Permaculture Care: Bulk Amounts of Mulch and Installation

Permaculture and mulch go hand-in-hand. They have established themselves as co-partners in sustainable agriculture and household feeding for decades now. Many people try to even create their own mulch, but often don’t go about it in the right way. The mixture may be too leaf-heavy or too wet to have long-term use in reinforcing bales and holding water moisture in place at the bottom of swales. But first, we must learn about how the two work together to create a nice, water-friendly site.

The purpose of the Permaculture movement

In nature, in the wild, there is a staggering amount of variety of plants, grasses, bushes, animals, seeds, and food. These wild cultures are so stable because they support each other. Even varieties of the same type of plant, such as an apple tree, can be far more advantageous and stable than simply having one type of apple tree on your property. Permaculture (or “permanent agriculture”) establishes long-term growth and development in food sources by water catchment means and by varieties of food plants being used. Also, the monoculture nature of regular agriculture can create soil erosion and dead soil (soil which turns to sand and is not living anymore).

How mulch can be added to any place void of extraneous leaves

In permaculture, leaves are either left where they are (to facilitate fungus and tiny animal feeding, as well as the breakdown of natural materials) or they are collected and used to line the bottoms of dry riverbeds and empty water swales. However, you can use mulch to do the same thing! This is a preferable solution in areas which are open, flat, have dry air or easy evaporation, and which have very low leaf coverage. By using mulch to keep the bottom of a riverbed or swale moist after a rain, instead of evaporating, you are beginning the first stage of water catchment.

Mulch is great for putting in dry dug riverbeds

Now, you can build your own rivers and swales. You will need to keep the bottom of the river perfectly horizontal. You don’t want the water going anywhere. You want the water staying put, so you must use a level to make sure that the entire river bottom is perfectly level along its length. Curve the river, horizontally, around the land that it is on. Then, until rain arrives and adds cool water, prevent the bottom of your swale from becoming hot and evaporating water. Do this by spreading mulch about 4 inches thick along the bottom.

Mulch reinforces your swales until your trees and shrubs fill in

Now, at first, your swale (or riverbed, however you want to call it) will be exposed to the hot, evaporating effects of the sun. You have to plant trees and bushes on both sides of it to produce nice, shady overhangs to keep your riverbed cool and non-evaporative. However, until your trees and bushes fill out, you will need to use about 4 inches of mulch in the bottom of your riverbed to keep the bottom cool enough to hold and keep a minimum level of water in it. As your trees fill in, the whole area will drop in temperature and hold a lot more water.

You can use mulch to keep a place moist and protected

If you have flat, open spaces which are slightly hilly in nature, you can begin to keep the soil moist and build a low, flat water moisture place or even a large, flat reservoir that holds water in it. First, start planting trees along the largest boundary’s perimeter. Then, have mulch blown in to cover the bottom. You don’t have to get any kind of high-quality mulch for this. It is only meant to shield the water from the hot ground underneath, thus encouraging both open water and damp moisture to stay.

Mulch can hold a temporary place until manure develops from animals

Sometimes, both regular gardeners and permaculture gardeners set up birdhouses and stakes for birds to sit on so that they can naturally manure their gardens. You can do this, too. However, until the manure starts building up from the animals, you can aid the process with mulch. Mulch takes sprinkler water and rainwater and it adjusts it to something like a compost tea before it soaks into the ground. Mulch also protects the roots around your garden plants from heating up too much so that your plants retain all of their moisture after a good rain or sprinkling.

In conclusion, your permaculture (or regular gardening) efforts can be greatly augmented by the use of mulch. Mulch aids in water catchment solutions and it aids in fertilizing your garden and other food sources. Get on our site, GetMulch.com here in Louisiana, today to get connected with a specialist in your area today.