Mulching – have you tried a living mulch?
Mulching is so important for increasing resilience in the garden but what about using living plants? Also, I visit Abbey Home Farm near Cirencester & reveal the identity of last week's mystery plant.
Mulching has many benefits. A cover of compost, leaf mold, a product such as Strutch, wool or gravel will all protect the soil and its life from the heat of the sun or the force of rain. It traps the water in the soil and helps to reduce evaporation, while organic mulching materials will boost the soil organic content.
There is one type of mulching that really interests me – living mulches. I first came across this on a tour of Tolhurst Organics near Reading, with organic expert / pioneer Tolly. He grows white clover under crops like courgettes and squash. The clover covers the ground and fixes nitrogen for the hungry crops. Towards the end of the season, the crops will shade the clover, but then they die and the clover grows on over winter. Often an organic grower will leave the clover int he ground for another season, as a fertility building crop.
Arable farmers are trialing living mulches too, as the photo shows. Here white clover is growing under wheat. It’s a tricky combo when it comes to establishment and harvest, but the savings are great, as there is less need for fertiliser. For organic farmers, it helps to smother weeds.
I use this method on some of my veg beds too. I don’t rotate my beans so they grow in the same bed each year. A few years ago, I allowed scarlet pimpernel to cover the ground under the beans where it thrived in the semi-shade. Now I have a lovely living mulch each year, with the bonus of more flowers for insects.
Abbey Home Farm
Last week I popped into Abbey Home Farm near Cirencester to catch up with head grower, Andy Dibben. Andy is an experienced organic grower who loves to experiment. I had a whistle stop tour of the strip till trial. Rather than tilling the whole plot, they have just tilled strips just wide enough for courgettes. The untilled strips are either left to grass or sown with a fabulous mix of plants that will bring in the pollinators and predators, including two of my favourites, phacelia and crimson clover. This method leaves much of the soil undisturbed, so its busy sequestering carbon and supporting biodiversity.
I also had a tour of the amazing Dutch glasshouse where they grow a range of crops all year round. Being tall and straight sided, the volume of air is large and this provides more consistent conditions for the crops, plus the height means that they can grow fan trained peaches!!
Notice how they are growing peas up netting either side of the peaches, making great use of vertical spaces. Other peaches have a pollinator mix under them. Elsewhere there were rows of early courgettes, salad crops and tomatoes. Their tomatoes grow to the top of the glasshouse!
So a really fascinating 30 minutes!
Did you guess the identity of last week’s mystery plant?
It was Chinese artichokes or crosne (Stachys affinis), a perennial belonging to the mint family. It has knobbly white roots which are crunchy with a delicate nutty flavour. They can be eaten raw, cooked in stir fry or steamed. The roots are often pickled too. If you fancy growing some of these, you can buy from Incredible Vegetables https://incrediblevegetables.co.uk/shop/
Happy gardening
Sally
Coming up………….
Talk 30 & 31 May Sally is giving a talk at the Bath and West Show, Shepton Mallet - 12noon on Thursday and 12.45 on Friday
Talk 15th June Kim is speaking at the BBC Gardeners World Live Show
Talk 4 July Both Sally and Kim are speaking at RHS Hampton Court. Sally’s slot is 4om on the ‘How To’ stage
Talk 13 September Talk by Sally at Yeo Valley Gardens, Organic September Celebrations, nr Bristol
No I didn't get it what it was I thought it was mint!
Interesting idea and something to try out . Thanks for sharing.