Mulch for garden

[snagfinder]

I wanna mulch around my tomatos and peppers this year to keep the dirt from splashing all over them. Was wondering if its bad for them. Was gonna use cedar but was hoping for some advice.

[swamptiger]

32 minutes ago, snagfinder said:

I wanna mulch around my tomatos and peppers this year to keep the dirt from splashing all over them. Was wondering if its bad for them. Was gonna use cedar but was hoping for some advice.

 

Best thing I've seen is just old newspapers.  

 

 

[Big Dave2]

Old newspapers and grass clippings. The problem with wood mulch is it will still be there in the fall when you want to till the garden.

[smurfy]

i dont use newspaper but use alot of grass clippings. and by late fall there pretty much all rotted away..........good for the garden too!!!!

 

if you know someone with a lawn care business get ahold of them, i went to a recycling place that takes grass clippings, and in the town i live in anyway, once they get there they dont allow people to come and take them. apparently something to do with potential lawn chemicals. i now get them from the city, they come from the baseball park in town!!!!!

[KEN W]

I also use grass clippings. But straw works just as well. Not hay......full of weed seeds. Put the mulch around them after the small tomatoes and peppers start to appear.the mulch helps keep moisture level and helps prevent blossom end rot. Right now they need heat .

[smurfy]

another good trick for good maters is once the tomatoes start forming is to put a tablespoon of epsom salt by the stalk about every 3rd-4th watering!!!!!!!! i'm a believer!!!!!!! 

[snagfinder]

So as far as anyway knows there should be no adverse effects except for extra work in the fall.

[Big Dave2]

4 hours ago, smurfy said:

i dont use newspaper but use alot of grass clippings. and by late fall there pretty much all rotted away..........good for the garden too!!!!

 

if you know someone with a lawn care business get ahold of them, i went to a recycling place that takes grass clippings, and in the town i live in anyway, once they get there they dont allow people to come and take them. apparently something to do with potential lawn chemicals. i now get them from the city, they come from the baseball park in town!!!!!

 

You don't have a lawn? 

[smurfy]

1 hour ago, snagfinder said:

So as far as anyway knows there should be no adverse effects except for extra work in the fall.

no mulch expert but i wouldnt think so, unless the mulch has die in it!!!!!!!!

21 minutes ago, Big Dave2 said:

 

You don't have a lawn? 

yea i have a lawn, i dont bag my clippings. i rake it up by had.....like hard workin union guys do ....... but dont ever get near enough!!!!!!!

[Duffman]

I tried mulch a couple years ago around the tomaters, didn't halt the soil fungus I always get.

 

Now I just try to grow them tall very quickly while getting rid of the lower stems.

Took quite a while to see spots last year. Gotta decent crop before the foliage went to carp.

 

Peppers do fine getting splashed with soil in my garden, it's a small garden, easy to keep up on watering and weeding.

[KEN W]

If you haven't planted your tomatoes yet......plant them laying down on their side. Pick off all the branches up to the top.Lay the plant in a trench and cover the stem up to the top. Put a soil pillow under the top. Just be careful not to break the stem (I have).

Tomatoes are the only plant that will send out roots from the buried stem. You will wind up with a large root ball to feed the plant.

This also puts the roots closer to the surface where the soil is warmer instead of deep where it is cool.

[Maxine_Partain]

Mulches are really good. I have tried it in my garden once I had an issue with the weeds. It also retains the moisture in the soil.

[leech~~]

2 hours ago, Maxine_Partain said:

Mulches are really good. I have tried it in my garden once I had an issue with the weeds. It also retains the moisture in the soil.

Maxine_Partain, Welcome to the forum.  There seem to be a lot of folks from Canada joining up in the last half a year which is nice.

The sad thing is they all seem to make about 3 posts on the same day they joined and then they never come back which is sad.

Hopefully you will keep posting.

[snagfinder]

Think im gonna try good old grass clippings since they seem to replenish themselves very rapidly

[Big-Al]

On 5/23/2017 at 9:56 AM, KEN W said:

If you haven't planted your tomatoes yet......plant them laying down on their side. Pick off all the branches up to the top.Lay the plant in a trench and cover the stem up to the top. Put a soil pillow under the top. Just be careful not to break the stem (I have).

Tomatoes are the only plant that will send out roots from the buried stem. You will wind up with a large root ball to feed the plant.

This also puts the roots closer to the surface where the soil is warmer instead of deep where it is cool.

I've been doing this for twenty plus years and am absolutely sold on this method.