How to grow a living mulch for your garden

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By OutdoorWoman
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Hairy vetch in bloom

Mulching a garden is beneficial in many ways: it keeps the weeds down, regulates soil temperatures, reduces erosion, conserves moisture, and a living mulch can add nitrogen to the soil. There are a number of cover crops that can be used as mulch, such as red clover and alfalfa. But a plant known as hairy vetch not only works as a traditional mulch, it provides a haven for beneficial insects, especially lady beetles and a variety of bees.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

hairy vetch seed, available online or at farm supply seed stores
prepared garden bed
rake
water

Step 1

Getting ready to prepare the garden bed

In late summer or early fall, prepare your garden bed. Some people like to till the soil and add organic matter. I prefer to make sure the soil is loosened by stabbing my pitchfork into the soil at one-foot intervals, then rocking the fork a couple of times. Then I add a fresh layer of homemade compost.
Step 2

If you are preparing a new garden bed, you might consider a modified lasagna method. This doesn't involve tilling the soil. Put down a thick layer of newspapers, followed by a layer of dried leaves or weed-free straw and finally a layer of compost. If you don't make your own, you can buy it at lawn and garden centers by the bag.
Step 3

Hand sow the hairy vetch seeds. They are about the size of peas. I like to heavily sow the area, because a percentage of seeds won't germinate. (They may germinate in subsequent years.) The thicker the hairy vetch the following spring, the fewer weeds.
Step 4

Scratch the seeds lightly into the top layer or soil, followed by a gentle watering. If rain is forecast in a few days, skip the watering. That's it, until next spring.
Step 5

Hairy vetch emerges in early spring

Watch for the hairy vetch to begin to emerge in early spring. Some people prefer to till the ground and till the vetch into the soil, or mow it off. My method is to let it grow. The plot will soon be covered in a thick growth of hairy vetch.
Step 6

Lady beetle on hairy vetch

When it begins to bloom, look for beneficial insects. You will likely find a lot of lady beetles.
Step 7

A perennial tansy plant grows through the hairy vetch

The plants will continue to grow into a lush, thick mass. Some people mow it down at this point and use it as a green manure, turning it into the ground.
Step 8

Lettuce planted into the living mulch

When it's time to plant your spring garden, plant directly into the vetch. As you get into the plants, you'll find they're attached to vines, and you can pull them back to clear a spot for your plant. Or, you can remove enough hairy vetch to clear a spot. Just make sure to clear enough so the plant will get enough sun.
Step 9

If you are planting seeds, remove enough hairy vetch for your rows, but leave the rest in place.
Step 10

As the weather gets hotter, the hairy vetch will die back and turn brown. Leave it, and it will continue to help keep weeds down, plus conserve moisture the rest of the season.
Step 11

When the gardening season winds down, you can leave the dried vetch as is and plant more, or you can rake it up and add it to the compost pile. I leave it there to decay over winter and add more organic matter to my soil.

Comments

vallain said

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on 6/10/2009 I love ground covers to keep out weeds

showpup said

on 10/19/2008 Sounds like a great ground cover.

ReuseItAll said

on 10/19/2008 Great tips! I just started composting and can't stand to mulch with wood chips anymore. I started finding ground cover to fill in beds to avoid traditional mulch and will definitely try hairy vetch in an area and see if I like it!