Mulch not yet broken down for planting

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Trisho
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Hi there

I put quite a thick layer of mulch, leaves, on my beds in the Fall, and aso id some cover crops. In the places where I didn't have as many cover crops, the thick mulch has really broken down and I won't be able to plant in the next few months. Should I just take some of the leaves off and add some living soil, or vermicompost, or other compost, and then plant into that? Thanks!
PeasIntheRain
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I'm curious to hear the guidance from our instructors too because it seems to vary by the crop you want to plant.

I've had good luck for some seeds with just clearing a spot for them to come up. Scratching away the mulch from the spot where the seed goes or from a narrow row.

However, some slug-prone crops suffer if there is too much large-size mulch around them when they're just starting. I know one answer is to rely 100% on transplanting in larger plants instead of direct seeding but that adds a layer of time/effort/materials investment that doesn't always align with the demands of home gardening.
kmaxx
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Yeah, I'd love to know the answer to this question as well. Hopefully the admins can chime in on this 😊
TomF
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If you have put down a lot of organic matter as mulch for the winter and it has not fully broken down, do not worry. I bet if you look around and lift up that organic matter, you will find worms happily munching away at that organic matter. Now worms don't eat organic matter, they consume it and crush it in their gizzard to release the nutrient from the bacteria and fungi and other microorganism in that organic matter. It then passes to their intestinal track which, is full of bacteria and fungi, which continue to break down that organic matter finally releasing worm castings, the best compost money can buy.

Now if that layer is thick and maybe not fully broken down, fear not as it is a surface layer that still protects your soil from the compaction of rain, the exposure of the soil to seed germination and the effects of evaporation on the soil. You do not mention the size of the area you are dealing with but you can chose to remove it in areas where you are planting enough that you are planting into soil and not just the organic material. If a small garden area is what you are talking about, you could rake up the surface mulch, compost it and plant your seeds or starts but ideally you would have a good layer of seed free mulch to still apply for all the same reasons you want mulch in the first place, cover the soil, retain moisture and feed the soil biology.

If you have some compost from last year that is ready, you could clean up your mulch and spread a few centimetres of fresh compost on the surface. That will also act as a mulch but it may be further along the decomposition process, have higher fungal and bacterial populations to help your new plants thrive and be more aerated with good aggregate composition. The compost will do the same thing as a mulch layer in protecting the soil below, retain moisture and be a seed free layer over your soil.

If you do have a heavy mulch layer, you may have some compacted organic matter that could be anaerobic or have anaerobic pockets that we are always trying to avoid. Even if you remove the mulch, aerate and mix it (like a mini compost pile) and re-spread on the surface again, you will do well with that cover on the soil. Just beware of harbouring pests like slugs as they will have plenty to eat and hide in but if your starts are strong, they may be fine. Sowing seeds may be more of a risk as they may be like candy for the slugs.
jack oostenbrink
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Trisho wrote: Sun 20-Feb-2022, 09:41 Hi there

I put quite a thick layer of mulch, leaves, on my beds in the Fall, and aso id some cover crops. In the places where I didn't have as many cover crops, the thick mulch has really broken down and I won't be able to plant in the next few months. Should I just take some of the leaves off and add some living soil, or vermicompost, or other compost, and then plant into that? Thanks!
I just pull the leaf layer to the side to give some open ground to seed or transplant into. You should not need to add any other compost and once the transplants are somewhat established I shift the composting layer of leaves back in place to serve as a mulch and allow the degradation process to feed the plant.
SCalberta
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Jack in your response could you please explain why you think it is not necessary to add any compost?
Sorry I find the whole discussion on this confusing. In the module on compost the suggested step is to add a layer of compost every year and then add mulch to protect the living soil. The mulch seems to be treated separately from the compost. They both have their purpose.
Cheers Sabrina
Danoost
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There are no hard and fast rules about how and when to apply mulch or compost. But let my try explain my approach.

Note first that experienced gardeners almost always have the ground covered with living plants. This is what you need to aspire to. My recommendation is to mulch these living plants (carrots, beets, leeks, cabbage, potatoes) with a mulching compost as they're growing and in the fall to protect the roots from the cold.

However, in our early stages of gardening, some of our garden space will be infertile and bare. These areas should be covered liberally with a mulching compost. We need to activate the soil food web by introducing microbes and microbe food and the best time to do this is in the fall with any organics we have available so that we're ready for the spring growing season. This is what we illustrated in the video you're referring to.

By the time spring arrives, the mulch is usually ready to be planted into. After this time, you only need to apply small amounts of compost or mulch around the base of the plants. Do this biweekly throughout the growing season.

A heavy application of compost and mulch after this time will no longer be necessary. But If you have it available and you have areas of your garden not in use, cover with organics and compost in place.
John Amy
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Thanks for all the info here. I'd like to get some feedback on our similar situation. We're in year 2 with our raised beds, most with cover crops and lots of leaf mulch over the winter. The leaves are pretty thick and not fully broken down. Wondering how best to proceed this spring. We've got a little mushroom manure left over and we have access to bunny manure. Thinking of adding this over the leaves for now. Also we could harvest some of our worms. I't been almost a year since we got the Hungry Bin. I think we'll do lots of starts this year so could plant into this in a few weeks onward without too much disturbance. And we'd have a thin top layer for those things we want to plant sow directly. What do you think? Will this work and how much of an additional layer would we need to make this work?
Danoost
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If you've had things covered all winter with leaves I don't see the need to add on top of that this spring with mushroom or rabbit manure. I would prefer to add these ingredients to your compost where it'll break down nicely and can be used as a mulch in your garden once your transplants are established.

In areas where you want to direct sow, remove the mulch and if the soil is fine enough, you're ready to seed. If it's still course, as is the case for many no-till mulching gardeners, layer with an inch or two of fine compost.
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