Hey everyone! I'm trying to figure out the best way to mulch my raised bed vegetable garden. I need some help understanding the nitrogen cycle, so please bear with me. I got a huge pile of wood chips over the winter and used them to fill about a third of my 2-foot-tall raised bed. Then I added homemade compost, let it sit under a tarp for 60 days while watering it occasionally, and topped it off with coir and vermiculite. I bought some wheat straw thinking it would be better for mulching since I'm worried about the wood chips robbing my soil of nitrogen. But now, after putting in some seedlings, I'm not so sure about the straw. I got it from a local garden store advertised as clean, but what if it ends up sprouting a bunch of weeds or was treated with chemicals? If I go with the wood chips, will they deplete the nitrogen in my soil as they break down? Would straw do it even faster? What do you all think is the best type of mulch?
3 Answers
I usually go for pine shavings—they're cheap, break down easily, and won’t drain nitrogen from the soil. My top choice would be pine needles, but they can be pricey or hard to find around here. Definitely worth considering!
Don't stress too much about the mulch on top. It won't take nitrogen from anything below the surface. Just remember, if your bottom layer is wood chips, it's okay to have them on top as mulch too!
Gotcha. Is it a problem though to have wood chips on top when the base is wood chips?
Honestly, it's not a big deal. You should be feeding nitrogen regularly anyway. Using mulch actually helps the soil by creating small cracks that store nitrogen over time, releasing it gradually for your plants to use.
Thanks for your response! What do you mean by making little cracks?
Ah, I was just at Tractor Supply today and should have picked some up. I’ll try that next year!