plant reccomendation: mulch

Hi,

I have some vegetable beds in zone 1 of my garden. Some are annual beds, some perennial vegis. Once or twice a year, I find myself wanting to mulch them. Sometimes I have leaves on hand, sometimes I don't and buy straw.

I'd like to plant a perennial on the end of each bed that grows a significant amount of mulch matter that I can chop and drop on the beds. It needs to be something that will stay put and not spread through the beds. Preferably not too woody. Thoughts?

Maritime PNW, zone 8b

-sam

Sam,

I may be a bit biased, but I think some Russian Comfrey would be perfect. It's seeds are sterile, but will very easily propagate through root cuttings; you cannot dig it up once it is planted unless you want it to spread. That said, you can very quickly expand your comfrey; I originally bought five plants and within 5 years, have well over 50 plants and have sold probably 100+ and haven't been very aggressive on taking root cuttings!

The beautiful thing with comfrey is you can chop and drop 5+ times a season (at least here in zone 7 VA), its got great medicinal value, its a great weed/grass barrier, and bees LOVE the flowers.

Will Whitt wrote:Sam,

I may be a bit biased, but I think some Russian Comfrey would be perfect. It's seeds are sterile, but will very easily propagate through root cuttings; you cannot dig it up once it is planted unless you want it to spread. That said, you can very quickly expand your comfrey; I originally bought five plants and within 5 years, have well over 50 plants and have sold probably 100+ and haven't been very aggressive on taking root cuttings!

The beautiful thing with comfrey is you can chop and drop 5+ times a season (at least here in zone 7 VA), its got great medicinal value, its a great weed/grass barrier, and bees LOVE the flowers.

I have comfrey in a lot of my zone 2 garden, but I'm hesitant to plant it here, because the soil is disturbed frequently and I'd be worried about it spreading through the beds via root division.

I have tried to find something similar for my area, and have not had any luck in that department!

Recently, I have tinkering with 'green manure' and having certain garden areas rotated to producing their own mulches. I do this typically in the fall with the hopes of winter killing off the growth in hopes of spring planting.

Alternatively, I am growing Russian comfrey on less productive parts of the land to harvest from throughout the year.

I hope someone might of found a perennial that fits the bill for you.

I had a couple good ideas until you said you didn't want it to spread :)

I wonder if you took one bed and made that your mulch bed... rather than putting a little at the end of each one. Maybe one bed of buckwheat or comfrey or really anything that grows fast.

Another option might be something that does spread by itself and you could have a green mulch. Clover spreads pretty well, but doesn't compete too bad with most veggies. You wouldn't need to even chop and drop.

Alfalfa.  It's pretty fast growing, grows in clumps but can also get stalks of several feet long if left to its own devices, and as a bonus is also a favorite with ladybugs!

Comfrey would have been my first thought too, but as you say it does have a tendency to propagate each time you break a root. I like Erika's suggestion of alfalfa; I suspect you will get a few cuttings a year out of that and as it is nitrogen fixing it will benefit the bed even if you don't cut it.
I wonder whether something like canna lily might suit? You are fairly mild so if your summer is warm enough they can grow pretty big. Another thought are grass like plants: the right Miscanthus is clump forming and produces a lot of biomass - it might be a bit woody for you though. New Zealand flax is another perennial that likes mild conditions. It needs it fairly damp though, so a raised bed may not be appropriate depending on your climate.

Canna is interesting. The beds are actually in ground beds not raised.

Today I've been thinking about:

Big clumping grasses like Calamagrostis acutiflora and Celtica gigantea

coppicing hardy banana trees like Musa velutina or Musa basjoo

Big Apiaceaes like Lovage, Fennel, Angelica, Water parsnip, and Sochan

Salvia/russian sage

Goldenrod

Anyone have experience with growing those for mulch?

Erika House wrote:Alfalfa.  It's pretty fast growing, grows in clumps but can also get stalks of several feet long if left to its own devices, and as a bonus is also a favorite with ladybugs!

Is alfalfa perennial?

Malvaceaes - Althaea officinalis, Malva alcea, Malva verticillata, Abelmoschus manihot

Some helpful info. here:- https://www.sgaonline.org.au/green-manure/  I think most of the plants will grow in your area, however, a dedicated bed might be best for most of them, as there's a tendency to overwhelm anything else!

I use artichokes for this in a similar climate. Fennel is also a great mulch, nursery, and habitat plant, but will spread.

I like to recommend sweet alyssum as it smells heavenly and when chop and drop makes great mulch.

I currently use raised beds and plant comfrey around the base to capture escaping nutrients.
I have alfalfa sprinkled here and there, it comes back on its own.
That is usually fed to the bunny before it becomes

A bed full of Jerusalem artichokes would create good green manure.

I'm investigating hardy sugar cane as a mulch plant.
It looks just like a decorative grass and is apparently used as such.

A barrel of duckweed or azolle at the end of each bed would produce lots of mulch and never spread.

Sam Gray wrote:

Erika House wrote:Alfalfa.  It's pretty fast growing, grows in clumps but can also get stalks of several feet long if left to its own devices, and as a bonus is also a favorite with ladybugs!

Is alfalfa perennial?

It comes back in my yard every year.