Mulching

Grass and weeds under the trees can slow down the establishment of the trees, shrubs and other plants considerably, and even mean that some trees don’t make it at all. Persistent weeds can also compete with the new plant. For this reason, it is wise to make use of both a mulch and ground covering plants.

The picture left, shows persistent grass under allium bulbs, even after mulch fabric had been used. The chosen ground-covering plant Corsican mint, wasn’t strong enough to keep the grass down.

On the right, you can see sweet woodruff under camassia bulbs thriving, and keeping the weeds down quite successfully.

Mulch:

All the ground should be covered with a mulch before being planted with our chosen plants. This is a lot of work to apply, but because the soil has had a lot of abuse, we would bring in a whole host of persistent weeds if we let nature take its course.

• We can use either woodchips or a mulch fabric for this.
• If one has access to an abundant source of woodchips (ask local gardening services or tree surgeons etc.), this is likely a cheaper option than the mulching fabric. Do keep in mind that there is a very large area to be covered and a layer of at least 15cm thick is needed. Putting down the woodchips is quite hard work, so if you choose to use it, get some friends to help, and don’t try to do the whole Garden in one go, but create smaller areas and expand the cultivated area every year.
• Mulching fabric (link to resources) is made with natural fibres such as jute, and comes in both rolls and squares. It can be bought online and is easy to apply, but more expensive than woodchips. Advantage is also that it is easy to get the amount needed. Here too, keep the area you work on each year a manageable size.

Mulch fabric strategy:

• Under the bigger trees and shrubs, we will put mulch squares, made of jute. This material will prevent grass and weeds from coming up. After two or three seasons the jute will degrade.
• Under the smaller shrubs, we can use rolls of the same jute mulch, rolling it out before planting.
• Before planting bigger areas with our chosen plants, the plants that were sown to make sure the ground was covered (covering bare soil), should be slashed and covered with mulch roll in autumn. The new plants can be planted in late spring, giving the old ones some time to start composting under the mulch fabric. The mulch fabric will compost in time. The intention is that by then our chosen plants will be strong and quite big, covering most of the area.