Design Overview
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| Illustration of the site by Georgi Pavlov |
What the mulch is for?
There are 2553 trees and shrubs planted across the site, The mulch will be needed for the first five years while the plants establish, and will conserve water, prevent weed competition, and improve soil quality as the mulch slowly decomposes over the seasons. For the first five years, the alley space will be dedicated to growing this mulch. After the fifth year when the trees and shrubs no longer require mulch, the plan is to use the alleys for pasturing poultry.
The farm development has already begunoil-improving cover crops were sown across the site to prepare the soil for planting. The trees are scheduled to be planted in the autumn and spring.
Normally for bulk mulch, one would use straw, wood chip or compost (in a cool climate). For the first year we will be using straw, but I'm very interested in finding an on site solution for mulch production and believe we should be able to supply the bulk of the mulch needed by cultivating grasses in the alleys.
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What plants are best suited for mulch production?
I've been looking at perennial grasses that produce large amounts of biomass, that can grow on poor to average soils, are drought tolerant, ideally have C4 photosynthetic pathway, reproduce via rhizomatous growth and have seed ripening from late June onward. For this location, we also require plants hardy to -20 that have forage potential for future poultry operations. As well as the grass species we'll be including herbaceous perennial nitrogen fixers with seeding times that overlap with the grass species.
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Selecting species
Below are the plants subsequently selected for sowing in the alleys.
When and How to Harvest the Mulch.
You don't want to be applying hundreds of thousands of grass seeds at the base of tree crops. Grasses can be considered the arch enemy of young trees/shrubs and will generally out compete them for water and nutrients. To avoid this problem I am selecting plants that produce seed at around the same period and not before June. This way, the first cut can be made seed free and before the water and associated nutrient stress of summer kicks in. The second cut can be made as soon as the growth exceeds 1m in height. Depending on the weather in that particular season a third cut may be possible.
The mulch will be cut using a sickle bar tractor implement of 2.3 m width that can be attached to a compact utility tractor such as a John Deere 3250. Two passes with the sickle bar will leave a strip uncut that is left to provide extra habitat for beneficial invertebrates such as spiders and ground beetles. The strip can be cut every two years on alternate sides of the alley.
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Potential issues
Grasses running into rows
It is unclear to me how fast the plants will flower following the first cut. It could be that with water stress kicking in during the summer the regrowth will bolt to seed. Close observation is required here and the second cut may have to be used for hay or hot compost to prevent seed dispersal.
Calculating how much mulch you need and how much mulch you can produce
Based on average data from local sources I have estimated that an average of 0.60kg per m2 (dried weight) can be harvested in a year. This includes two cuts being made per year.
The weight of a standard square bale = 19kg (based on an average dried weight of a bale) so it takes and area of 31.6m2 to grow enough vegetation to make 1 bale.
The area we have on the site for mulch growing is as follows
Alleys = 16112m2 = 510 bales
Meadow = 1846m2 = 55 bales
Total Bale production = 565
Using a third of a bale for each plant will cover 1695 plants which leaves us 858 plants still needing mulch. Mowings from the Inter Alleys (see diagram below) may also be used and we'll be experimenting with a 600m2 patch of Robinia psuedoacacia runners that will be mowed twice a year, when the growth is still soft and herbaceous, and see what biomass we receive from this.
We'll make up any shortfalls from spoiled straw and municipality green waste.
If you have any suggestions for other plants we could use or ideas that you are using for mulch production please share with us in the comments section below.
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If you appreciate the work we are doing you can show your support in several ways.
Become a member of the Bloom Room. A $70 annual or $7 per month subscription to our Substack provides you with access to live sessions, design tutorials, a members forum and more, see details here.
Make a purchase of plants or seeds from our Nursery or Online Store
Joining us for one of our Practical Courses or Online Courses
Comment, like, and share our content on social media.
