Blog: News

January may feel like the depths of winter, but there’s still plenty a gardener can be doing if you know where to start. In this practical guide, award-winning garden writer Ade Sellars explains what you can sow now, when to do it, and how to give seeds the best possible start to the growing year ahead.

Can, When, What Should I Sow?
By
Ade Sellars – The Good Life Gardener

We gingerly step into a New Year, putting behind us recent festive memories, moments and celebrations. Decorations are taken down, boxed and once again placed into hibernation. Across our fair land, Christmas trees are evicted from their warm homes, all too aware the festive cheer has dried up. Where once they were the heart of the family, firs, spruces and pines are now abandoned across pavements and driveways. Forced to fend for themselves, these lost souls wonder what they did wrong to offend their adopted families, but worry more on how their journey will end.

January can paint a very grey picture, heads hang low, pockets are shy of coppers and payday seems a lifetime away. Mother Nature does nothing to help the cause as her cold moods keep the skies bruised and temperatures low. Whilst many make offerings of New Year resolutions to try and appease her, we gardeners tell ourselves, 2026 is the year to be bold, take risks and be fearless. Grow large, grow wild, and grow your own.

But it’s the depths of winter, surely this is not the moment to throw open the garden gate with wild abandonment and sink our green fingers into the soil? If so, can, when and what should we be sowing this month?

MICROGREENS

For many gardeners, growing space can be limited. Also, when there’s bills to be paid, children to entertain and jobs to be fulfilled, time is precious. So, if you want to grow something quick and easy, then sowing microgreens might be the answer. Mustard and watercress make a welcome addition to any meal. Simply sow into a seed tray, or pot, filled with damp

Dalefoot Wool Compost for Seeds and place somewhere warm. Once they germinate, place your tray on a sunny kitchen windowsill and watch them grow. They’re also a fun activity for children to try. Why not encourage them to draw faces on empty eggshells. Then, fill the eggshells with compost and scattered seeds. Within days their eggshell characters will begin growing edible hair.

CHILLIES, PEPPERS & AUBERGINES

Chillies, peppers and aubergines need a long growing season in a warm environment, so consider sowing them now. Again, using Dalefoot Wool Compost for Seeds, fill either a small 9cm pot, seed tray or module cells. Gently tamp down the soil and sow your favourite seeds evenly across the surface. Cover them over lightly with compost, label and sit the sown container in a tray of shallow water. This allows the water to soak from the bottom up, which will leave the seeds undisturbed. Once thoroughly watered, remove from tray and place seeds somewhere warm to germinate, which should occur within twenty-one days. When shoots appear, remove from propagator, and keep them somewhere bright with a temperature of around 16-18°C. As it’s currently a low winter sun, grow lights are a great asset for the gardener, and you don’t need to be spending large sums of money on them. Failing that, try using kitchen foil or white carboard as this will help reflect the light.

Create three walls surrounding the pots, ensuring the seedlings have full access to the window or light source. As a DIY enthusiast, I use offcuts from insulation boards.

ONIONS

Although onions can be sown in sets in early spring, providing you have a heat supply in your polytunnel, or greenhouse, you can sow onions seeds now. With so many more varieties to choose from, you can really liven up your onion crop. For this, I use a plug tray, fill it with seed compost and sow no more than six seeds to a plug. I then finely cover over the seeds with compost and label. Either place them into a tray of water or, using a handheld water sprayer, give the soil a heavy misting of water. The tray is then placed somewhere warm, such as a warm greenhouse or kitchen windowsill to germinate.

Once you have your seedlings, then can grow on indoors with plenty of light. I tend to take mine back out to the greenhouse to grow on, ensuring the soil remains moist.

SEED POTATOES

If you haven’t done so yet, buy and order your first early potato tubers now. The sooner they arrive, the sooner you can starting chitting.

Chitting is speeding up the aging process of a tuber, and letting its eyes sprout. By the time you come to planting, ground temperatures still won’t be at their warmest, but those weeks of chitting will give your tubers a valuable head start.

Remember, stand the tubers apart (egg boxes make ideal holders), with their eyes facing upwards. Place somewhere warm, dry and with plenty of sunshine, such as a kitchen windowsill, porch or warm greenhouse. Try to keep sprouts down to three maybe four, so the energy isn’t too dispersed, thus producing weaker shoots. Six weeks on, and tubers should be ready for planting out.

