Like many excellent chefs, Samin Nosrat is also a keen gardener. When she’s not recipe testing or cooking for friends or, as is often the case these days, traveling to promote her new cookbook Good Things, she can be found puttering around the courtyard garden that she shares with three other households in Oakland, CA. (I wrote about their unique communal living situation in the 2022 book Remodelista: The Low-Impact Home.) Every neighbor pitches in when it comes to gardening chores, “but I tend to drive the bus,” she admits.
“I’ve been gardening avidly for about 15 years now. My interest in it grew out of both my cooking career and my love of flowers and friendships with Sarah Ryhanen [of Saipua] and [floral designer] Nicolette Owen. And over the years, as I’ve spent more time in the garden, it’s occurred to me that many of my maternal ancestors were also extraordinary gardeners,” she shares.
“For many years I was hesitant to start gardening because I was a renter and felt like, ‘What’s the point? I’ll have to leave everything behind when I move!’ Then, a master gardener taught me that gardening’s real takeaway is the experience, and that even the best gardeners have tons and tons of failures. This has been a great gift to me, as a recovering production-oriented perfectionist. I love that gardening gives me a daily opportunity to slow down and pay attention, to get my hands dirty, and to learn how to look at my surroundings.”
Below, Samin takes us on a tour of her courtyard garden, a place for gathering together and growing things. (Curious about her home kitchen? Head over to Remodelista for a peek.)
Above: The courtyard is where the neighbors come together for shared meals. Above: “I don’t have much room in the front of my house and there is a lot of shade, too, so I took a maximalist approach and tried to pack in as much of a cottage garden here as I could,” she says.”Lots of moody oxalis, hellebores, and heuchera, as well as different types of ferns, including a beautiful bronze fern…. I’ve got chocolate akebia climbing the front, and added a clematis this year. There are a couple different abutilons, a few silver-leafed Japanese camellias, and some oak leaf hydrangea. I also always have Minoan lace and Dara Daucus planted, and then I add annuals throughout the year.”
Cut flower garden. This is a sub-category of garden that, if you had asked me about three years ago, I wouldn’t have even understood, let alone imagined someday having. But three years ago, when we moved from New York City to eight-plus acres in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and set about not only caretaking but working to improve the gardens that were now part of our domain, our super-gardener friend Stephanie declared in a tone that conveyed obviousness, even inevitability, “Well, of course you’ll have to plant a cut flower garden.”
For the uninitiated like myself, a cut flower garden is like a vegetable garden but for flowers—not for decoration but for service. I suppose that more elaborate cut flower gardens are meant to service florists or weddings or even roadside stands. But in our case, our cut flower garden services our dining table and our bedside tables and my desk and anywhere else we need that bump of indoor summery joy around our home.
Fast-forward to a year after Stephanie’s suggestion and, indeed, we planted a cut flower garden—resplendent with zinnias, cosmos, dahlias, bells of Ireland, snapdragons, gomphrena, purple hyacinth beans, and more. But there was a problem: Cut flowers are supposed to grow tall—for, ahem, those big tall giant vases that we don’t have—and that means you have to support the plants. And the way that most people create cut flower garden supports, according to our gardening friends as well as the internet, is with a combination of heavy green garden stakes and twine. You pound the garden stakes into the ground at regular intervals, say, three to four feet apart, and then wind twine between the stakes so that you end up with a series of twine boxes with Xs crossing diagonally. Do this lower to the ground and higher up along the stakes and, Bob’s your uncle, that’s that.
Except Bob is apparently not my uncle, and the twine grid method, for me, wasn’t that easy or workable for three reasons. First, as a baseline, I’m not fantastically skilled at winding or tying twine in such a way that it stays taut and in place. So what initially looked like a sharp twine outline of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich expertly cut into triangles by a very anal retentive parent on school lunch duty inevitably looked, just a few days later, like said sandwich had been left at the bottom of a knapsack for weeks. Second, it never looked good. Even where I occasionally managed to get the twine taut, the giant green metal stakes stood out like sore industrial-ish thumbs pocking the landscape of the otherwise lovely natural-looking flowerscape. And third, hard though it had been to achieve this deeply imperfect twine-stake situation—and, indeed, I had spent hours setting it up—I was gutted by the realization that I’d have to eventually take it all down. And then do it all again next year. And so on and so on. Ad infinitum. Forever.
