The Urban Permaculture Farm Magazine

I love plant sales. I love plant swaps. I just love finding little treasures picked up at spring plant sales, friends homes, or my favorite local garden center. I am usually so excited to plant that I set everything out in the beds as soon as I get home. After a warm up of tea or coffee and grabbing my gloves I'm ready to plant. I get out there, carefully move mulch aside, and plant. Remembering to move the mulch aside allows you to plant at the appropriate height, so you don't bury your root ball or tree trunk root flare.

After about the 5th-6th plant I usually realize, "Great! I forgot to mix compost in the planting hole." It is about this time when I used to despair, knowing my plants would either have to be re-planted, or struggle a little bit in the non-amended soil. Now, I have a trick to make sure there is always compost in the planting hole, and I don't even have to think about it.

I use compost as mulch in the garden. That's right. Compost as mulch. A two to three inch layer of compost holds moisture and cools plant roots, but also releases nutrients slowly into the ground through a process called nutrient cycling. Nutrient cycling happens as a result of the soil biological activity, which is essentially critters eating other critters. Although small, microscopic in-fact, these little soil organisms can add a lot of fertility to a garden.

But I digress. My point...using compost as mulch allows me to move aside my mulch before planting, but as I dig the planting hole, I mix the compost layer with the native soil. No extra work required since the compost is already in place right where I need it. Plus, using compost as mulch starts a process of creating healthy soil. After 8 months the soil under a three-inch compost layer is more crumbly and soft then areas with only a half-inch compost layer.