Back To Gardening: Chapter 2, Part B: The Organic Mulch Approach to Gardening - Why it works

In this part of Chapter 2, I explain why keeping soil mulched maintains soil moisture, tilth, nutrients, humus, prevents weeds, and just makes good sense in terms of your bottom line.

Chapter 2: The Organic Approach to Gardening

B. Why it works

As explained in part A of this chapter, soil is an ecosystem that can can support a wide range of living things, and many of them contribute to maintaining soil health. By maintaining a layer of organic mulch on the surface of the soil, the gardener provides the ideal environment for soil life to thrive in that ecosystem. This provides a number of benefits:

I) It maintains soil moisture levels

Any time the sun is shining directly on the soil, it is heating up, and losing water. Since plants mostly grow in the very top layer of the soil, they are constantly at risk of not having the moisture levels they need due to evaporation of water from the soil.

It sounds too good to be true, but keeping the soil mulched is the key to maintaining healthy soil, an the key to a low maintenance garden.

By keeping the surface of the soil mulched, that evaporation is greatly reduced. In a sense, with an organic mulch, the soil is kept in the shade, and the plants are in the sun. If you look at any natural system - forest or field - the soil is never exposed. It is always covered with some form of decaying plant matter. This is why natural forests and fields don't need to be watered, and this same effect can be achieved in a garden.