The Untamed Gardener: Mulch, mulch, mulch and mulch again

- Aisling Blackburn -

oh when the sun beats down and burns the tar up on the roof,

and your shoes get so hot you wish your feet were fireproof”

Under the boardwalk – song by Kenny Young and Arthur Resnick

It’s safe enough to say that we are in high summer. We haven’t had one like this in a while and yet according to Met Eireann we are experiencing an ‘average summer’ - well you could have fooled me. There are few high temperatures to beat since they began, recording them in the Phoenix Park in the early 1800. Up until now, the all time highest temperature has been 33.3 Celsius at Kilkenny Castle in 1887. This is almost the same number my car gauge registered last Thursday 17th and, apart from all the water shortages and sunstroke, it’s fantastic.

The plants, how are they surviving? Now we can see who are the thirsty ones: bedding, annuals with their short root systems, have no chance to go a day or more without sustaining deep damage. But this year I have seen hydrangea flowers wilt a bit. Newly planted trees and shrubs will also be vulnerable, actually everything is as the hot days continue. As per usual I apply my need to water basis policy on plants growing in pots or under cover. Everything else is heavily mulched with grass clippings.

How to mulch

First water the soil around the plants that you plan to mulch. Then apply a very thick layer of your chosen mulch. It might be bark mulch in bags, if you don’t have a lawn, straw is good, coco shells are fantastic as is wood chip and they smell delicious or you can go and cut some rushes or bracken and use that to cover the soil.

Why mulch?

In the dry weather, mulching traps the moisture so desperately needed by plant roots; it stops weeds' seeds from competing for nutrients and moisture: it looks nice while it breaks down eventually to provide nutrients for the plant. Sometimes stone mulches are used as they also look beautiful and come in many colours; they are often used in conjunction with weed suppressing mat (this allows water through). This kind of mulch is usually laid down before planting and is permanent. Carpet and cardboard are useful mulches in the vegetable garden. I avoid black plastic as it does not allow air and moisture through. If wool carpet is used then it will break down eventually. We used cardboard between the rows of rhubarb and covered it with grass clippings, it looks relatively tidy.

Mulches also provide areas for wildlife. They are dark, cool and moist, frogs like them. Speaking of which, the second generation of cabbage white butterflies are on the wing and soon we will be faced with a tsunami of caterpillar damage.

Why do we let it happen? Good question. We could net the brassicas, and next year I think I will, and while we are at it I think we will also net the berries. I did not get a single blackcurrant the past two years now and have switched to making rhubarb and ginger jam - it's so good, but I really love my pot of blackcurrant jam in the middle of winter. You simply cannot buy anything as good except perhaps in a farmers' market.

I don’t spray and I use organic sugar - the taste is incomparable. Oh and the cucumber relish... it’s a simple recipe in a glut: 1Kg cucumber, 1 cup sugar (reduce if home grown), 1 teaspoon salt, 1 cup of vinegar (usually cider) mix everything together. It is ready in a half hour. Make sure that you slice the cucumbers thinly.

Bean season

It’s really bean season now, broad beans, runner beans, french beans and sugar snap peas. The kitchen in Jampa Ling is a little overwhelmed with them. What a summer for courgettes though, we hardly ever try them outside but this year it is a serious crop. The perpetual spinach and chard is pristine. The potatoes are a little small but tasty, we probably didn’t water them enough.

The garlic is good and all the annual flowers and dahlias are doing well. I am trying out some flowers for drying this year just as an experiment. It’s also time to collect seed from early flowering species like iceland poppy and kale.

The sweet peas, growing in a circle in the lawn on a bamboo teepee are a tower of colour, and we are cutting bunches of them every few days. The garden is a very exciting place to be at the moment (not calming at all), I am neither a mad dog nor an Englishman so I don’t go out in the mid day sun either and if I have to, it’s always with my broad brimmed hat!