Our heirloom tomatoes, freshly mulched with straw. I just snapped this photo a few minutes ago. 🙂

 

 

Mulch is your best friend. Get ahold of some and make your garden happy! It can be made of wood chips, newspaper, shredded leaves, straw. Mulches help keep soil temperatures even, help soil hold onto its moisture, and help keep down weeds. Another added benefit? Earthworms and microorganisms stay nearby…they prefer mulched soil to bare soil! I didn’t start using mulch until last year, and I noticed a huge difference in the health of the tomato plants, and how often they needed water. We all know we need to conserve water!

 

Our friends at Taking Back the Farm used 4 inches of wood mulch, and barely had to water their plants last summer, even during drought. Such a simple thing to do, with so many benefits.