Harvesting should be in full swing about now (depending on where you live) so it is a great time to begin considering your plan for fall and winter seasons.

Begin or continue composting garden/lawn wastes as you tidy for winter.

You could also sow a green manure crop such as crimson clover, vetch or field peas, in empty spaces in your garden or flower bed. Green manures suppress weeds and add nitrogen and organic matter when dug in next spring.

We here at VegeNag would love to see some of the “fruits of your labors”. Please send us a couple photos or links to your successes this year.

aaron @ vegenag.com

For the last few years I have been buying my black plastic mulch from the big box stores. I usually buy the 3′x50′  6 mil roll and then would drape them across the rows. This has worked well for water retention and weed control. I am a big fan of black plastic for your mulch. For more information on mulching, read my recent post.

This year I am trying a new black plastic mulch that I got from PineTree Gardens. I was skeptical because it was such a thin mil. However, I saw the same mil thickness in all the gardening magazines so I figured they knew something I didn’t. Well, I believe they did. I just received the plastic today and while thin, it is highly durable and stretchable. I also believe that the thinner mil will moderate the soil temperature better producing better yields.

I am also really excited about the 4ft width instead of 3ft. We always have weeds in the pathways between rows since the plastic doesn’t cover this. Now I shouldn’t have that problem.

In summary, I would recommend the new way I am trying. I believe I will be very happy with this new black plastic mulch. It was also pretty cheap, .15 cents a foot. You can also try some of the other new plastics like the SRM red plastic for your tomatoes. I have yet to try it, but they say you get a 20% better yield than black plastic because the sun reflects the red into the plant which somehow makes it produce better. One of these years I will spend the extra money and try it, but for now I am happy with my yields for the money.

Anyone who hates gardening because of all the weeding probably doesn’t use mulch. Last year I hardly ever had to weed because I use mulch wherever possible. If for only this reason I would mulch, however, there are many more benefits to mulching your garden. Go to the USU extension fact sheet on mulching for a full run down of mulching and the different types, I will sum up the benefits here.

Benefits to mulching:

• Reduce moisture loss
• Increase nutrient and oxygen absorption due to near the soil root production
• Moderate soil temperature
• Control weeds
• Reduce compaction
• Add visually to landscape

Hopefully this will convince you to use mulch, but now the question is what kind. Here are a few tips.

First, my favorite mulch is black plastic. It is fairly inexpensive, and provides the best results for the benefits listed above. When it is not possible or practical to use plastic, then I like to use grass clippings.

For example, with peas, beans or corn it is not very practical to use black plastic because it would require so many holes. For these I spread grass clippings which also improve the soil over time. I also do this for my raspberries.

A word of caution when using grass clippings, you should not use a “weed and feed” lawn fertilizer on your grass or else the weed control will affect your plants, if you do use this type of fertilizer then let the clippings compost for a number of weeks before using. Also, you should let your clippings dry out before using. I usually only need to dry them out for a week in my climate.

Of course, if you want the many benefits of mulching then you need some sort of irrigation system that would allow mulching. I would recommend a drip irrigation system as shown here.