Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Cocoa shell hulls or buckwheat hulls.
I have never used this mulch, or seen it used in this area,
because it is costly to purchase. It seems wasteful to buy what is otherwise available so inexpensively
from other sources. Cocoa shell hulls are very attractive, though, and long-lasting because they
don't break down as fast as mulches like hay or chopped leaves. Buckwheat hulls are considered
very attractive and preserve moisture well, but if allowed to dry completely, the mulch can blow
away in high-wind areas.
Black plastic.
This material is often used by commercial growers because it heats the soil quickly,
blocks weeds, and lasts a long time. But for organic farmers, black plastic can cause a dilemma. If
you are trying to minimize your impact on the environment, do you really want to use a mulch
that will end up in a landfill instead of feeding the soil underneath it? Besides that, the one time
we tried plastic we had to stake it down when the strong Oklahoma wind blew it around, and then
weeds grew through the holes, defeating the purpose.
Using cover crops, sometimes called green mulches, is another way to keep your land in good
health. This concept of letting the land lay fallow, or not producing a crop that is harvested but
rather planting it with a cover crop, is something that is mentioned as far back as the early topics
of the Bible! In between planting vegetables, you can rotate in a leguminous cover crop like clover,
cowpea, lentils, or hairy vetch.
There are a few things to keep in mind when planting cover crops:
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Time the planting of your cover crops with the season. Winter crops like oats and winter peas
(often planted in a pair) or hairy vetch can be started in the late fall and allowed to work
through the winter.
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When it's time to replant with something else, you'll need to mow or cut down the cover
crop. Sometimes that's just pulling out the cover crop and throwing it in the compost bin,
or running a cutting hoe underneath the ground an inch to separate the plant from the root.
(For us that means turning the chickens loose to work through that specific bed, where
they do a perfect job ripping up the ground, tilling things over, and preparing the bed for
replanting.)
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Many cover crops will become pests in the garden if you let them set and scatter seed before
you remove them. This tendency is lessened when you use chickens to till them up because
chickens will eat many of the seeds.
The main thing about cover crops is to choose something well-suited to your specific area (check
with your county extension office for personalized tips) to keep your soil from being bare in
between plantings. Bare soil becomes hard-packed, suffers nutrient loss, loses top soil, and doesn't
provide anything of value to the backyard farm. Using a cover crop in between plantings helps keep
your garden areas producing at the highest levels.
