Living Mulch?

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angelinab
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Does anyone have experience interplanting clover in a small garden? I'd love to hear about it.

I'm considering it for both my pathways and in between rows in my beds. I expect it will create a bit more work to make sure it doesn't overtake things but there are a few reasons I find the option compelling... 1. I'm starting from scratch and am going to have to haul in a couple scoops of soil to build the new beds and add to the old ones (on the ground, not raised. The soil in the yard now is compacted clay and depleted). I have some wood chips from the pruning I've done, enough for one pathway (I'm going to inoculate this path with mushroom spores), but not enough for the whole garden and I'd like to avoid buying/hauling more. 2. Nitrogen fixing and bee habitat, obviously. 3. I like to garden barefoot in the summer and woodchips don't feel great on my feet.

Worth mentioning -- this garden is somewhat temporary. I just bought this house and will be remodeling/adding on to the back of it in the next couple years. At that point, I'll run water and power to the garden area (right now the spigots/outlets are near the house and the best spot for the veggie garden is at the back of the yard) so trenches will need to be dug. Plus, I expect the backyard to get pretty well trampled as the work gets done. So everything I'm doing now I'm approaching with the mindset that the priority is to build the soil so when I start over in a couple/few years, I have a more nutrient rich foundation on which to build my permanent dream garden with its mossy stone pathways.

Also I have a pine tree in the front that gives me more than enough mulch for the beds, and that's probably the less labor intensive option for in between the rows but, frankly, clover is so pretty, I prefer it to the brown needles.

Any and all advice/thoughts/opinions will be much appreciated!
Danoost
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The microbial life associated with living mulches is much greater than dead mulches. We should use living mulches whenever possible.

However, living mulches can be challenging to remove, they might self-seed and they may shade the crop your trying to produce.

Recommendations:

1) only use living mulches in areas that are weed-free. You don't want to fight weeds that might grow up in your living mulch.
2) use easy to kill annual, living mulches if you're a beginner at this
3) try use edible living mulches (for example, spinach planted around broccoli)
4) use annual flowering plants like alyssum, marigolds, phacelia, wild flower mix, etc
5) shy away from perennial living mulches in your annual garden beds (clover concerns me)
6) some herbs like oregeno and lemon balm make excellent living mulches but can creep and cause problems.
7) watch out for self seeding living mulches.

in summary: get to know your plants first and understand their growing habits and life cycle before using living mulches. Only plant / seed living mulches in areas of your garden that are weed-free.
angelinab
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Super helpful, thank you!
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