Hi Ya'll,

There are lessons to be learned to understand How to properly Mulch ones garden for Best Results !

Mulching does not Immediately correct all the wrongs we have done to our soil !

Mulching can only work when we work with our soil and get the soil Life working properly again !

What do I mean by this?

In order for Mulch to work we need to activate the soil Life again, so that the soil Life will eat the mulch and feed the plants we decide to want to grow?

One may do this by working in green manure crops for a year or two ahead of planting a garden in the soil we want to grow our garden, but most folks will not do this?

If we do not do this we may help speed up the process by Mulching and watering in some BSM diluted water several different times to start feeding the Soil Life?

If we mulch real Heavy and this area gets Flooded with too much rain and it stands in water for several days, this may cause an Anerobic(Lacking Oxygen) condition to set in and Putrifiy the soil?

To correct this condition and again get the needed Aerobic(Oxygen) Bacteria working again, we may need to remove this Heavy mulch to the side and let the dirt dry out enough to get Oxygen again, before re-mulching?

This is the problem I ran into this spring when I attempted to move my gardening into the part of my yard which is the lowest area and we got flooded with 18 inches of rain and this area stood in water for several days because it had the 18 inches plus more than twice this amount of water that flooded in from the Higher land!

Since then I have built a terrace to keep this area from getting flooded in the future !

I had this area Mulched Very heavy with Hay mulch and it was not able to dry out fast enough and the Soil Life I had before the rains with Lots of earthworms etc, died out and the soil started to Putrify !

Luckly I had some Higher dirt that did not stand under water, which recovered faster !

In this area that got flooded I have my tomatoes planted and have managed to save most of them, with only having to transplant a few?

The Irish potatoes I had planted in this area got Flooded out !

I have been removing the mulch by section and letting it dry enough to get Oxygen back into the soil and get the soil Life working again !

In this area I would find a few Earthworms, but not like where the soil did not stay Flooded, which still has Earthworms everywhere in it as my grandson found out this morning while digging the red potatoes!

If one has Improved their soil and the soil Life is Deep into the soil so as to provide real Good drainage, the soil may be able to stand a lot of rain and this water will soak down and not stay flooded and one may not have this problem I had this spring?

But, if one has Tight Clay soils or other tight soils without Life in them and one mulches Heavy and gets lots of rain, one may run into this same problem?

By the same token if one does not mulch heavy enough and the weather turns dry, then the soil will dry out and the soil Life will not work either !

There is a Happy medium where enough Mulch is needed to help the soil retain it's moisture !

An example of this is where on the higher part of the yard under a pecan tree I had some round bales stacked and under these round bales the soil is wet with moisture, while next to them where there is not mulch the soil is Very dry, because we have not had any rain for weeks now !

Yet, where the mulch is , there is plenty of moisture to be had !

And in the Lower garden area that got Flooded and I have not yet gotten the Mulch off to let it dry out, it is still like Mud from still holding too much water even tho it hasn't rained for weeks !

I have shared this in Hopes it will help others Better understand How better to Mulch and what to watch for if they run into any of these problems and then know what to do to help Solve the problem?

As a side note this is the 1st year I am trying to grow all my garden in my back yard, as in years past I have done this at the farm where I have worked in green manure crops for years to Improve the soil Life !

So it may take me a couple of years to get my yard in the shape I want it in with Soil Life working all year round?

Oxygen is Very Important for a Good Garden, just like our body must have enough Oxygen for us to stay Healthy or to expect to Heal !

Cause and Effect !

Smile Tis your choice.