Growing crops with just a layer of mulch on top of their seeds

Here is a picture of seven top turnip seedlings finally sprouting from mulch. I ran out of dirt, and my compost wasn't well-aged; so I tried covering seeds with just mulch. My garden is weedy, so to make a seed bed, I cut down the plants I don't want with a sickle. I leave the plants I like such as dandelion, plantain, dock, and vetch. All that grass I cut, I stack right beside the plot, so after I sow my seeds, I can pick up the long grass and scatter a layer on top. I water the mulch a little bit every day, and these turnips, daikon radishes, and white clover have sprouted through. By the time the seedlings come through, the mulch is not as thick. I've started leaving the mulch for all of its benefits even though the white clover is supposed to replace it as a living mulch one day.

Hello Kete,
How thick was the mulch you applied on your seeds and how long did they take to sprout ?
Have a nice evening
Oliver

Hi Kete,
I've been doing the same thing for a few years now. It's really helpful with all the tiny little seeds of root crops.  It is still around 90* here every day. Tough to get things to germinate in these temps. Throwing out some dry grass gives the seeds a little shade and helps keep the top 1/2" of soil more moist. ( I mentioned doing this in another post... Transforming high desert soil for gardening) I still water them 3 times a day. And no matter how much I rough up the soil first, my seeds all tend to pool up in spots. The mulch helps to keep them in place too.

And the Diakon radish sprouted in 3 days. The carrots sprouted in a week. And yes, I threw out way too many carrot seeds as usual! I save my own seed so I have a cajillion of them.

Debbie, it looks like you use less mulch than I do.

Hi Kete,
Have to admit.... I had just finished watering those seedlings when I sat down to take a break and saw your picture. What a surprise! So I ran out and took these pictures. True, I just need to barely cover the soil here to get things to grow in high desert country. Just a little shade is awesome.

Something else here really surprises me too. Every spring we get lots of wind for a month or two. And every year those winds blow in lots of different seeds of many grasses and weeds. And a lot of the time these are plants that I have never seen growing here in the 10+ years I've been here. Every year it's so different! That amazes me! Most of the time they're awful and on the Arizona list of noxious, super invasive weeds. I usually try to cut them all down or pull them all out before they go to seed. But 3 years ago I noticed that a big section of my backyard was just covered in this lush and pretty 18” tall grass. Boy, you take your eyes off a spot for just one minute and look what happens! I wondered where in the world that came from. I realized it grew in clumps and was really easy to pull out. I thought WOW, Mother Nature is finally giving me something I can put to very good use! So I left it to go to seed and die before I pulled it out and piled it up for mulch. Well, I haven't seen any of that grass growing here since then! Not a blade! Perhaps it goes dormant for years before it comes back again.

Anyway, my stockpile is almost gone and I will have to look for something new to use because it works so well on my root vegetables. I've tried pine needles in the past but they soak up too much water and get matted down on top of the pretty little sprouts. Long, thin, dry grass hardly soaks up any water and just floats over the surface holding in a little bit of moisture and the sprouts just push them out of the way. And I like Diakon radish too. In fact I like the green tops even more than the roots. I add the tops to all of my  vegetable soups and stir fries. Happy gardening everyone.

Oh yeah, I've been enjoying some greens, too, because my radish looks too woody, but I have enjoyed sliced radish sautéed right along with the greens!

I have been experimenting with permanent living mulch in my gardens. Since I don't till I broadcast living mulch and seasonal green manure seeds onto the surface and leave them to germinate. I have found that small seeded crops like rye, oats, buckwheat and mustard will germinate and root from bare ground. They do better if broadcast onto surface green chop, or if covered with a light layer of mulch.