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jal_ut
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Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

Re: Use mulch or not?

I usually get June, July and August frost free, though have seen frost every month of the year. My growing season about 100 to 120 days. depends on the season. Corn planting day is May 5, and tomatoes and peppers out in the garden June 1. Cucumber seeds in the garden June 1.

As noted, I mostly go mulch free. However I do run the wheel hoe between rows now and then. This disrupts weeds and leaves a loose top which dries quickly and actually acts like a mulch, in that weed seeds won't germinate because it is dry and it shelters the lower damp levels from the wind.

This valley where I live was once the bottom of the ancient Lake Bonneville. Some time in history the water left and the area dried up. So the soil is very fine and down under is a clay substrate. One must be careful to never work the soil when too damp or it just clumps up in hard clods.

This is farming country. Lots of cattle and dairy farms. Alfalfa hay is a big crop here for cattle feed. Corn for silage is also a big crop, and lots of wheat, and barley is grown. Yes, all the farmers put ammonium nitrate on their soils in the spring.

I need to add that this is dry country. Avg annual rainfall about 13 inches. Most of that comes in winter. We don't grow much garden type stuff at all without irrigation. So we have an irrigation system . The water is stored in a reservoir and distributed via canals and pipeline systems. My water comes in a pipeline from the canal up above me and is gravity fed sprinkler irrigation using 4 inch pipes with rainbirds on them.

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imafan26
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Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I've gotten weeds in mulch that I am still battling. I guess I just can't tell good mulch from bad. The green waste facility here also has free mulch that is leftover after composting. It will continue to decay, it just takes longer. I only mulch my paths. After a while the mulch will turn into compost and I could scrape it into the garden beds if there aren't any weeds in it.

Mr green
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Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2015 6:08 pm
Location: Sweden

Never had that problem either, but I never use weeds with seeds or roots that can grow for mulch. They go in the compost.

I do get weeds, but they don't come from the mulch that I'm 100%sure of.

Knowing your source is key in many ways.



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