Mulch

(One of my fava bean seedling mulched with straw and peach tree leaves after the rainstorm)

Until I started gardening, I only knew mulch as those ugly cedar chips that suburbanites used in their landscaping around their no-stress bushes.  No offense, of course, meant to any suburbanites who may currently have said cedar chips in their landscaping. 

What I've learned about mulch since I got my 5x12 plot of organic dirt is that it is a BIG topic.  The "types" of mulch cover a broad spectrum, there are websites devoted to it,  and it's apparently important enough that you can find "mulch calculators" ala mortgage, bank loan, and currency exchange calculators.  So you KNOW it's important when it gets its own calculator.

Generally speaking, mulch is (usually) some sort of organic material that is used around plants to keep the moisture in, protect the roots from the cold (and critters), keep weeds at bay, and regulate ground temperature.  But, mulch can also be used to keep a garden bed stable and warm in between plantings, too.   It is a noun (as in the material) and a verb (as in "to mulch" your garden). 

Now, mulch also can be non-organic: a plastic covering, chemically treated "wood chips", or the latest HGTV craze - recycled tires that have been ground up into strange looking black, rubbery chips.  I'm all for the green makeover, but this just feels, well, not very green.  Ironic, even.  

When I first started gardening, I was afraid of the mulch.  I was afraid if I used the straw provided for us by the garden that I would smother the seeds and they wouldn't germinate.  Or, gasp, it would look ugly!  In my fear and vanity, I left my garden open and vulnerable to not only the elements but to the wild animals. 

I've come a long way since then.  Ugly be damned if it gives me good nourishing cabbage!  Ugly be damned if it keeps the local cats from using my garden like a big litter box or if it deters the raccoons (okay, nothing deters the raccoons).  Ugly be damned if it gives my garden a fighting chance in weather like we've had the past week: almost freezing nights, cold hard rain, and WindWindWind.

Now, you can over-mulch, too.  There are lists of ugly named fungus' that can fester in your mulch if you've over-protected your seedlings.  Not only are they capable of infecting your plants, but they can attack the roots and fruit of the plant.  They can, in short, suffocate your plant.  I realized today as I found the most beautiful form of mushroom growing near my volunteer sunflowers that when I had transplanted them along the garden edge, I had over mulched them.  I believe I can save the situation, but I feel bad that these lovely sunflowers that had decided to grow of their own accord were at risk before they could reach the 10 or 12 feet their ancestors had before them this summer. 

In fact, what I've learned is that with mulch, it is a matter of balance. 

Just like a healthy garden, we humans need a bit of mulch, too.  We need to protect our roots, maintain a stable internal temperature reading, and keep at bay those things or people who will try to impede on our growth and steal our nutrients.  We need mulch in the form of discernment about what comes in close to us and when we may need to lay fallow and rejuvenate.   We need some amount of this to protect ourselves so that we can flourish, grow, create - and in turn give nourishment to others - just like my lovely and giving vegetable plantings.

In the past, I've had a tendency to over-mulch myself or surround myself with the equivalent of ground up tires.  I felt compelled to protect my heart, my ego, my erroneous visions of myself.  In over-protecting myself, I suffocated and denied my roots what they needed to take a firm hold of the earth so I could reach for the sun like my gigantic, graceful sunflowers.  I've had a hard time learning the difference between laying fallow to restore and smothering myself in withdrawl.

Yet, in trying to correct myself from over-mulching, I fear at times I have not mulched enough.  I find myself often giving up my own nutrients to others rather than protecting them so that I can flourish and bear fruit like my endlessly producing zucchini plant this summer.  Sigh.  Maybe I need to invest in a mulch calculator.

This is a balance we must all reach to have a healthy and fruitful life.  I know my journey into mulching, both in my garden and for myself, will be a long and winding one.  I will make mistakes, over-correct, and hopefully occasionally get it right. 

My plants are counting on it....