compost as mulch?

[Itoero]

Some people claim it's better to add compost as a mulch instead of digging it through your soil.
What's the difference?
Why is it better to use it as mulch?

[Worth1]

Ive done both at the same time.
Mixed it with the soil and spread it out on top inside an earth berm.

When it rains or you water, the juices from the compost seeps into the soil so the feeder roots on the surface get it.

I have no proof of this but the plants grew like wild.

Worth

[ScottinAtlanta]

You will have to have an enormous amount of compost to use it as mulch. Most of us treasure the black gold, and target it to the area around the plant, because the quantity is so limited.

[habitat_gardener]

Originally Posted by Itoero

Some people claim it's better to add compost as a mulch instead of digging it through your soil.
What's the difference?
Why is it better to use it as mulch?

I never use compost as mulch.

In my gardens, I top-dress with compost (rather than digging it in) so as not to disturb the soil structure. I rely on earthworms to work it into the soil. I can add compost at any time -- whenever I have time to sift it -- so it's easier to spend a few hours here, a few hours there, rather than trying to set aside a huge block of time to do everything.

I also add mulch on top of the compost.

Roland Bunch and Ana Primavesi have written about top-dressing with regard to tropical soils, but in my experience, it works well in temperate soils as well.
http://open-furrow.soil.ncsu.edu/Doc...W/Roland_1.pdf

[Got Worms?]

Each year, in the fall, I fill the beds to the top with compost then lightly turn it a bit. Then, when I get my leaves, I shred some and bury everything. In the spring I pull back whats left of the leaves to let the sun warm the soil, then turn in some more compost. After I plant and things start to take off, I'll mulch with some more compost; to whatever extent I can fit in. I do make, and sift, a lot of compost.

Charlie

[shelleybean]

I find that digging it in can stir up any weed seeds and get them going. I top off my raised beds with about 3 inches of mushroom compost at the beginning of the season. I never walk in my beds so the soil remains pretty loose. Works well for me. I am thinking of trying some cypress or cedar mulch with the zucchini because I've read it keeps the squash bugs away (just in case the polar vortex hasn't killed them all.)

[RebelRidin]

Originally Posted by shelleybean

I find that digging it in can stir up any weed seeds and get them going. I top off my raised beds with about 3 inches of mushroom compost at the beginning of the season. I never walk in my beds so the soil remains pretty loose. Works well for me. I am thinking of trying some cypress or cedar mulch with the zucchini because I've read it keeps the squash bugs away (just in case the polar vortex hasn't killed them all.)

We can only hope Shelly... We can only hope...

[nnjjohn]

i like good compost .. my problem is the weeds when the plant are near mature.. last year i decided not to use the plastic gardening mulch because i use cages and thought the weeds would never be that much a problem. .. i think this season i want to go with hill rows and blanket the rows with the preferated cheap black plastic mulch. And the plastic will help keep the lower ones from sitting on the dirt in late summer. for a small garden what do you think?

[nnjjohn]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Ive done both at the same time.
Mixed it with the soil and spread it out on top inside an earth berm.

When it rains or you water, the juices from the compost seeps into the soil so the feeder roots on the surface get it.

I have no proof of this but the plants grew like wild.

Worth

key words " juice" "proof" "wild" ? hmmm oh a worth.. we at the NSA want to see pictures of your garden immediately

[Worth1]

It does sound like I have a combination pot farm bootleg operation.

Worth

[Got Worms?]

Originally Posted by Worth1

It does sound like I have a combination pot farm bootleg operation.

Worth

I scrog my tomato plants. My bu...ah, tomatoes grow pretty large.