Sheet mulching - Time of Year?

Long time listener, first time caller...

We're preparing a major lawn-to-garden project, with the goal of our first round of planting next spring. I'd like to just go ahead with the sheet mulch now on about 500 square feet of lawn and save the water (some variation of Toby Hemenway's bomb proof sheet mulch). However, we're in the arid southwest, so I wonder if I need to water the sheet mulch to keep it moist enough for decomposition and to prevent the top layer of straw from blowing away. At least until the fall when things cool down a bit and get some natural water. Any tips on time of year for sheet mulching?

Thanks

In my opinion, no matter the time of year, the best time to sheet mulch is always a few months ago, the next best time would be now. You could even potentially try growing something this year (squash?) With the idea that if it grows, its bonus, if it dies, oh well, or, depending on your winter climate, growing something for the fall/winter.

I started my sheet mulch this spring, had issues with a dry spring and worries about my mulch blowing away. I would probably consider watering before you put it down and the lower levels, but not waste water on it iafter that if you dont intend to plant. To keep leaves from blowing away, I had a lot of success with putting a layer of brush/twigs and some logs, large cobbles, and old lumber at the top to hold it down. Not pretty, but held things together until they settled enough not to catch the wind, and also got a good start on decomposition directly under the heavier items.

We also live in a hot climate, and we've sheet mulched at various times of the year with no trouble related to what season it may have been. As Catie said, the best time is basically a few months before planting -- we sheet mulched some hastily prepared beds this spring and planted them immediately, and while we had no problems with germination and (overly) lush growth, the plants have struggled w/ fruiting and ripening in those beds, and my guess is because there was no time for it all to chill out and breakdown and for microbes to do the microbe dance (<---not quite science). We were prepared for that possibility though, so no problem. Plenty to compost, and some things worked out, like squash and cowpeas.

We're planning to sheet mulch a good sized piece of the yard this month though in preparation for planting in September, and we always water it in right after we're done layering everything, but then we'll probably only water it a bit every once in a while after that until we plant.

S

Davis,

I am going to agree with other posters here.  The best time to sheet mulch is now.  Getting the mulch on the soil will start at least *some* decomposition.  Even if you put this down in the heat of summer when there is very little decomposition, it will at least help shade the ground, a little bit of decomposition will start, and the mulch will be in place when the optimal time for decomposition begins.  In my experience, waiting for the ideal time usually means the optimal time will be missed.

So for my part, I say go ahead and do it ASAP.

Good Luck,

Eric

So I've started in on this - got through about 500 feet out of 2000 (see attached image). It's a lot of work! We were able to source manure and straw for our bulk organic material, and I opted to put cardboard on top of the manure. So my layering is existing grass, then 8-12" of 50/50 manure/straw, cardboard, 2 inches compost, and then 2 inches straw. As I was putting down the wheat straw, I noticed some seed pods. A small test section I did a few weeks ago sprouted some wheatgrass.

Am I in for a lifetime of fighting wheat grass? Or is it possible I could treat this like a cover crop and weed whack it down later in the season if it's looking like it will go to seed? Hoping I didn't biff this one!

Thanks all.

Looks good to me.  The wheat may sprout but will be very easy to pull out if it does.  Keep piling the mulch on thickly, as the grass will be very determined to grow this time of year and you may find it sneaking through any shallow spots (ask how I know).