All this effort for something that didn’t work, that looked garish, and would require repeating every single year? Nope. And this is why I built a series of custom flower support grates and bases for them to rest on. Here’s how I did it.
When multiple people we admire tell us we should check out The Food Forward Garden, a new gardening book coming out this fall, we pay attention. “It’s a design manual on the art, craft, and importance of growing food closer to home,” says its author, landscape architect Christian Douglas, who has made a name in the industry designing beautiful gardens that provide both nourishment and beneficial habitats. Now based in the Bay Area, he began his career in England, creating landscapes for historic estates and London townhomes, after which he spent several years “exploring desert ecologies and regenerative agriculture throughout the world.” Today, his work is an appealing reflection of this background: His landscapes are a little structured, a little wild—and always teeming with life.
Christian’s book hits bookstores this October. In the meantime, read his thoughts below on the “Russian doll” method of planting, the plant he’s “fallen deeply for,” and his current garden fetish.
Photography by Sasha Gulish, courtesy of Christian Douglas, unless otherwise noted.
Above: Christian, pictured here in the garden of celebrity chef Tyler Florence, a client and friend.
Your first garden memory:
Gardening with my father on our wild and weedy 1970s Oxfordshire allotment. Eating muddy carrots and earthing up potatoes. Wheelbarrow rides and grass paths. Watering cans and runner beans.
The seed that started it all..
Garden-related book you return to time and again:
Second Nature by Michael Pollan. A wonderful love letter to gardens.
Instagram account that inspires you:
Todd Carr and Carter Harrington’s @hortandpott. These two creatives are fascinating to watch as they develop their business and homestead in Upstate New York. Maximalist, botanical heaven.
Describe in three words your garden aesthetic.
Above: Christian’s mid-century hilltop home in San Rafael. “We love to host and entertain. Our neighbor’s children love charging around the native meadow and foraging in the kitchen garden,” he says.
Curated, timeless, immersive.
Plant that makes you swoon:
A tangle of Carex pansa and California poppies. I’ve fallen quite deeply for Eschscholzia californica ‘Alba’ (poppies) these past few years. Something about the buttery lemon blooms feel soft and delicious on the eyes, especially when a bumble bee is romping around on the anthers.
Plant that makes you want to run the other way:
Blocks of ‘Platinum Beauty’ Lomandra. I can’t quite get to grips with the “why” of variegated grasses.
Favorite go-to plant:
Above: “Edible decoration for my outdoor lounge area.” Pictured is ‘Bountiful Blue’ blueberry in a basket planter—”these Prolific smaller varieties have been bred specifically home gardens”—and ‘Rogers Red’ grape creeping in underneath. Photograph by Christian Douglas.
Vitis ‘Rogers Red’ (grape) and I are having a moment lately. It doubles wonderfully as a shade vine and rambunctious groundcover, with delicious table grapes and crimson leaves in the autumn. Lower water use. Great for florals, too.
Hardest gardening lesson you’ve learned:
Close your gate. While both are lovely to have in the garden, deer and vegetables don’t play well together. I’ve learned (and subsequently, unlearned) that lesson far too many times to remember.
Unpopular gardening opinion:
Above: For a client in in Marin, Christian replaced a lawn with a stylized French potager with willow planters and gravel/brick pathways. Espalier apple, pears and fig frame the perimeter.
Gardening should be as easy as playing in dirt. But if you’re a beginner, you may be intimidated by the seemingly limitless options out there: what to grow, which tools to buy, how to build a raised bed, and so on. And if sustainability is a priority (and it should be for everyone), there’s the added element of making sure what you choose is earth-friendly. Vego Garden, a leading manufacturer of stylish, eco-conscious, and durable modular garden beds, takes the guesswork out of container gardening.
Vego Garden carries everything you need to start a vegetable garden—from actual seedlings (like tomatoes, melons, and more) to garden tools and soil. In the five years since the company launched, Vego Garden has become the leading choice for stylish and long-lasting garden beds. And now, they’ve come up with a new product line designed for indoor gardeners as well.
Here are eight reasons to go with Vego Garden for your growing needs. And read to the bottom for a special Gardenista reader discount.
