Green Mulch

We have all seen the bags of mulch at the big box stores. You can get wood chips, different color rubber ‘chips’  and stones. Here at Lasdon we have started the practice of using green mulch, that is, using plants to cover the soil and keep down weeds.

The earliest use of green manure was found in writing recorded in China in 500 B.C. To keep their soil fertile, they sowed mung bean and sesame and then plowed it under after the growing season. This practice was finally accepted in America in the early 1900’s.

In the 1970’s the use of living mulch was introduced by Cornell University. The use of plants has all the benefits of any mulch you can purchase. It suppresses weeds and reduces the cost of purchasing more every year. Once established, good plant selection can reduce water use. It will also boost pollinator visits!  No herbicides are needed to remove unwanted weeds.

Here in the gardens of Lasdon Park we use several native species for our green mulch.  St. John’s wort, purple lovegrass, beebalm, sedges, nodding onion, asters, wild petunias and others can be found.  Underplanting tree circles in the Street Tree Allee will cut down on weed whacking and applying mulch twice a year.