“Put mulch on your garden to save water”

No doubt you’ve heard it before, and even believe in it yourself. But it is so true!

We saw this in action this week at our local primary school. Parkhill Primary School has a community garden that the kids work and play in, and it is a valuable elarning experience for them. Most of their garden beds are mulched, but two haven’t had fresh mulch for a while.

When ready to add some new plants this week, they noticed that the unmulched gardens had very dry, dusty soil that didn’t absorb the water - the water beaded as the soil was hydrophobic. We dug down about 10 centimetres and still couldn’t find any sign of moisture, despite a bit of rain this week (along with 30 degree and windy days).

By adding water and turning the soil again and again, the soil was retruned to a usable state.

A neighbouring garden bed (which is covered in pea straw mulch) provided us a perfect example of the vlaue of mulch. Soil under the mulch was moist and had a great texture. The mulch is the only difference as both beds receive the same amount of sun,wind and rain.

It was fascinating to see how significant mulch is. If you’re not convinced, try this at home.