1. No outdoor space? No problem.
Above: Vego Garden started as a maker of sustainable raised garden beds, but now it’s entered the indoor container gardening market—to great success. The company’s line of Self-Watering Planters received a 2024 iF Design Award as well as a Red Dot Award for its innovative design. The collection includes an herb planter box with trellis, a mini planter box with trellis, as well as a rolling tomato pot with trellis.
2. They’re great for beginner gardeners.
Above: Vego Garden’s planters are all self-watering. Fill it once with water to provide moisture for up to several weeks. A handy water gauge shows the water level—so you’re never at risk of under- or over-watering, both common beginner mistakes.
Gardeners love spending time outdoors working the soil and tending the garden, but we’re always on the lookout for ways to reduce labor and increase production – and raised bed gardening has lots of benefits that fit the bill!
Whether you purchase a modular kit or build your own, a raised garden bed is elevated from the ground and framed within a container.
We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission.
This is an ideal method to beautify and tidy up your growing space, but raised beds offer many advantages in terms of plant health, soil health, and your own health as well.
How is all that possible from simply raising a garden bed? Glad you asked!
To find the answers, let’s pull back the layers and uncover the many benefits of raised bed gardening!
Here’s what I’ll cover:
9 Benefits of Raised Beds
1. Till-Free Gardening
One of the most significant benefits of using elevated vegetable plots is that they don’t typically require tilling or digging to prepare the soil for planting.
After installing the structure and filling the raised framework with fertile soil, maintaining a light, fluffy texture, and important nutrients is easily managed by using the no-till gardening practice.
No-till gardening involves adding layers of organically-rich mulches before, during, and after the growing season using natural materials such as compost, chopped leaves, grass clippings, well-rotted manure, and worm castings.
As the mulch layers break down, they replenish minerals and nutrients and continuously improve soil structure and tilth.
By not tilling the earth, the microbiome of beneficial bacteria, fungi, insects, and other soilborne organisms remains intact, promoting healthy soil for happy plants.
Another big plus for raised beds is that they allow you to control the content and structure of the soil, ensuring a nutrient-rich environment for your plants.
No matter what type of earth you have in your backyard, the dirt in elevated containers is easy to maintain, providing a light, friable texture that encourages strong root growth.
You can start out with a blend of garden soil, potting soil, and compost.
Garden soil alone is typically too heavy and water retentive for use in raised beds and containers. Potting soil alone is generally too light, not to mention expensive.
But mixed together with the addition of compost or worm castings, you can create a nutrient-rich, productive growing medium that resists compaction.
A worm composting kit like the Worm Factory 360 is an excellent way to turn household waste into fertile soil for your vegetable garden and can be purchased at Amazon.
After harvest, top up the beds with compost or plant cover crops like clover or winter rye to keep your garden flourishing.
And you can use the no-till mulching system all year for light, fluffy soil, replenished nutrients, and to maintain soil volume.
3. Ergonomically Smart
If you can do without achy muscles, stiff knees, and a sore back, raised beds might be for you!
Elevating the workable surfaces of garden beds reduces the need to bend over, kneel, or stoop when planting, weeding, and harvesting – and the higher the structure, the less bending is required.
And in combination with no digging or tilling, back, knee, neck, and shoulder strain is considerably reduced compared to gardening in traditional beds.
If you’re making your own DIY raised beds, you can even add a wide board at the top as a convenient perch.
The raised sides can be as low as eight inches or they can be constructed waist-height, to almost completely eliminate all bending and kneeling.
A waist-high structure, with wide paths, is ideal for those who use scooters, walkers, or wheelchairs when gardening.
4. Weed Reduction
By keeping your garden contained in a raised bed, there’s less chance for weed seeds to spread through your growing environment.
Those that appear from windblown or bird-dispersed seeds are easily pulled, thanks to the soil’s light, porous quality.
But if your beds aren’t elevated on posts and sit directly on the ground, you’ll want to address bottom growing weeds before assembling or constructing the container sides.
The best way to do this is with a combination of materials that block light and inhibit growth.
Before construction begins, cover the base of the raised bed with one or a combination of materials such as mesh wire hardware cloth, a thick layer of cardboard or newspapers, landscape fabric, or burlap sacks.
Ensure plenty of overlap at the edges, and if possible, extend the material out beyond the container walls by a few inches.
