Mulch is key for moisture and maintenance
Mulch retains moisture, so you may not need to water your garden as much if you use it, which also helps with the maintenance of your garden.
When it comes to purchasing mulch, if you plan to use it across a large swath of land, you can buy it in bulk.
But beware of the materials you’re purchasing and make sure that they’ll decompose and enhance your garden.
Experts reveal top ten tips, continued
More tips from Sam and Huw include:
- WATER EFFICIENCY, like using a soaker hose or drop irrigation lets nature gradually use water as and when needed – it’s more time efficient, freeing you up to do more fun jobs.
- GROW PERENNIALS for lower water and compost needs.
- WORMERYS process your food waste into nutrient-rich worm casting – which increases fertility, plus diluted worm tea is a multipurpose plant feed.
- LEARN THE BASICS IN FLAVOUR – and how to cook the crops best suited to your garden, which frees you up to forage and harvest first, then create later
- MAKE WEED AND WASTE INTO FEED – a great resource of nutrients that boosts your crop health and food taste without needing to buy anything from elsewhere.
- GO LOCAL – Build up locally sourced compost – from horse manure to spent coffee grounds from cafes and coffee shops and restaurant veg scraps.
Experts reveal top ten tips
Sam Cooper and Huw Richards are gardening experts and are telling all in their new book, The Self Sufficiency Garden – Feed Your Family and Save Money.
The previously gave The Sun their top ten tips for gardening:
- SEED SAVING increases the resilience of your garden. Allow things to set seed naturally like coriander and dill. Peas and runner beans are also easy to save.
- USE PEAT FREE COMPOST – or make your own.
- NO ‘CIDES’ – pesticides, fungicides, herbicides etc. The knock-on effect of using such chemicals damages soil biology and insect populations.
- PLUGGING GAPS WITH FLOWERS encourages biodiversity, and creates a natural, healthy, balanced garden – while discouraging diseases and pests, and stopping any one thing from taking over.