Mulching – A Magic Mantra for Assiduous Gardeners

The book “How to have a Green Thumb without and Aching Back” by Ruth Stout, written many decades ago is just what it says – how to be a successful gardener without having to slog your butt off. Her magic mantra… “Mulching”. It comes from her years of live personal experience and experiments, though her primary focus has been vegetables and herbs.

She hit upon this technique of mulching, I think, quite by chance after years of being a “chemical gardener”. But having experienced the magical transformation that happens – to the health of plants, to the quality of the fruits or flowers and the vitality and life of the soil that gets established over time, she became a fan and ardent crusader of mulching.

So, what is mulch? Fundamentally, it is any kind of organic matter (meaning stuff of plant or animal origin) which is used as a layer of ground cover in garden beds or around the base of plants or trees. All those dry leaves or plant cuttings that you religiously sweep away, those weeds and grasses that you uproot, all of which you take pains to burn up or other dump over the fence… can be used as quality mulch. Why only these… the vegetable waste from you kitchen – or for that matter even shredded paper (excluding those colourful ones, for they probably contain some other toxic chemicals that you may not want ending up in your meal) – basically any kind of organic matter, preferably of plant origin - can qualify as mulch. Some other leftovers of non-plant origin, like eggshells or hair that you leave behind with the hair dresser could also be added, but only in conjunction with larger quantities of waste vegetation.

To be effective as mulch, the organic matter needs to be spread in a thick layer of 4 to 10 inches depending on the type of waste. For example, if it is wet kitchen waste, the layer must be thin, not exceeding 4 inches. But if its other waste like leaves or grass clipping or weeds, it can be much thicker. You can also combine different types of wastes… for example, the kitchen waste can be spread in a thin layer at the bottom and the other types of waste can be thickly laid on top.

The known advantages of mulching are manifold, but it is likely that there are many more advantages that modern science has not yet discovered. Mulching is an extremely effective method for weed control. Once its laid nice and thick, weeds, particularly seeds that need to germinate are unable to sustain growth long enough to break the mulch layer and access sunlight, and so die out. This also means that you must not use mulch over smaller seeds that you are germinating – or they will die. But larger seeds, particularly seeds of some trees (for example mango, jackfruit, etc) can pierce thick layers of mulch.

Mulch drastically reduces the requirement of water. Though the top layers of mulch looks dry, it you open it up and touch the soil, you will find that it is moist. Loss of moisture due to evaporation is very high is the soil is exposed, which mulching prevents.

But by far the most important advantage of mulching is transformation it brings about in the health and quality of the soil. The mechanism for this improvement in soil health is probably because of a combination of the following, and perhaps other yet unknown processes:
(a) The rotting organic matter gets acted on by the bacteria that comprise the decomposition cycle and convert it into manure, which is continuously available to the plant.
(b) Apart from moisture that is conserved, one by-product of the decomposition process by aerobic bacteria is water, which is also available for the plant
(c) A dark and humid condition rich in raw organic matter (as is the condition prevailing under the mulch layer) is ideal for earthworms to breed. And, as is well known, the earthworm is called a friend of the farmer, for the burrowing it does and the additional nutrients it provides as it feeds on the dead organic matter and excretes.
(d) The conditions are ideal for ahost of other small organisms and insects that feed either on the dead vegetation or other smaller organisms. This in turn invites carnivorous insects like spiders, praying mantis, etc and also other carnivores like lizards and frogs, which will feed not only on the waste eaters but also on pests that may attack your plant. Thus a whole micro-food chain is set up.

All these changes automatically translate, directly and indirectly, into benefits and results in a vigorous and healthy plant bearing large, tasty and well formed fruit - just the same way that nutritious food and loving and caring atmosphere in a home translates into a child blossoming in to a healthy and a mentally and emotionally balanced adult. All this is possible just so simply by mulching using this innocuous looking and till now unwanted waste organic matter!

But beware! If you think that you can “improve” upon this by adding that additional dose of synthetic chemical fertiliser, or try to “help” the plant by using those toxic pesticide sprays to control the occasional pest, you may find that mulching has failed. Not because there is something wrong with mulching, but because you have chosen to interfere with that beautiful, effective but delicate micro web of life that the mulch managed to create. On the other hand, if you choose to embrace mulching and cooperate with Mother Nature’s ways on her terms, you may find that these fertilisers and pesticides are superfluous and unnecessary in the first place.

Such is the experience of Ruth Stout and scores of other gardeners and farmers who have taken to mulching. I shall end this with an inspiring incident in my own dabbling with gardening.

We had moved into a house with an adjoining large garden in a place with very heavy rains in India. The garden had a banana plant which had four to five plants about a metre (3 feet) tall originating from a single bulb. This meant that the plant was some years old… and so it was. The previous occupant of the house told me that in the past 3 years of his stay, he had been watering it religiously, but the plant had not shown any sign of wanting to grow up. And occasionally a cow would breach the fence and enjoy a juicy feast thereby trimming the plant. I too religiously watered the plant for two years during the non-monsoon months, taking care to avoid cows straying in. Nothing much happened.

Then, at the end of my second monsoon there, I got the waist-high grass that had colonised the garden cleared, and in a moment of impulsive intuition, had all of the grass dumped over the banana plant in one big heap. The grass was so much that it virtually buried the plants. Having done this, I forgot about its existence, so obviously watering also stopped. A few months later was I not surprised to see one stout banana plant rise up from amidst this organic waste heap! – literally like phoenix rising from the ashes. The healthy plant threw up huge healthy leaves and within six months there was one flower that appeared, soon followed by a huge bunch of bananas – one of the largest I had ever seen - there must have been well over 150 of them, and each one looking as large as ever!

We did not stay long enough to enjoy the fruit. We moved and made way for the next occupant who was the beneficiary of this mulching magic, but perhaps little realising it… I won’t be surprised if someone says that he promptly got the area cleared of the “mess” and started watering the plant regularly… But now, you know the secrets about mulching!