5. Block Burrowing Rodents
If you’ve ever had your root vegetables swiped by burrowing rodents like gophers or voles, raised beds can put an end to their marauding ways!
If your containers are elevated on posts, that’s sometimes all that’s needed to keep the pests away.
But for those that sit directly on the ground, be sure to install a bottom to prevent access by burrowing critters.
Use materials like mesh wire landscape cloth to effectively block out burrowing pests and prevent damage to root crops.
Mesh wire hardware cloth allows for movement of air, water, and insects but effectively blocks out burrowing rodents – I find it’s most helpful for weed and vole control when the mesh is laid down with a thick layer of cardboard on top.
Rolls of galvanized wire mesh with a one-quarter inch opening are available at Walmart.
6. Less Soil Compaction
Soil compaction can create numerous problems for plants and can cause stunted growth and underperformance.
Low-set containers that have contact with the ground and are filled with a fine-textured growing mix allow for quicker root development than if plants are sown in backyard sod or hard-pan alone.
Compaction issues include poor water infiltration due to runoff, oxygen deprivation, loss of nutrients, shallow roots, and the destruction of mycorrhizae, the beneficial fungi in the soil that often appears as a web of fine white fibers.
In home gardens, compaction is typically caused by soil being walked on – a problem that doesn’t exist in elevated containers or raised beds built with skirting paths.
Drainage is also improved in raised beds, plus the soil warms up faster in spring and typically stays warmer over winter, allowing for earlier planting and an extended growing season for strong root growth.
7. Higher Yields
For gardeners growing their own food, the appeal of increasing fruit and vegetable yields through intensive plantings is a real plus.
Raised beds are the perfect setup for close-clustered plantings, as in the styles of square foot gardening, double digging, biointensive planting, and other methods.
In traditional gardens, much of the space is dedicated to paths or spaces for conventional row planting.
But with raised structures, all of the available space is used for growing which can result in much greater yields.
And because the earth is generally loose and nutrient-dense, dense planting is also possible for a greater volume of produce.
8. Mitigate Runoff
Another big win with raised beds is that they’re extremely helpful at controlling erosion caused by high rainfall and snow, and can even provide protection from the buffeting of wind erosion.
Whether you live in an area with high rainfall, or are experiencing more extreme weather as a result of climate change, the sidewalls of elevated plots or containers create barriers that help prevent runoff and subsequent soil, nutrient, and water loss.
And less erosion helps to improve soil health by keeping the microbiome intact, providing a vibrant, living environment teeming with beneficial bacteria, fungi, insects, and other garden friendlies.
9. Reduce Chemicals
With organically-rich, fertile soil from mulching and effective weed control, the need for chemical herbicides and synthetic fertilizers can also be reduced or eliminated altogether.
This makes raised bed gardening the perfect opportunity to practice organic gardening in your own backyard.
And purchasing fewer chemicals means less expense, so you can keep more money in your pocket!
Putting It All to Bed
Easy, economical, and efficient, building your own raised beds or assembling a modular kit, like the Vego Garden, provides a number of benefits over traditional gardening!
It’s a fantastic way to reduce physical strain and provides nutrient rich soil that improves productivity so you can enjoy more abundant harvests.
And you’ll spend less time on onerous chores like digging, weeding, watering, and replacing soil from erosion – it’s win-win for the garden and gardener!
Do you use raised beds in your garden? Tell us about it in the comments section below!
Looking for a gardening hack that saves time, labor, and improves the soil? Then it’s time to stop digging and start mulching with the no-till gardening system!
At first this might sound like a counterintuitive idea – leaving the grass and weeds in place with packed soil doesn’t seem like the smartest plan for a bumper harvest.
But the no-dig system is actually a clever method of building the soil through layering, adding a selection of natural materials that includes cellulose from paper, chopped leaves, compost, and grass clippings to increase the volume in a lasagna-like soil casserole.
We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission.
As the layers build, they perform a variety of tasks like adding nutrients, improving structure and tilth, and supporting a healthy microbiome teeming with important insects and organisms in an intricate web of life.
It’s also an excellent system for holding moisture in the root zone of plants so you don’t have to water as often. And it’s top notch at killing weeds and keeping them at bay.