BRASSICAS

I am a huge fan of brassicas, from swede to broccoli, I can’t get enough of these cruciferous beauties. At this time of year, my thoughts are with what to harvest in spring, and both cauliflower and Romanesco play a big part. I tend to use 9cm pots filled with Dalefoot Compost for Vegetables and Salad and sow anything from six to a dozen seeds. I don’t worry at this stage about spacing, as once they are seedlings with true leaves I prick out and pot on individually into pots to grow on. If you haven’t grown Romanesco before I urge you to give it a go. Not only does it have a nutty sweeter taste, often compared to its brassica cousins. But its green vibrant spire-like florets are a real eye-catcher on the veg plot.

SWEET PEAS

Some growers would have sown their seeds back in autumn, but for me, I’ve always done it in January. To help germination, leave seeds in water overnight, or, create a tiny nick in the seed so it can easily take in water. Using 7cm pots, fill with

Dalefoot Wool Compost for Potting and sow three seeds to a pot at 2cm deep. Cover over with compost, and water. Remember to label your varieties, then place pots in a greenhouse or cold frame. Keep soil moist, and once plants reach 10-15cms tall, pinch out the tips, just above a set of leaves, as this will create a bushier plant resulting in more flowers.

ANNUALS

And whilst you’re in flower sowing mode, why not fill a few seed trays with compost, tamp down and thinly sow across the surface. Cover over lightly, label and water. Whether its lobelia, snapdragons or begonias, they will require a heated propagator or greenhouse to germinate successfully. Check regularly for germination and keep soil moist.

On a final note, if you are about to give your Christmas tree its marching orders, instead of binning them, try recycling your tree by shredding it into chippings. This then can be spread across beds and pots and used as a general mulch. As the chippings are slightly acidic, they are ideal for ericaceous plants, such as blueberries, heathers and camellias. Chippings can also be used as an inexpensive option to help create garden or allotment paths. Try using the branches as plant supports for peas and broad beans. Your tree doesn’t have to be just be for Christmas, it can be with you all year round spreading its cheer throughout your garden.

Whatever you get up to into in your green spaces this month, I hope 2026 will bring you blousy blooms, rich harvests and gardening memories to treasure.

BIOG

I’m Ade Sellars the ‘Good Life Gardener’, and I’m am award-winning garden writer, gardener designer, and filmmaker, with a passion for growing my own food in my kitchen garden. I’m also a garden presenter on both Must Have Ideas TV and the QVC Channel. I regularly stage host and deliver gardening talks around the country.

Website: www.adesellars.com
Instagram: adesellars
YouTube: @TheGoodLifeGardener
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ade-sellars-7429ba42/

Climate change can feel overwhelming, but the garden is a place where we can take practical, hopeful action. Garden writer and author Becky Searle explores how tending our soil and growing spaces can build resilience for both gardeners and the planet:

Building climate change resilience for the gardener

Climate change anxiety is rapidly becoming a pandemic of its own. As the storm of climate change gathers steadily overhead, it would be easy to get swallowed by the shadows. Gardening can offer a practical way to allay anxiety and help in the fight against climate change.

Some people respond to climate challenge by going on marches, others write books, some carry out important conservation work. Sometimes this can feel like our own capacity to contribute is insignificant. This feeling of helplessness translates into paralysis, which feeds back into anxiety.

Just like the bees in a hive or the ants in a nest, we all have a role to play, no matter how small, it is never insignificant. So, what can we do to build climate change resilience both in ourselves and in our gardens? Roll up your sleeves, let’s get to it.

Dig for Victory?

Nowadays the advice is a little different. Now, I implore you to “No-dig for Victory!”. No dig is a style of gardening that we talk about a lot here on the Dalefoot blog. It involves adding organic matter to the surface of your soils instead of digging it in. It respects the soil as an environment and as an ecosystem. Critically, no dig gardening builds the carbon content of your soils.

Carbon in your soil exists in the form of dead organic matter and the multitude of living things, such as earthworms, centipedes, beetles, springtails and microscopic life like fungi, bacteria, nematodes and protozoans. Despite looking like ‘dirt’, our soils are absolutely teeming with life, and the more life we have in them, the greater the carbon content. This means that just by encouraging life into our soils, we can create our own little carbon sinks, literally fighting climate change just from gardening. The best part is that the tiny lives in your soil will help you grow healthier plants, that also draw carbon down from the atmosphere using the most advanced anti-climate change technology on the planet (photosynthesis!).
Moreover, digging can release plumes of carbon into the atmosphere simply by exposing carbon molecules and tiny organisms to sunlight, which causes them to break down.

