainly evolve closer to this model than we are. The benefits weigh heavily – a much smaller footprint on the earth, less buy ins, less work, less problems and greater resilience by far. Living mulch is one of the ways we can achieve this ease.
The below ground connection
The key to our plants immunity and nutrition, is a living soil. That means, a soil rich in a diversity of life forms – fungi, nematodes, protozoa, bacteria, arthropods and of course worms.
Not so many years ago, I believed the pathway to this living soil was adding lots of ‘stuff’, (affectionately known as the more-on effect). Now I’m slowing down on the stuff front and leaning more on the plants themselves. They are far from inert, closer to amazing, full of life force and connection.
Beneath the soil, theres alot going on and we’re beginning to understand a glimmer of it. One thing we now know, is that plants share resources. I need phosphorus! I have excess nitrogen! – wow, right. They exchange information – “Warning – pest!” “Armour up – disease!” It’s hardly surprising -plants and soil life are long time team mates after all, and they need each other. Plants trade soil life, carbs for minerals (and way more besides). In order to tap into this, the below ground network must be unbroken and multi layered.
This is where living mulch comes in. Cover the ground in a diversity of plants for a diversity of roots below ground. This attracts a diversity of soil life, bringing us back to where we started – the key to our plants immunity and nutrition, is a living soil – a soil rich in a diversity of life forms.
Living mulch in the vegie patch
Living mulch fills the gap where weeds would grow and adds layers of benefit besides – fodder for beneficial insects, material for compost piles and home grown mulch, an array of shapes and scents to confuse pests, a humming soil life, a beautiful garden + extra cropping if you use herbs or food or picking flowers.
My go to plants for this job are chamomile, calendula, chickweed, dwarf beans, phacelia, borage, lupin, daikon, squash, buckwheat, mustard, kumara, soya beans, nasturtium, crimson clover and marigold. Any plant that covers the ground is fit for purpose – so don’t be limited by this list!
My goal is to flow one crop into another without any downtime. Downtime = less cropping. Downtime = weeds = more work. Living mulches bridge the gap, along with a preparedness to replace finished crops right away with a scattering of seed or new seedling. If you are sowing and planting in a little and often way, the gaps you are plugging as crops finish, are small.
Let your favourite green crops, herbs, leafy greens and flowers go to seed and the matter of new seed/ seedlings may be in hand without you getting involved. Ha! now you’re cooking with gas!
3 ways to a living mulch
- Sow or plant the new crop amongst soon to be finished, older crops. This mimics the age old cycle of the young coming up under the wing of the elder – what a difference to new seedlings when they are not on their own, out in the open! I love the time efficiency here – harvesting the old crop while the new crop gets it grow on for less downtime by far between the two. As the new crop grows and builds in strength, slowly chop the older crop back in order to create enough light and space. Return the chopped bits as mulch. Nourishment plus + oh so easy.
- In a similar fashion, transplant seedlings amongst established greencrops. Simply make little pockets in the greencrop, add a dollop of compost if need be and plant away. Chop and drop to let light in as the crop grows.
- Sow or plant a living mulch at the same time you sow or plant the crop. Choose fast growing groundcovers like crimson clover, phacelia or mustard or a mixture of all three. Add edibles like radish, dwarf beans, beetroot – the worlds your oyster! The key is to work it like a puzzle and choose a mixture of plants that all fit into each others gaps, rather than competing for the same space. Some upright, some low groundcover , plus nectar and pollen for benies and nitrogen for soil. Include some quick crops and some slower ones. See my article on guilds, at the bottom of this post, for plant lists of all these. And for the real nitty grittys, my book
Here’s a virtual bed to help you. Plant corn seedlings. Beneath them sow crimson clover (nitrogen fixing and bees) and phacelia (soil building and pollination). Plant a few squash seedlings on the sunny side of the corn, amongst the clover and phacelia seed. Plant salad greens, spinach and beetroot in little pockets along the picking edge.
This bed has it all – fast growing vegetables for a harvest soon – in this case salads, spinach + beetroot, and slow growing, longer term crops – corn and squash. Plants for pollination, nitrogen fixation and living mulch – no room for weeds and no problems with birds scratching or cat toliets. Though the bed is jammed full, all the plants have their own place. Its really no big deal to over plant – any extras can be broken off and laid back down as mulch.
Where does mulch fit in?
This isn’t a case of swapping one for the other, mulch has its well earned place. Look to nature. She sheds her skin all the time, drifting it back to earth to cycle through the soil. The two work in tandem.