A close look at how nature works reveals no need for spades, tillers, or plows – everything is just piled onto the surface of the ground, creating fertile soil as leaves and plant debris decomposes.
Now, you still have to do the work of adding layers, but the process is spread out over the entire year, and it’s a much gentler prep method for both the garden and gardener!
Ready to learn about this productive garden method? Then let’s peel back the layers on no-till gardening.
Here’s what I’ll cover:
Digging vs. Mulching
Conventional wisdom tells us that mechanically tilling a garden is a good way to aerate and lighten the soil structure while killing weeds at the same time.
But it also wreaks havoc on soil life, disturbing the local microbiome and killing a host of beneficial bacteria, fungi, and insects.
And those weeds you thought the tiller was killing? It turns out the blades are actually planting the seeds, so you can expect a nice crop of weeds along with your veggies!
Even manual digging or double digging is time consuming and labor intensive.
For healthier soil – and less backache – the no-till system, also called no-dig, layered, or lasagna gardening, delivers the benefits and results you’re looking for by eliminating digging altogether and replacing it with mulching.
Let’s have a look at how it’s done the no-till way.
Prepare the Plot, Kill the Weeds
The no-dig or no-till system produces strong, healthy plants by not disturbing the soil and by adding successive layers of organic goodies that continuously replenish the soil as they break down.
This allows a host of beneficial bacteria, fungi, insects, nematodes, and other soil life to thrive, interacting in a symbiotic relationship with plant roots.
For the best results, begin preparing your garden beds in late fall or early winter to give the various layers time to decompose somewhat and be turned into soil by earthworms and microbes.
That being said, this method can still achieve good results when started in early spring.
Use an existing vegetable plot, a raised bed, or create a new bed by measuring out the corners and borders with stakes and string.
Using raised beds isn’t essential, but the sides do help to contain all the organic matter that you’re adding in. And they have many other benefits, including preventing backache! Find out more in the benefits of raised bed gardening.
To prevent soil compaction and provide for easy access, plan for furrows, mounds, or rows to be no wider than four feet, and include permanent paths between and around them.
Clean the bed surface of debris and stones and mow down any dead plants, grass, or weeds.
In no-dig systems, killing grass and weeds is a simple process that requires no harsh chemicals, only some newspaper and water.
First spray the grass or weeds with water – it helps to keep the papers in place.
Next, open up several pages of newsprint or paper grocery bags and lay them flat on the wet surface, a couple of sheets thick and overlapping the edges generously to block all light from the weeds.
Today, inks for newspapers, laser printers, and inkjet printers are mostly water or soy based, so you don’t have to worry about petrochemical or heavy metal toxins leaching into the soil. But avoid using the colored advertising inserts which have an ink-binding coating that significantly slows decomposition.
Be sure to cover all the grass or weeds with your paper then spray with a hose, thoroughly wetting the paper to prevent it from blowing away in the wind.
Or you can scatter a few shovelfuls of compost or soil over the paper to add some weight if needed.
Thick cardboard is excellent for killing unwanted plants and is a superb material for suppressing weeds in paths between beds, mounds, or rows.
But because it is so thick, cardboard can be impractical to use for growing areas as it can take up to five months to break down – newspaper is a better choice for garden beds because it decomposes much faster.
Remove and discard any tape or packing labels from the cardboard and lay down a thick layer, with plenty of overlap at the edges. Wet the cardboard with a hose then stomp it down in place to keep it flat.
After your beds are mulched, you can give pathways a pretty finish by adding an aesthetically pleasing layer of organic materials like bark mulch, conifer needles, straw, or wood chips.
Layer Organic Matter
Once the cardboard or newspaper is in place it’s time to start adding layers of organic matter.
Start with a two-inch layer of compost, garden soil, or well-rotted manure, generously covering all areas except the paths.
There’s no hard and fast rule as to the order of materials, but it’s helpful to place matter in alternating layers of brown and green, much like making compost.
Brown layers provide carbon for energy, absorb moisture, and provide strength and structural stability to the soil plus a porous loft for air circulation.
Brown materials are typically dry and can include bark mulch, clean cardboard, coir, chopped leaves, crushed shells, newsprint, paper bags, peat moss, straw, wood ash, and wood chips.
An electric leaf shredder is a fast and easy way to transform clippings, grass, leaves, paper, and twigs into a lovely, chopped mulch.
