I don't know what to use for mulch/weed prevention in my veggie garden. Any suggestions?

The basic question: I don't know what to use for mulch/weed prevention in my veggie garden. Any suggestion?


The Details: I live in Maryland, Eastern Shore (45 mins to the ocean by car) Zone 7. The soil is very sandy and used to be a wheat field for many years before our house was built 4 years ago. We have horses and use a compost pile to mix in the garden. Our garden this year will be much bigger then any before because I'm planning on home canning allot of it. It will be at least 50x90 not counting the 40 tomato plants. I'm looking for something to use as mulch/weed prevention in the garden between rows and under the plants. I do plan on watering with soaker hoses and no overhead sprinklers to keep down the diseases and problems as much as possible.


The Kicker: We don't have much money to spend + we have a cat, dogs, children and those stupid voles/moles that dig tunnels throughout the yard and tons of grubs for the voles to eat. The sandy soil splashes up on the plants whenever it

I don't know what to use for mulch/weed prevention in my veggie garden. Any suggestions?
I use newspaper and cover it with mushroom soil or tanbark. I live in Pennsylvania . The mushroom soil is easy to find around here and sells for about $15 a yard. Two yards of mulch fit in a normal full size pick up bed...That gives you an idea of how much it is. It works good and holds moisture.
Reply:cardboard or B%26amp;W newspaper
Reply:There is a no-till method called "lasagna" gardening. You layer newspaper, compost, manure, soil. You could try that. Cardboard is good for the pathways. It is cheap and keeps down weeds. There are books about this, and if you do a search you'll find a description of this. As far as the rodents going after grubs, you need to control the grubs too. There are products that are bacteria that affect only the grub, not any thing or one else. Your irrigation sounds good, and the thicker the mulch the better the moisture retention. Also contact your county extension and ask about a soil test as well as information on soil, compost, and pest control. That's a big area to manage so make sure you have a plan. Another suggestion is raised beds so you can use the sandy soil to advantage for drainage and the raised part to grow strong roots.
Reply:what worked good for me was old carpet turned upside down. i got access to this from a friend who did home rennovations and always had a lot of old carpet available. I cut it with a carpet knife, and layed it down in 30 inch wide strips, leaving just 4inches for the rows between them. weeding was very easy with this method, and i never got muddy while working in the soil. Air and water can pass thru the carpet, but no weeds managed to grow thru it. you could cover it with bark chips if you wanted to, but theyre quite expensive and not really necessary because the underside of the carpet is a natural jute color and fades over the season anyway. I also tried putting black plastic under the carpet but found that mold was then growing under it, and the carpeting tended to slide around on the plastic, so i just use the carpet alone now and seems to be working fantastic. it supresses weeds, slows down evaporation of water, allows the soil to "breathe", stops the plants from getting splashed with mud when it rains, and allows me to work in between the rows no matter what the condition of the soil.
Reply:First, no matter what you use, one must realize that it won't be an end-all, be-all; you'll still have some weeds to contend with and the mulch application will have to be periordically restored [and from what all you've said, it seems you have the experience to know this.]





Second, I wouldn't use any inorganic substance - anything that won't break down. I've never understood the recommendation of using plastic - just the thot of putting sheets of plastic on the ground - in the garden! - seems cuckoo. It iS cuckoo. And I'm sure carpet works as the guy said, but think for a minute about: cutting it to fit; how the soil is going to imbed in the carpet; what a mess when you do have to remove it; and how it will look! Not for me.





With the issue of cost as a major issue, I would consider using newspaper. Besides doing a decent job of suppressing weed growth, newspaper is mostly carbon - a vital soil nutrient. If you haven't used it before, it's quite easy to put in place; just dampen it as you put it down so it stays put during placement.





Then, the question is what to use oVeR the newspaper. Of course, you could purchase any type of bark/chips or bales of pine straw. Pine straw works pretty well, as long as you put it down thickly. I have used straw [horse hay] before, but found that the numerous seeds in it DiD germinate and created a bigger problem than I had BeFoRe mulching with it.





But with cost as an issue, and if you have them available, have you considered using leaves? Leaves are carbon also, and break down very quickly. With the addition of your horse manure [nitrogen], you have a perfect soil amending mulch. Using leaves as a mulch, I would simply put some horse manure in with the leaves [rather than the manure already composted]; horse manure, on top of the soil mixed with the leaves, is not too strong so as to burn the plants - it will do quite well!





As far as BeTween the planted rows, I kept grass; wide enough between planted rows so that I mow it, just like the rest of the yard. It LooKs great and is never a muddy mess, but rather, "outdoor carpet". Even if you've already plowed the entire garden area, you might want to consider NoT trying to mulch the entire garden area, but just mulching the plant rows. If it's already plowed up, you could let whatever grows back between the planted rows, do that, then mow that; even if it's weeds, it'll still be better than having to mulch so much more; plus it will be green and look good because of that factor, aNd will be nice to walk on.





Hope this helps!