Maintenance gardeners will deliver mulch to you

We have been market growers for 13 years and use a no-tillage, permanent mulch system that has served us very well. Although we have but a half-acre of intensive beds--not counting the half-acre of alleys between them--our garden has brought in enough money to completely support 2 adults and help raise four children. Within the first couple of years we moved away from all tillage and found, right in our neighborhood, maintenance gardeners that will gladly work all day in our behalf gathering grass clippings and leaves for our beds with plenty left over to decay in the alleys. They deliver it right to the gate and even dump it into the waiting 10 cubic foot carts that we keep in front. for that purpose.

In order to enjoy a net increase in soil fertility, I hope everyone understands, inputs such as fertilizer, mulch, even soil, need to be brought in from outside the garden gates. This is in accordance with the principle in chemistry that that tells us that elements cannot be created or destroyed--at least in our backyards anyway. Elements can just be moved around and, over time, form compounds of one kind or another. For example, plant proteins as they decay in the soil break down into more simple amino acids and later mineralize into ammonia, natrates and nitrites. Mulching and making compost, if the materials originate in the garden itself, will result in no net increase. This is why the copious application of organic materials from out of garden sources will result in a net permanent increase in soil fertility as long as less material leaves the garden than what's brought in.. It adds real value to our properties, just like money in the bank, but under the radar of the tax assessor.

And there is no problem getting this stuff from commercial landscape gardeners. Around here, and I suspect just about everywhere in the developed world, they have to pay big money to dump it at the landfill. As receiver, you are in the driver's seat. Just tell them that you don't want no sticks, branches and viney stuff that's hard to fork and manage and they'll say "yes sir, I can have just what you're looking for on Tuesday." Just look around for a maintenance truck in your neighborhood and stop for a chat.

Some may say, "Oh John, they use harsh chemicals on those lawns that I don't want in my garden." I would reply that you should ask the gardener about whether he uses them or not. You have much more to worry about using materials from farms, hay in particular, that has given a market gardener or two a serious headache. The really harsh stuff, in the US anyway, requires a prescription from a licensed pest control adviser and, in addition, requires a licensed applicator to put it on. Ordinary maintenance gardeners don't have these credentials.

Please visit our website at www.wholesystemsag.org for more information about our permanent mulch system.

Good wishes all, John Warner

Thanks for an informative post. The point you make in the second paragraph is one that hit home with me not long ago: that in order to reap, you have to sow, in terms of soil building.

daddyoats, You have an interesting web site. I too like wide and unboarded raised beds with sheet mulching variations. A little bit of stepping on the soil doesn't hurt good soil unless it is mushy wet.

Instead of extra wide alleys, I like resting a bed every few years with wheat, barley, or oats undersown with clovers and/or alfalfa. I don't need the wide space for bigger equipment.....my beds are 50 foot or less in length.

That was a very educational site. I suppose there should be no shortage of grass clippings in the US, with lawns occupying the biggest waste of realestate in our nation!
Lawn clippings and leaves are bagged up and set on the roadside for pick up, and occasionally I collect them to mulch the beds. These usually contain alot of leaf content, what are your thoughts on that?

Rj

I'm many miles from lawn clipping dropoff.....same for leaves. I agree that quite a bit is available IF you are economically available.

Heool RJ and other mulchers.

RJ asked for my thoughts on the nutrient content of mulch.

We are using leaves almost exclusively right now as it's a bit too cold for much grass growth and leaves of some deciduous trees drop late here. Gardener Tony's workers just brought a large trailer load yesterday. At planting time I give the beds a light sprinkling of ammonium sulfate. Without green material in the mulch, I toss out a little extra. Ammonium sulfate is a nitrogen source and, of the several plant nutrients plants get from the soil, N is short in fallen leaves. If there's any problem with soil getting too acidic, lime may be needed too.

I once did a search with words like "mineral content" "leaf litter" "forest litter" and found excellent content for all plant nutrients but nitrigen but some of that too.

Good mulching, all.

John Warner
http://www.wholesystemsag.org

Thanks John, I appreciate the feed back.
We are still mowing lawns here, and for some reason (probably grass seed) I only threw the grass in the mulch bin, but would rather be doing the mulching on the beds. We keep it short, so really no seeds to deal with.
I am stocked with goods like a. sulfate, and stuff.
I leave all the leaves on the ground until spring, then rake what's left up, but instead may apply a think bark mulch over the top. The garden beds in back garden are so rich with leaf mulch you can pinch the soil and smell that black gold. Now I can add all the time and with grass clipping thanks to reading this thread.
Now to read that link..
Happy Mulching new year!
Rj