A word of caution though. It’s all very well applying a layer of compost to the surface of your soils and leaving them to their own devices, but what if the compost you’re using is negatively affecting the climate? For example, peat-based composts are much better left in peat bogs where they store carbon and other greenhouse gases, and slow the flow of flood waters, helping to build resilience against the effects of global climate change.

Intelligent design and planning

Building climate change resilience in our gardens should always include consideration towards building something that will last. Climate change will present us with challenges such as increased rainfall, frequent droughts and potentially larger temperature ranges. We need to make sure that our gardens can cope with these pressures because this will make our gardens last longer, and be more sustainable.

A healthy, happy and resilient garden will help nurture a more resilient gardener. Not to mention its ability to support the range of other things that depend on your garden for their homes and sustenance.
This may seem a complicated and potentially fraught task, and its ok to have a little trial and error, but simply taking the time to understand the conditions in your garden, and make good choices about the plants that will enjoy those conditions will save you time and money in the long run, and make your garden thrive.

Making sure that you grow healthy plants is also crucial to their success. Selecting a good quality compost, locally sourced seeds, and planting at the right time are all best practice to ensure your garden thrives.

You may also want to consider how to use the different conditions in your garden, and instead of trying to fight them as we are so often advised to do in gardening, lean into it. Let me give you some examples. If you have a shady spot, this might be great for a compost heap, or some lush shade-tolerant plants. A particularly damp area might be best used as a natural pond, or somewhere to plant trees such as Alder or Willow that will tolerate having wet feet, and possibly even soak up some of the excess.

Grow food

I talk about this all the time, but the system that produces food is, in places profoundly inefficient. We are governed by this system just as much as farmers and food manufacturers, because we need to eat. But we can make better choices such as buying local, eating organic and high-welfare foods. However, the best of the best is to produce our own. Especially if we are doing it with intelligent design and planning, and in a no-dig, soil positive way.

It is estimated by Michael Pollan in his book In Defence of Food that between 10 and 12 calories of fossil fuels are needed to get a single calorie of food onto our plates in the western world. The chemicals, machinery, transport, packaging and processing involved in food manufacture all contribute to this. However, with a simple packet of seeds and a pot of soil, or a small patch of earth, we can take back control of at least a small portion of what we eat.

The real lesson here is that even if you feel like what you’re doing isn’t big or important, doing something is always better than not doing something. Building our own health and mental wellbeing through getting time outdoors, getting our hands in the dirt and eating well is a simple, tangible way to build your own resilience.

Take Action

I bet you feel better already, don’t you? The simple action of doing something, or even just thinking about doing something can make us feel less helpless and less anxious. Getting outside and putting our energy into our gardens, producing food, cultivating healthy soil and intelligent design are all easy actions that help both us and our climate.

Gardening is an amazing form of mood-boosting therapy that helps connect us with the land and the seasons and make us feel more at one with the world. When we’re getting it right it can be a powerful act of selfcare, and of resistance against climate change.

Becky

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Becky Searle is a garden writer and author of Grow a New Garden; Plan, Design and Transform any Outdoor Space. She trained as an ecologist and specialises in soil health and ecosystem gardening. You can follow Becky online at @Sow_Much_More.

This month we’re exploring the third permaculture ethic, which is usually referred to as “fair share” (or “fair shares”) and also as “future care”, because it considers how what we do (or don’t do!) now impacts future generations, and the long term health of our planet.

As with all aspects of permaculture, the ethics are mainly common sense, and use ideas which have formed part of traditional societies for millennia.

Fair Share is about:

• recognising that the planet’s resources are finite and limiting our consumption
• sharing resources and surpluses

Limiting consumption

The Earth’s resources are finite and really should be shared between all of us, now and for future generations to come. This includes humans of course, and all living things: even slugs should have their share of resources!

The planet’s natural resources provide us with things necessary for life such as shelter, food, water, fresh air to breathe, warmth, light and medicinal remedies, and also everything we humans make, from the laptop I am writing this on, to the mug of tea on my desk.

