Mulching mad

Mulching.  We’re at it again! It was only just before Christmas that we were talking about spreading compost on the flower borders.  It’s something we’re passionate about.  A decade of this annual process has given us beautiful soil with  a structure that can usually be worked on whatever the conditions.

This week it was the turn of the vegetable beds in our small fenced-off potager.  Twenty square and slightly raised beds are intersected by bark paths that are bordered by two long thin beds on the north and west sides.  After weeding and the removal of the last few parsnips, each bed received an inch or two of our homemade compost; no diging in, we’ll leave that to the worms.

With this yearly operation, the soil in all the beds remains in peak condition and we have no problems relating to soil health. The result is healthy plants that have more chance of standing up to pests or diseases that may invade  from the surrounding countryside.  It’s a timely job as we want to get some seeds sown over the next few weeks, although it seems the recent cold frozen ground may prevent us from getting on with this task for some days yet.