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This is a badge bit (BB) that is part of the PEM curriculum.  Completing this BB is part of getting the sand badge in Gardening.

Annual gardens can produce a lot of food.  People often struggle with watering and weeding.  Mulch can really make a difference in how often you need to water and how many weeds pop up between your plants.  Let's put some mulch on that garden bed!



Here's a great video on different reasons for mulch and options:


Minimum requirements:
  - Mulch around tender garden plants
        - Before, during, after planting or at the end of the season
        - Not for around perennials
  - Natural materials like grass clippings, straw, hay, chipped leaves
  - At least 10 square feet covered
  - At least 1" thick
  - This is for growing spaces, not paths or other areas

Provide proof of the following as pictures or video (<2 min):
  - The area prior to mulching
  - The mulch you're going to use
  - The freshly mulched garden
  - Prove 10 square feet and 1" of depth if it isn't obvious
COMMENTS:
 
master gardener
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Location: Carlton County, Minnesota, USA: 3b; Dfb; sandy loam; in the woods
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I wanna make sure I’m understanding. The plants in the bed need to already be in place before the mulching is done, correct? I’m about to spread mulch over a bed of freshly planted favas. But they are just soaked seeds under the soil surface. Not plants that I can mulch around. So does that count?
 
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As I read it and as I intended it, this is for mulching around existing tender plants.  But I like mulch on a garden any time.  So I'll nudge the requirements a bit to allow for mulching an empty or seeded bed as well.  I think I'll add a depth requirement too.
 
Christopher Weeks
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Approved submission
OK, great!

Mike Haasl wrote:
Provide proof of the following as pictures or video (<2 min):
  - The area prior to mulching
  - The mulch you're going to use
  - The freshly mulched garden
  - Prove 10 square feet and 1" of depth if it isn't obvious


On mulch-depth -- I did the sheet-mulching PEM BB the other day using the same hay source, but in that case, I was laying out solid(ish) flakes and then covering with loose hay because I want a lot of it there to help with occulting the weeds and to break down into humus. In this case, I was breaking up the hay and leaving it a fluffed up stuff. Before watering it was 3-8" deep and after, maybe 1-3". But pretty uneven. In the spot I measured, it was 1" on one side of the tape, and 2" on the other. I can't swear that that's the lowest point, but it was a trough. I'm hoping that's the sort of attention to depth that you're looking for.
unmulched.jpg
unmulched seedbed
unmulched seedbed
mulchSource.jpg
bale of spoiled hay
bale of spoiled hay
halfMulched.jpg
half-mulched bed
half-mulched bed
wettingTheMulch.jpg
sprinkling hay mulch
sprinkling hay mulch
mulchThickness.jpg
more than 1 deep
more than 1 deep
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