We know that in reality resources are far from being shared equally, with some people hoarding incredible wealth (that just keeps on increasing…) whilst others do not have a safe place to live, or enough food to eat.

Limiting consumption means working out what you need, and what is the right balance for you, your family or your community. It is not about being judgmental of others within our communities, but doing the best that we can in a world that can be tricky to navigate at times.

It can feel rather overwhelming, but if all of us did what we could to reduce consumption, just think what a difference that would make to the world.

One simple thing I do is make sure that when I am heading out in the car I fit in as many errands as possible, to reduce the number of trips I need to make. My neighbours and I often car pool, too. (I live in rural Wales, with limited public transport options.)

Another is to always use peat-free compost. Much of the compost I use is homemade, with additional good quality bought-in peat-free composts from reputable brands such as Dalefoot. There are many ways to re-use and re-purpose the compost sacks, from making potato planters to repairing the shed roof! Here in Wales they can be recycled too. Check with your local council to see whether they offer a similar service.

Sharing resources and surpluses

Sharing is an affordable and enjoyable way of creating a sense of community, reducing consumption and ensuring resources are more fairly distributed. It is often referred to as “the sharing economy”, a way of exchanging time, skills or things without using money.

There are so many ways of doing this, from small scale to larger organisations. Ways of doing this include:

• Surplus homegrown produce offered for free on kerbside stalls or donated to food banks and other food projects (such as soup kitchens).

• Surplus homegrown produce traded with others in the community for things you need (such as seeds, or help in the garden).

• Tool libraries and share sheds, where items such as camping or gardening equipment are pooled and loaned to those who need them.

• Apple pressing days, and other community gatherings to share resources such as apple pressers or canning equipment, helping everyone to preserve their harvest.

• Seed and plant swaps, which save money, and help to encourage biodiversity and the preservation of heirloom seeds too.

• Skill sharing: teaching others skills which help boost the community’s resilience and self-reliance.

Reducing consumption in the garden in winter

From within a cosy house, the outside in wintertime can look dark, grey and uninviting, but it is surprising how much brighter the day actually is when you wrap up warm and step outside. There are many ways of making a real difference in the garden over wintertime, with the added benefit of getting some vitamin D, exercise and fresh air.

Mulch beds with homemade or bought in compost, to feed and protect the soil .

Mulch beds of established and perennial crops (ie: plants not susceptible to slugs) with “chop and drop” plant materials, such as trimmings from harvesting leeks. These will protect the soil, and feed it too as it slowly biodegrades.

Create wildlife habitats with material from winter pruning.

Provide food and water for wildlife, eg: making fat balls for hungry birds, being sure to clean any dishes regularly to prevent the spread of disease.

Make new compost heaps, to increase the amount of compost you can produce next year.

Attach more water butts to sheds and other buildings, ready for dry weather in the spring.

Dry laundry in under cover places such as polytunnels and greenhouses.

Reducing consumption during the winter festivities

Writing this at the start of November, the shops are filled with sparkling merchandise, designed to tempt us to over-consume during the festivities to come. We are invited to discard last winter’s party attire, decorations and even drinking glasses, crockery and tablecloths, and replace with the trending themes of 2025.

This is a bit bonkers, when you think about it.

Last year our homes, trees and tables set for festive meals looked gorgeous. They don’t need discarding for the latest colour scheme. Those sirens of commercial advertising and social media influencers are very enticing. A huge amount of resources are used to persuade us to feel unhappy with what we already have, and over-consume, even if we can not afford to do so. Not to mention all of that plastic tat ending up in landfill.

Of course there will be times that new things are needed: items get broken, our bodies change shape, children grow. But we do not need to get loads more stuff. Consider the party outfits, decorations and tableware we already have as old friends, welcomed back into our homes for the festive season. It’s about finding balance.

Many of you will remember the episode of The Good Life when Margot and Jerry spend a self-sufficient homemade Christmas with Tom and Barbara, which cost the grand total of 15p. Whilst I’m not suggesting that you make everything from old newspapers, it is good fun to be resourceful, use what you already have, and have more of a sustainable, handmade festive time.
If you do need to buy gifts, clothing or decorations, try to buy some (or all if possible) from local or online small businesses. This not only supports independent craftspeople etc, but also keeps money within local communities.

Going crackers!

I love Christmas crackers. There’s something about the anticipation of the BANG! And not knowing where the gift inside will end up as it flies across the room!

