I mulch my garden with dried grass clippings that have been spread out for long enough to dry out.  I do not spray my lawn with herbicides, so this works for me without killling plants.  When we lived in Idaho, I also used the wood shavings that we bedded the horse on as mulch in some parts of the garden.  After a couple of rains, or waterings, all the "yuck" had washed down into the soil & done it's fertilizer part, so the shavings worked pretty well for mulch around the raspberries, etc.

Do you mulch in your garden?  If so, what do you use?

 I don't mulch close to most plants because mulch is a good hiding place for slugs and other bugs. I do use mulch in the fall when I put the garden to sleep for the winter. I use lawn clippings to help make compost. Like you, I don't use herbicide or pesticides on my lawn so it's safe for food production. 

I haven't - but I finally got my compost maker set up; I had been using a homemade one that wasn't working too well (it didn't get hot enough), but I found someone selling a plastic box setup for $20 (1/3 the original price, brand new in the box), and I'll be working the compost into the soil for next year.

can that be done after harvest also I use to do before wonder if after harvest would work better.

I do, mainly because the winds here are so drying.  I use a couple sheets of wet newspaper, topped with grass clippings and leftover hay.The stuff I grow seems to like this combo, especially summer squash,peppers and cukes.  We've got huge slugs, but they seem to like hiding under rocks more than under the mulch.  If they are under the paper, they're not doing any damage that I can see.  (Of course, now that I wrote that, I'll go out tomorrow and find they mowed down everything in sight!)

My big problem is figuring out when to put down the mulch.  Too early & the ground doesn't warm up very fast. But if I wait too long, ragweed and crabgrass moves in. I try to wait until the plant stems are thick enough that cutworms won't go after them.  

This year's experiment in frugal gardening is a red plastic tablecloth where the eggplant will go. Supposedly, tomatoes and their relatives grow better on red plastic.  Don't know if this shade of red will work like the pricey stuff in the garden catalogues, but the tablecloth only cost 50 cents (an after-Christmas sale!) so it's worth a try.  

  

we do but not until later in the season  but if something up higher I sure  we do mulch because of wind and driness /

Andrea3:

This year's experiment in frugal gardening is a red plastic tablecloth where the eggplant will go. Supposedly, tomatoes and their relatives grow better on red plastic.  Don't know if this shade of red will work like the pricey stuff in the garden catalogues, but the tablecloth only cost 50 cents (an after-Christmas sale!) so it's worth a try.  

 

What a great idea!

Mulch is critical in my garden. We have so little soil that mulching keeps plants from drying out, then becomes soil over the course of the season.I often start with a layer of up to eight sheets of newspaper, then top it with leaves and/or grass clippings. AM

My answer to cut worms is save the McDonalds plastic cups. My kids are always throwing them out at my house. I cut the bottom off and slip over the plant, push down in the soil. The little buggers have a problem climbing up the slick cup.   Babs

Mom used peanut shells to mulch with when we loved in NC. She either got them for free or really cheap. She used cocoa husks/shells here in VA.