Ground cover
To prevent some weeds and reduce the need for watering, it is a good idea to mulch the soil. The mulch can be made of almost any material, but it must be biodegradable. We use newspaper and straw. The newspapers are soaked so that they are well soaked.
If we are planting small plants in the soil, we make holes in the newspaper cover and put the plants in. If we are going to sow, we leave the soil bare in the furrows where we are going to sow.
We water before we sow or plant and cover with the wet newspapers. Then we cover with dry straw. The straw makes the beds look nicer, it holds the newspapers in place, and contributes biological material when it breaks down.
The ground cover remains in place until spring, and any remaining newspapers and straw are removed and put in the compost before we fertilize and dig and put new cover on. If you have a lot of snails in your garden, ground cover can present some challenges as the snails also like it.
See illustrative images in the image carousel below.