This year, why not make your own crackers? This saves money, resources, and they can be personalised so that the little gift inside (such as a packet of home saved seeds) is perfect for your guests (and won’t end up in landfill).

You’ll need empty card tubes (from inside loo roll, or kitchen roll chopped in half); paper; glue; ribbon, wool or string; a ruler; pens/pencils; scissors and cracker snaps. Ideally use paper that is either 100% recyclable or can be composted.

A reusable alternative is to use fabric instead of the paper wrapping. These look gorgeous and can be reused for years to come.

Plus things to put inside: small gifts, packets of seeds, sweets, a paper crown (handmade of course!) and a joke, puzzle or motto.

There are lots of tutorials online (I will have one on my website by late November too).

Cracker snaps can be purchased online or from craft shops, or you can skip these altogether and, like the Good Life Christmas party, just yell “Bang!” when pulling them.

(The Good Life episode is “Silly, But It’s Fun”.)

Exciting news! I have been shortlisted for Practical Journalist of the Year 2025 (results are on November 21st) and my new book The Productive Garden is now available on pre-order.

The Productive Garden will be published in the US on March 24th and in the UK on March 26th 2026.

https://nodighome.com/product/the-productive-garden/

About Stephanie:

Stephanie Hafferty is an award winning garden and food writer, expert no dig gardener, homesteader, edible garden designer and inspirational public speaker. Stephanie is creating a no dig homestead on half an acre in West Wales, where she runs gardening and homesteading courses, at the homestead and online.

Her garden was featured on BBC Gardeners’ World in 2022. Her books include: The Productive Garden (pub 2026), No Dig Organic Home and Garden and The Creative Kitchen: seasonal plant based recipes using ingredients you can grow on an allotment.

Follow her journey on her blog, Instagram and You Tube

Website and blog : www.NoDigHome.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephaniehafferty/

You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/StephanieHaffertyNoDigHomesteading

October might bring shorter days and cooler nights, but there’s still plenty to plant, sow and enjoy in the garden. Award-winning garden writer Ade Sellars shares his seasonal gardening advice with us:

October is a month of change, where we say goodbye to one season and welcome in another. Clocks go back, summer displays retreat into the ground and temperatures slip down the thermometer. But it’s also a month full of rich allotment harvests, vibrant colours and a chance to don your cosy winter knitwear and snuggle in front of a roaring fire. Believe me, I can swap secateurs for a snuggle faster than you can mulch a fruit bed with Dalefoot’s finest.

Winter maybe on the horizon, but that doesn’t mean we have to starve our gardens of colour during the colder season. So, before you reach for the thermostat, there is still plenty of planting and sowing that can be done this month to keep those green-fingers twitching with excitement.

I never need an excuse to slope off to the garden nursery. But, if you do need a reason, now’s the moment to fill your shopping trug with showstopping pansies, violas and cyclamen. Using Dalefoot’s Wool Compost for Potting, pot them up into window boxes, pots and containers, or along the front of flower borders. Other plants to consider are hellebores, cyclamen and wallflowers, both plug plants and bare root varieties. Whether you venture out into the cold, or appreciate the garden view from the warmth of your home, plant displays close to the house, or alongside paths, to ensure they’re easily visible.

Hardy annuals such as cosmos, marigolds or cornflowers can either be sown directly into the soil or into seed trays with Dalefoot’s Wool Compost for Seeds. Place in water-filled tubs, and let the trays soak the water up, as watering overhead will disrupt the soil, and spoil the seed. Place in a warm greenhouse, and keep an eye on them throughout winter. You can also sow sweet peas in pots, keep them somewhere bright and frost free. They will happily sit in a cold frame or unheated greenhouse. In our garden, we’ve recently been collecting seed heads from the hollyhocks, which have now been sown into seed trays, and will germinate and remain in the greenhouse until next spring.

For little effort, spring bulbs offer great results Whether you prefer the lure of a dapper daffodil, a sassy snowdrop or an alluring allium, it’s still not too late to order your bulbs. They can be planted into pots, containers, window boxes, hanging baskets, or straight into the ground. Just remember, to plant your bulb to the depth of three times its height. Bulbs don’t like their bottoms sat in water, as it can cause them to rot. Therefore, by using Dalefoot’s Bulb Compost, it will keep bulbs happy and productive. For tulip planting, I tend to wait until we get into November when air and soil temperatures are lower. That way, there’s little risk of Tulip Fire, a fungal disease that can distort growth.

