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1.) Do you add chocolate or peanut butter chips to the batter prior to baking?
2.) When done baking, should you frost them?
In the gardening world, the compost are the chips and the mulch is the frosting.
It’s the compost that “sweetens” the garden soil. It needs to be infused and mixed into the soil, just like the chips need to be mixed in the batter. And like those chips, a little goes a long way. You don’t need a ton of it to make your plants thrive. Compost is the gardeners “black gold”. The nutrients are constantly being leached into the soil. When rain washes through the compost, tons of Nitrogen and Carbon are washed downward improving the soil quality.
But the mulch? It’s the icing on the cake. Like a thicker frosting, mulch is bulkier than compost and tends to stay in place more than compost would. It spreads easily, covers and protects your soil and plant roots from extreme temperatures, helps retain moisture and suppresses weeds and disease. Beyond all this, it does look good….for a time.
What I don’t like about mulch…
2.) The dyes that are sometimes added to it that leach into the soil
3.) Certain varieties are particularly icky like the shredded tire mulch that is sometimes colored, sometimes not. Ugly either way!
4.) It takes forever to break down, okay when you’re blocking weeds in the “round the house” landscaping, but not ideal in the garden beds.
My Modest Proposal?
- Skip the mulch entirely. I know! If you want to suppress weeds, your best bet is too smother them with cardboard and newspaper. Dump some compost on top of your soil, work in, lay down your combo of cardboard and newspaper and drop some more compost on top.
- Honestly – I think compost looks better than the mulch anyhow! It’s dark, rich and retains that dark color throughout the summer. Jammed packed with disease fighting organisms and essential nutrients, it’s always feeding your soil. Compost also stabilizes pH levels.
- Compost is cheap to buy and free to make! We (okay fine Tom) got a whole trailer full of compost for $30. But of course we also make our own. Remember: Compost is only organic matter. You can’t use it as fill dirt because eventually compost will break down and go away, leaving a hole.
- Some wonderful items to compost are leaves, garden plants, newspaper, grass clippings, manure, straw, and kitchen scraps. The compost pile is the ideal place for all those vegetable and fruit peelings, eggshells, dryer lint, coffee grinds and tea leaves. Once these items decompose, you’ll get a mixture resembling humus with that wonderful dark and crumbly texture.
- Like mulch, a thick layer is better than a thinner one to help keep sunlight from emerging weeds.
- Add 2 to 4 inches of compost to your gardening/vegetable beds and work into the soil either by hand tilling or a rototiller if you have one.
- Add your newspaper and/or cardboard to suppress weeds. Dump another 2 to 4 inches of compost on top.
- If possible (and if you have the time) it’s nice to add additional layers of compost every month or so during the summer and fall.
How to use Compost
It doesn’t matter what your current soil conditions are…compost is going to enrich it. Whether it’s excessively heavy and compact or too loose and sandy, compost will help. It breaks up heavy clay soil like mine and helps it drain better. In sandy soil, compost helps retain the water so it doesn’t drain nearly so fast, giving those plant roots a chance to absorb moisture.
In fact, when compared to wood mulch, compost has a lower carbon to nitrogen ratio meaning…it’s a better quality fertilizer than wood mulch as it decomposes! Yay.
Have you mulched yet? Would you consider using compost as a substitute for mulch?
When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and
now each time a comment is added I get several emails with the same comment.
Is there any way you can remove me from that service?
Thank you!
Hmmmm. I have no idea! Can you go back and next time you comment, uncheck that box? I agree….that would be annoying =) If not, let me know and I’ll get on it!
I have mulched and just hoping it goes away slowly so we can just do without it. It hasn’t really blocked the weeds too well either. I think for our yard compost isn’t necessary though.
We like using pine straw, which works fairly well.
We use compost on our gardens and it is like magic dust for our plants!
Yes, compost has all the nitrogen and nutrients to keep gardens healthy
I dont have a garden
Our sandy soil is dandy for growing just about anything. I have been surprised.
Using newspapers and paper in your compost to suppress weeds is a good idea.
Love getting my hands saturated with God’s sweet soil❣️
I used to help my mom and I remember all those newspapers, wish I had paid more attention to what she was doing in her garden!
I usually have no luck with gardening but I gave it a shot and I have baby peppers and baby bell peppers
I am putting mulch down in my rose bed. Thank you for the tips.
thanks for the great ideas!!!
mulch, love gardening
Thank you for the great idea! We are going to try this with our next project.
I prefer compost
You always have the best advice!
We love tomatoes. Thank you for the information.
I would use both mulch and compost in different areas of the garden and at harvest, see which did a better job
I LOVE the dark, rich color of compost…it looks luxurious. Too bad mulch fades…that looks nice when it is first put down.
cool
This is a great post! I’m moving into a new house and have never been able to plant anywhere else I’ve lived. GREAT tips, now I won’t have to guess!
I love a medium to dark mulch but my step dad does all the yard work. I didn’t think mulch was as simple it is just mulch lol.
My husband does all of the mulching here. He does all the outside work.
Gardening is my happy place. Thank you for this opportunity.
Love learning from your articles.
I’ve never thought about using anything but mulch before! We’ve already put ours down but I’m keeping this in mind for next year!
great article
I have mulched in the past but after reading this article I might try to use compost instead.
I use some much around my flowers and I know it helps with moisture.
I need to mulch more, this is some great information on how to do it all thank you
Good information on the difference between compost and mulch! We compost our own materials because our soil is so clay filled and nothing grows without adding it to our garden. I did pay attention to my great grandmother who taught me about newspaper and cardboard to battle the weeds and I love how it works so well! Thanks for the thoughtful timely post!
Great blog post! Thanks much!
I prefer mulch
I mulch every year. Looks so pretty.