In our market garden we don't plow the soil and we strive to keep a mulch cover. We use leaves, cut grass, and compost as mulches. Mulch provides:
- an ideal environment for the soil life that feed our plants
- reduces erosion, enables the penetration of water
- keeps the soil cool
- prevents evaporation and crusting of the soil
- keeps the crops clean!
Management of mulch is a craft, and we are always learning more ways to make it easier and simpler. One trick is to use a plywood template to enable us to make accurate and quick plantings of seedlings directly through mulch. Mulch is just one way that we try to copy the design of God in creation, and as a result the soil is regenerated and the food you eat is healthier.
