Mulch: Because gardening should be easy

Last week I referenced Ruth Stout as the author of the my favorite sourdough recipe book, "Alaska Sourdough." Ruth Stout was not the niece of Judge Wickersham whose sourdough many of us claim to have a part of. I apologize to Ruth Allman, who did write the classic and kept the starter alive.

But while Ruth Stout may or may not have enjoyed Alaska sourdough, one of her things was figuring out how to make gardening easy. And the thing that she found worked the best was mulch. Her mulch recipes are kind of like sourdough. You may have heard of "lasagna gardening," the technique she perfected of layering soil and compostable material on top of each other in sheets to make her garden beds.

Ruth is one of my horticultural heroines. That is because easy is what gardening is meant to be. There are simply too many other things to do around Alaska (or wherever you practice the arts) to spend the entire summer in the garden, as fun is that might be.

Long before Teaming With Microbes, Ruth Stout was trumpeting mulch. Mulch covers bare soil and she knew that there was no such thing as bare soils in nature. As her mulches decayed, she knew they were adding nutrient value and the accompanying compost which resulted built her gardens' soil structure. Ruth also realized her gardens needed less watering because of the water holding capacity of her mulches. And she knew that a good cover of mulch kept weed growth to a minimum. All of this added up to making things easier.

Today, we also know that if you use the right kind of mulch for the plants being grown, you can provide them with more of the kind of nitrogen that they need. There are two kinds of nitrogen (actually different compounds containing nitrogen) that plants use and it is possible to provide the preferred kind of nitrogen.

Now that you have your gardens planted and perennials are up, pay some attention to mulching. Nature always mulches. So did Ruth Stout and you should too.

The soil food web rule is to use brown mulches on soils that are supporting perennials, trees and shrubs. Essentially we are talking leaves and small bark chips. These mulches increase the fungal mass in the soil and the presences of these fungi results in nitrogen in ammonium form. Green mulches, essentially grass clippings this time of year, are best for supporting annuals, row crops and bulbs. These foster the production of nitrates which is what these plants prefer.

Of course, why stop at the garden. I like to extend the concept of easy to the entire yard. Start with shrubs. While some have mulch around shrubs because we (rightly) never clean under them, few Alaskan have adopted the idea of mulching around their trees. Leaves laying under the branches from trunk to the drip line and even beyond is common in nature. This is one way trees feed themselves. Grass really shouldn't be growing under your trees.

You can use bark chips (but avoid the dyed or colored ones). Best however, to get your hands on some leaves. You have them along the fences, behind buildings, under the porch and other hard to get to places. And put a note on the refrigerator now to remind you that next fall collect all the leaves you can. Your trees will appreciate it.

And, next time there is a rainy day, check out Ruth Stout's books. Who doesn't want to make gardening and yardening easier?

Jeff’s Alaska Garden Calendar

Alaska Botanical Garden Gala: A festive evening in the garden is slated for June 23. This is always a terrific — not to mention beautiful — affair. The garden is at one of its primes. Food, drink, art, auctions and lots of friends. There may still be tickets by the time you call 907-770-3692 (ext. 0) or go to www.eventbrite.com/e/an-evening-in-the-garden-tickets-23948878741.

Compost: If you don't have a compost pile, now is the time to start one.  Composting isn't difficult. You need a mixture of green and brown materials put into a pile that is at least 3 feet by 3 feet by 3 feet. Google around and you will see how easy it is.

Butter and eggs: This invasive plant is up and now is the time to lay it down. If you're not sure what it looks like, you can find images on Wikipedia. You have it on your property.