Need a leaf shredder? This popular electric model from Worx is available via Amazon.
It shreds up to 53 gallons of leaves per minute, transforming those raked-up piles in your backyard into mulch in no time.
Green layers provide nitrogen and moisture. These include fresh or damp materials such as freshly harvested kelp or seaweed, compost, garden soil, grass clippings, leaf mold, and rotted manure.
We have lots of great ideas about how to create compost at home – if you’re new to this practice, start with our guide to the basics of composting.
When the brown and green materials decompose together, they create rich, loose soil loaded with nutrients – the perfect growing medium for berry patches, flower beds, and vibrant vegetable plots!
Add a variety of brown and green materials in layers one to two inches thick until you have a thick, organic mulch six to eight inches deep.
Continue to add mulches over the course of the growing season to maintain the depth.
If you have a surplus of materials, stockpile it for the winter covering. Mulches don’t decompose as quickly in cold weather, and adding fresh material over winter usually isn’t required.
If rainfall is inadequate while mulching, water each brown layer after it’s in place.
Sow Seeds and Transplants
No-dig gardening produces humus-rich soil with a lovely light and porous texture.
However, when planting seeds, it’s important to temporarily move aside the top layer of loose mulch so they can germinate and sprout easily.
Even if the top layer is made of light straw, many vegetable seedlings, like carrots, are very fine and can struggle to push through it, with disappointing results.
Pulling back the top of the mulch also releases humidity, which can cause tender sprouts to fail as a result of problems like damping off.
Simply pull back the loose material on top to expose the rich, loose soil below, then sow the seed at the appropriate depth and spacing.
Keep the soil moist during germination and once plants are well established, around four- to six-inches tall, push some of the mulch back to keep the roots cool and moist.
However, always allow a mulch-free collar around plant leaves and stems. This keeps excess moisture away from the stems and helps to reduce problems like fungal and mold infections while preventing easy access by slugs and snails looking for tender greenery.
Seedlings started indoors or purchased from the nursery receive a similar treatment.
To transplant seedlings, pull back the top layer of loose mulch and create a small pocket in the loose soil below, setting the transplants at the same depth as they were in the original containers.
Water gently to settle in place and move some mulch back over the future root zone but keep a small, mulch-free halo away from stems and leaves.
After a couple of seasons, you might find that because the soil is so rich, you can plant your seeds and plants just a little closer together than you normally would – however, always be sure to allow for good air circulation.
Maintenance
At the end of the growing season, put the garden to rest by cleaning out the remains of any unwanted plants – anything that had problems with disease or insect infestations should be removed and disposed of in the garbage.
Chop down healthy plants and spread them over the surface of the beds, then cover your beds with a two- to four-inch layer of compost and an equal layer of chopped leaves or straw.
To keep things in place over winter, top the bed with sheets of black plastic or an opaque tarp, anchoring it in place with bricks, pegs, or stones.
The plastic covering also helps to keep the soil below a touch warmer, which aids the breakdown process.
In late winter, when weather permits, pull back the plastic and add another two-inch layer of green materials like compost, leaf mold, or manure. Top with a brown layer of chopped leaves, peat moss, shredded paper, or straw.
Replace the plastic or tarp and leave in place until soil temperatures are reliably above 45°F, or when you would usually plant out your cold season crops.
After temperatures warm up, remove the plastic and tarps and begin the layering process again. Continue mulching over the growing season and into fall, adding various layers of mulch as necessary.
By continuously replacing the old mulch as it breaks down, the beds are constantly built up and nutrients replenished, producing healthy, loamy soil – without tilling or the need to use synthetic fertilizers!
No Digging Required
The not-so-secret secret to successful no-till gardening is in the simple practice of regular mulching with a variety of organic materials.
The mulches cover all surfaces, protecting them from wind and rain erosion while suppressing weeds and reducing moisture loss.
As they decompose, the mulches improve fertility, structure, and tilth, producing fluffy, rich soil for happy, healthy plants without any digging or tilling – saving you time and physical exertion!
If you’d like to reduce the number of tasks on your spring garden checklist– and summer chores like weeding and watering – you’ll love the almost effortless results of the no-till system!
This system isn’t restricted to large gardens either – it’s effective for containers or small spaces too.
