Composted mulch has a lot of advantages over cover crops. First it doesn't
use up soil moisture. This is not a problem in an irrigated garden but if
you
are raising dryland in a less than 30 inch per year rain fall area it makes
a difference. With composted mulch you are not tying up nutrients from your
soil in mulch. You are adding nutrients from the mulch.
On the down side unless you live near a saw mill or cotton gin you have a
hard time getting enough organic material to make enough compost. If you
are organic getting acceptable OM is tougher yet.
On draw back to mulching is it keep the soil cooler in the spring. This can
be mitigated by spreading black landscape cloth over the mulch or covering
it with a thin layer of ashes. In the 50's they actually tried a thin layer
of
asphalt.
Once the summer is in full swing mulch help keep the soil temperature lower.
In wet spells mulch can contribute to mildew and other problems of similar
nature.
Gordon
Gordon Couger gcouger@couger.com
Owner PRAG-L PRactical AGriculture List www.couger.com/prag-l
Stillwater, OK 405 624-2855 GMT -6:00
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