DIY mulch: how to make from 8 types of components and rules for use

A popular and effective agricultural method - mulching has many advantages. At home, it is not difficult to make mulch with your own hands. Consider what mulching material is for and how to make it from needles, foliage, straw or hay, dry weeds, sawdust, wood chips, paper and peat. And also, what are the features of soil mulching at home.

Mulching functions

Mulch, laid on the beds, retains soil moisture evaporating from their surface, reduces the rate of drying and prevents the formation of a crust.This allows you to reduce the amount of watering and loosening. This property of mulch becomes especially useful in southern regions, where summers can often be hot and dry. A layer of mulch protects the soil and plants not only from heat, but also from cold, frost, long periods of cold weather or temperature changes.

Due to the dense layer, under which the sun's rays do not penetrate, there is no need to carry out weeding, as the growth of weeds stops. Mulch does not let in light, but it does let air through, which enters the roots of plants. Thus, the use of mulch makes it much easier to grow plants on a home plot. After about six months of presence in the beds, the mulch rots and becomes an excellent natural fertilizer.

How to make DIY mulch

In most cases, making mulch is easy. The plant material from which it can be made is found in almost every area.

From needles

Fallen needles can be gathered in the forest and made from it an excellent mulch, which turns out to be loose, does not rot for a long time. It has an advantage over other plant material: due to the phytoncides contained in the needles, the mulch does not allow pathogens and pests to develop in it, and stops the movement of slugs. Pine needles can be poured into beds both in spring and autumn, but should be changed every year. Layer thickness - on average, 5 cm.

Fallen leaves

Foliage is easy to collect from under garden trees and shrubs in autumn if they are dry. But they can be used as a covering material only if the trees do not suffer from any infectious diseases, there are no pests on them. If in the current season you had to deal with diseases or pests, it is better to burn the foliage. The foliage is laid on the beds with a layer of 10 cm, at first you need to make sure that the wind does not blow it off the ground.If the leaves are laid down for the winter, they need to be removed in the spring and replaced with new material, the same should be done in the fall.

Hay and straw

Straw or hay is also considered an excellent organic material for covering beds. The use of straw has a feature: it absorbs nitrogen, so during top dressing, you need to slightly increase the dosage of nitrogen fertilizers. Straw can be found in the fields after mowing cereals or bought.

There are also requirements for the quality of hay: if it is made from grass that has already faded and formed seeds, then it cannot be used, there is a risk that the seeds will sprout and weeds will grow on the beds, which then have to be fought. If the hay is made from young grass, there is no such danger.

When using such a mulch, you need to ensure that pests and rodents that like to settle in straw or hay do not start in it.

Weeds

Weeds after weeding and tops of garden crops can be dried and dry hay can be used as mulching material. As in the previous case, only young plants that do not have ripe seeds are allowed to be used.

Sawdust

You can use sawdust left after processing wood of any tree species, except for conifers. As in the case of straw, fresh sawdust is not desirable, which, when rotting, also takes nitrogen from the soil. It is recommended to use partially rotted or apply an increased dose of nitrogen fertilizers when feeding plants.

Chips

Small wood chips and similar crushed bark are also used as covering material as well as decorative material. Trees, shrubs, especially conifers, are sprinkled with chips, they line the ground near paths, flower beds.

You can buy wood chips in vegetable growers stores. It is also acceptable to cook the chips yourself, as raw materials are suitable for fruit or deciduous trees, it is not advisable to use conifers.

Paper and cardboard

Small pieces of paper or thin cardboard can be used to mulch vegetable beds. The paper needs to be crushed, wetted and laid in a layer on the soil. To prevent it from being blown away by the wind, sprinkle it with humus or sand on top.

If you use not light, but dark wrapping paper, you can get not only covering, but also earth-warming material. In the spring, under such a mulch, the soil warms up faster, in warm soil you can plant seedlings or sow seeds earlier than usual.

Peat

For mulching garden beds, you can use lowland peat. The material is well suited for sheltering beds before winter and at the beginning of the garden season.In addition, peat is also a fertilizer, loosens the earth and makes it softer, air and moisture permeable. As a mulch, you can use not only fresh wet, but also old dry peat.

Features of soil mulching

Natural organic raw materials for mulching can be found in every area. It is available, cheap and always at hand. But there are some nuances that you need to pay attention to when using natural mulch.

So, it is not recommended to use fresh needles - it is believed that it acidifies the soil. Do not use foliage collected from the forest or from under your trees if there is a possibility that pathogens or pests have remained on them.

It is not recommended to use high-moor peat, it also acidifies the soil. Newsprint is not suitable for mulching due to printing ink, which contains toxic substances. They poison the soil and plants. You can only use blank paper, no printing or design.

Mulch layer of any material should not be less than 5 cm in spring and 10-15 cm in autumn. The lighter the raw material, the thicker the layer needs to be. Autumn mulch should warm the ground and plant roots well in winter, so the layer needs to be made thicker. In the spring, this mulch is usually replaced and burned. Ash can be used as fertilizer.

For mulching home beds, plant material is perfect, which can be collected on your own site. It's hay, weeds and fallen leaves. They perfectly fit on the ground, serve not only as a covering, but also as an insulating material, and then as an organic fertilizer. Sawdust, wood chips can be bought, and needles can be collected in the forest. All types of organic mulch are cheap, available, and not harmful to plants and soil. The use of mulch in the garden can greatly facilitate the work of the gardener, minimize plant care, and increase yields.

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