Mulch is your secret weapon in the garden. I talk about the need to mulch your garden in nearly every blog post; mulching is that important. This post covers the benefits of mulch, what to use for mulch in different areas of your garden, and the best tips for how to use mulch in your garden.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure policy for more information.
Benefits of Mulching your Garden
1. Mulching your garden helps regulate soil temperature
Hot soil is hard on plants. Mulch keeps the sun off the soil, so the soil stays cooler. Thick mulch helps insulate it even more.
Higher soil temperatures slow plant growth, and mulch moderates that temperature.
Mulch shades the soil from the sun’s direct rays causing less temperature variation.
During cooler temps, mulch also helps insulate the soil.
2. Mulching your garden helps slow evaporation
A thick layer of mulch means that less moisture is lost through evaporation. You can then water less frequently, saving water, money, and time!
3. Mulching adds organic matter to your garden
When you add natural mulch in the form of bark, straw, or compost,they are incorporated into the soil and add nutrients and organic matter.
4. Mulching your garden helps prevent and control weeds
Mulching blocks the sunlight needed for weeds to germinate and often smothers existing weeds.
ALL OF THIS TOGETHER MEANS MORE GOOD THINGS GOING ON IN THE SOIL. Increased moisture, fewer temperature fluctuations, and more organic matter lead to more worm activity and more beneficial microorganisms in the soil. That means healthier soil and plants.
Different Types of Mulch:
Compost
Use homemade, bagged, or bulk compost. Compost is high in nutrients and has a finer texture than other mulching options.
A note about fresh animal manure; it must be aged before using it as mulch or compost in the garden.
Where to get it: I make my own and I also love the compost from Arizona Worm Farm.
Composted mulch
Larger texture than regular compost. It is typically made from landscape waste and isn’t completely broken down yet.
Where to get it: Arizona Worm Farm has this available. They call it mulch or city mulch. I also like the bagged composted mulch from A&P Nursery.
Pine needles
Pine needles are very light, airy, and easy to spread. One nice thing about pine needles is they don’t compact. Use a thick layer (3-4 inches) when using pine needles.
Pine needles may lower the pH of soil when mixed in with the soil. That may not be bad here in the low desert where our soil tends to be more alkaline. Pine needles become more pH neutral as they break down.
Straw (not hay)
(Don’t use hay as it often contains seeds). Straw is the stalk left over after grain, like barley, has been harvested. It is dry and hollow, and there is no nutrition left in it. Use a pesticide-free straw.
Gather and save all leaves when they fall. Bag leaves and allow them to begin to break down; this creates leaf mold. Use your lawnmower to run over leaves to shred them. Shredded or small leaves are better at allowing water to penetrate and don’t become matted as easily.
Bark / Wood chips
The larger texture of bark and wood chips means they last longer in the garden. They may compete for some nitrogen as the wood chips break down in garden beds.
These options for mulch are full of nutrients. Grow cover crops in beds when they would otherwise be empty. Do not use grass clippings from Bermuda grass or grass treated with chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides.
Cardboard / Newspaper
Cardboard is often used as sheet mulch under beds and in pathways to help prevent weeds. Spread newspaper in beds, but top with something else like compost or soil to hold it in place.
Where to get it: Finally, something to do with all of those Amazon boxes!
Which mulch to use in your garden
Raised and in-ground garden beds:
Smaller-grade organic materials such as compost, composted mulch, shredded leaves, straw, and smaller wood chips are excellent mulch in raised garden beds.
Pathways:
Larger materials last longer in pathways and around raised beds.
Treewells:
All materials are suitable for around trees, but take care to keep mulch away from the base of the tree.
Tips for how to use mulch in your garden
Wait until plants have grown to several inches tall before applying mulch.
Keep mulch about an inch away from the stems of plants.
Add a little extra organic fertilizer below the mulch when using leaves or bark as they can take nitrogen from the soil as they break down.
If you use Garden Grids for watering like I do, put them on top of the mulch. You may have to water a little longer to penetrate the mulch layer.
Plan on applying mulch twice a year in the spring after planting (before the heat of summer), and again after fall planting.
Apply a 2-3 inch layer of most mulches. Less than 2 inches doesn’t give you all the benefits, but a larger layer can be difficult for water to penetrate.
If this post about mulching your garden was helpful, please share it:
