Good‘s new gardening expert Zoe Carafice is ready and waiting to solve your dilemmas! Each question published on Zoe’s blog or in Good receives a fab prize from Tui Garden. This week: the perfect mulch for your veggie garden.
Email your gardening questions to [email protected] and every question answered in Good or on Zoe’s blog will receive a fab prize from Tui Garden Products!
Q: I always think how perfect mulching it is when I go into pine tree forests. Old, thick piles of pine needles keeping weeds down perfectly and looking so organic and natural! I actually have been using them to mulch around my raised veggie garden. It works very well and breaks down easily.
It would be nice to be able to introduce this free, natural mulching material into my Oceania-themed garden. However I am not sure if it’s okay to do so. I wonder what kind of substance pine needles add to my garden soil, if it’s any good or harmful to my protea, lucaspernum, sago and dwarf pohutukawas? –Yukari
A: Mulching your gardens at this time of year is vitally important; it helps keep weeds at bay but the main benefit is that it helps to retain moisture. Without mulch your watering will quickly evaporate so it’s important to get a good thick layer of organic material on top of the soil to protect it from drying out.
It is however important to use the right kind of mulch. In general I wouldn’t recommend using pine needles as mulch around plants as they are very acidic and can alter the pH of your soil. This acidity is the reason that very little grows in a pine forest. They are however great for paths around your beds, as you say.
For my veggie garden I use pea straw. This adds nitrogen to the soil but allows airflow so that it eventually breaks down and improves the soil quality in your veggie garden. Good quality fine-shredded bark mulch is my preference for the rest of the garden, apply it thickly (50mm) and it will eventually compost down and improve your soil.
Very thin layers of fresh lawn clippings, which are rich in nitrogen, can be used as mulch but be careful as a thick layer will heat up and can turn into slimy clumps. Fresh sawdust and wood shavings are better to be put into your compost bin to decompose before being added to your garden.
Whichever mulch you choose make it your number one task to put a good thick layer on your garden before this hot summer!
–Zoe Carafice
Yukari has won a bottle of Seasol from Tui Garden Products! Seasol is a seaweed-based plant tonic that has been used by Australian and New Zealand commercial growers and home gardeners for over 30 years.
The naturally occurring growth stimulants in Seasol promote strong root growth, reduce transplant shock, improve germination rates and increase flowering and fruiting capacity.
Meet Good’s new gardening expert
Zoe Carafice is a landscape designer and photographer. She won gold at the Ellerslie Flower Show in 2007 and has a keen interest in sustainable design and organic gardening.
Email your gardening questions to [email protected] and every question answered in Good or on Zoe’s blog will receive a fab prize from Tui Garden Products!
One question will be featured in each magazine and in each Good Fortnightly e-newsletter. Don’t receive our newsletter? Sign up to get it here!
