We sheet mulched the front yard over a year ago, and I thought it is about time for an update.

I haven’t done anything to it for a year. Added some plants, pulled just a few weeds. It still looks alright, although I do need to add some more mulch. Probably the lowest maintenance thing I’ve ever done.

I came across a bunch of post criticizing sheet mulching from the Garden Professor blog. (Here’s the links: one, two, three. and this one if you are really into a good read about mulches. And the Garden Professor blog is the best garden blog I’ve come across.) The post certainly made me think. I’ve been over-recommending sheet mulching a bit. I still think it is a viable technique, but only under certain situations.

Basically, sheet mulching doesn’t really improve the soil because you create a barrier for air and water on the top. (And I’ve noticed this in mine. I think the weeds gone wild are doing a better job of improving soil than my sheet mulch. It’s pretty sterile under there.) If it is ignored and ill-maintained, it can cause far more problems than benefits.

So when is it okay to use sheet mulching?

1)Temporary weed control such as when you have no idea what you are doing and don’t plan on doing something for a year or so. This was my situation and it worked great. I also don’t have any plans to plant plants that need good soil there (I’m thinking a stock tank pond, a few raised beds, open space), so I’m not too concerned about improving the soil.

2)Pathways (but not anywhere you don’t go frequently).

4)Vegetable gardens (but stick with newspaper not cardboard).

Around trees and shrubs, you’d be better off with a deep layer of course organic mulch like leaves and shredded bark. Unless you have some trees, shrubs, perennials that actually don’t like large amounts of organic matter, like many desert natives.

The interesting thing about the gardening world is recommendations can hardly ever be applies to all situations. The answer is more often than not “it depends.” You really have to know your site, plants and what you are trying to accomplish instead of just accepting whatever comes your way.

Some things are slowly coming along in the garden. In some ways it’s been neglected. We haven’t planted much this year besides the vegetable garden. It is turning into my kid’s domain, they spend lots of time out there.

I’m adoring the scarlet runner beans and sunflowers together. 

Lately we’ve harvested tomatoes, beets, summer squash, beans, eggplant a few potatoes, and cucumbers. Not a substantial harvest on anything, but enough that I don’t have any vegetables on my grocery list.

This looks better than last year. We did get the irrigation figured out better, using drain pipes. I also gave up on using the water turn in certain parts of the yard because it was too difficult and have used soaker hoses and the culinary water.

There are tomatillos everywhere. I planted two. I have tomatillos where I planted them last year. I have tomatillos next to where I planted them. I have tomatillos in the backyard where I gave the old plants to the chickens. If nothing else, I should get plenty of tomatillos this year.

Most of the back half of the first picture is tomatillos. The chickens planted these ones.

My spring garden is still going strong, and I have some broccoli that I had nearly given up on. Soon, I’m planning on ripping some of it out and planting fall crops. I’ve never been good at fall crops because you have to plant them in July. And by the way, straw bale gardening is too dry. I don’t like it–I have to water the thing every day and it’s not even doing good.

My first garlic crop ever. I was a bit late harvesting these. With how much I use garlic, this is a probably over a year’s supply.

The herb spiral looks great. I just need to actually use it more. So what do I put in my soup tonight–fennel, sage or rosemary? I also have yarrow and chamomile here.

This planter looks awful. My kids planted the corn stalk and I just kept it. It isn’t a bad idea, but doesn’t quite work off center.

Agastache that I planted from seed. It isn’t too showy, but still fragrant and I love the mix of colors on the flowers.

A month ago, my neighbor asked if I planted my garden and then asked where. I realized that you couldn’t tell where I had planted anything, because I didn’t plant in bare soil just chopped cover crop. Well, now you can tell. It’s actually less weedy than I think bare soil would have been. I did have to keep chopping back the cover crop for a few weeks, but otherwise it worked great. The plants have been a bit slow, no harvests yet. Should have summer squash in a few days with cherry tomatoes close behind.

I’ve been feeling a bit down about my yard: it is covered in weeds. I don’t feel like I really know what I’m doing, and if I did everything would look a lot better. I try to write at least once a week, and not wanting to write anything, I decided to sort through some old blogs posts.

I have posts from five years ago, what I was doing then in my garden that was north facing patio. I have failed a ton. I have also succeeded. I have learned from my failures and successes, and I am gardening better. My view and knowledge of gardening has grown from doing my best where I was and also experimenting a lot.

Gardening is interesting. I went to school in Horticulture. I’ve grown gardens everywhere I’ve lived. I give people advice and even get paid for it. I am not a beginner. Yet I also feel I have a lifetime of knowledge yet to gain. I might not be a beginner to most people’s standards, but I feel like one compared to the vastness of wisdom and knowledge I can still gain. Gardening is studying ecology, biology, climate, soils, art and more. It is studying the work of God, and any study of that will take longer than a lifetime to figure out.

Back to my garden: I started to see it a little differently. Yes, they are rampantly growing weeds everywhere. It looks, to a normal person, like a mess. But it so abundant compared to pictures from a year ago. Then soil stayed bare. Weeds grew slowly. The landscape was flat, boring, dry. It isn’t anymore. It doesn’t meet a normal standards for a good garden. But it is my garden, and in it I can see years of changing views, years of studying, and an attitude of throwing out traditional practices.

My garden does not meet traditional standards for I have made my own standards of experimentation, permaculture, and patience.

And I remembered why I’m blogging. It’s a little bit for people who might read this and gain something. It is far more about me being able to see where I’ve come from and understand where I am in the present.