With the right protection, lettuce can still be grown during the winter months. Consider varieties such as lamb’s lettuce, miner’s lettuce or micro greens. If you’re not growing them in a greenhouse or on a windowsill, place a cloche or fleece over the growing area to help protect your crop. For me, I grow my greens in the greenhouse by taking a bag of Dalefoot’s Wool Compost for Vegetable and Salads, and either placing it on a bench or on the ground. Removing the side panel facing upwards, I simply sow and grow in the bag.

If you’re already looking ahead to a tasty season of fresh veg, get going now by sowing broad beans. They can easily be sown into pots or root trainer cells, water and labelled, then kept in a greenhouse or cloche overwinter. If you decide to direct sow, ensure the growing area is weeded and incorporate Dalefoot’s veggie compost into the soil. Create a fine tilth, then sow double rows at six inches apart. Panting at nine inches apart to the depth of two inches. Cover seeds and water in well, then mark the area where the seeds have been sown. As seedlings emerge, you may have to fleece them, both to protect them from hungry birds and the colder weather.

If you’re hoping for an early harvest of spring cabbage next year, seedlings should now be planted out. Water in well, and apply a thick mulch around the base of plants. Again, provide protection from dropping temperatures, and hungry wildlife.

Autumn-planting garlic sets need a cold period to help develop cloves. In well-drained, fertile soil, place the individual cloves at 20cm apart, in rows 30cms apart. Ensure the flat part of the clove is facing downwards, planting it twice its own depth. Don’t be tempted to use bulbs from a supermarket as they may harbour disease. Instead, buy them from a garden centre or online supplier. And as we’re on the subject of alliums, autumn-sown onion sets and shallots can now be planted. However, if growing space is limited, I often plant them into modular cells and keep them in my unheated greenhouse to grow out before planting them out in late winter or early spring.

From November to March is the dormant season, so if you’re planning to plant bare root shrubs, roses or fruit trees, order them now. Not only do bare root varieties tend to be cheaper compared with pot grown varieties, there’s often more choice. Although, we’re heading into autumn the soil is still warm, so you can still plant up potted shrubs, fruit canes and trees this month. From an aromatic lavender to a striking hebe, evergreen shrubs are an excellent choice. Easy to plant and grow, they will add colour and structure throughout the darker months ahead.

For fruit lovers, blueberry plants are an excellent source of vitamins and minerals. If planting in pots, they make an attractive feature if kept on a sunny patio or balcony. Just ensure you use ericaceous soil as these are acid-loving plants. Another fruit favourite is rhubarb. Freshly bought crowns should be planted into a sunny sheltered area. Incorporate plenty of compost into the soil and plant keeping the growing tips just above the soil line.

If you have been growing rhubarb for several years and the stalks seems congested, it might be time to lift, divide and replant. Use a sharp spade to divide the crown, ensuring each section contains at least one growing point. Re-plant in well drained, fertile soil, ensuring each crown is well spaced. Mulch around the crowns with Dalefoot’s Lakeland Gold. This will protect the crowns from harsh winter weather, suppress weeds and leech valuable nutrients into the soil, which will allow future rhubarbs stalks to crown healthy and strong.

Summer may have handed the baton over to autumn, but that doesn’t mean we have to close the gate to our gardens for the next few months. So, get out into your gardens and grow something beautiful.

BIOG
I’m Ade Sellars the ‘Good Life Gardener’, and I’m am award-winning garden writer, gardener designer, and filmmaker, with a passion for growing my own food in my kitchen garden. I’m also a garden presenter on both Must Have Ideas TV and the QVC Channel. I regularly stage host and deliver gardening talks around the country.

Website: www.adesellars.com
Instagram:adesellars

YouTube: @TheGoodLifeGardener

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/ade-sellars-the-good-life-gardener-7429ba42/

Mulching is the simplest way to protect, feed and improve your garden over winter, ready for stronger growth next spring. Ecologist and gardener Becky Searle shares why mulching matters and how to pick the right mulch for your soil:

Mulching Matters

The curtain is closing on another growing season, and as we reflect on the year gone by, we are also looking towards the year ahead. We all want to feel as though we are doing something positive for our gardens and allotments. They give us so much, and we want to love them in return.
One of the best things you can do for your gardens this autumn is to look after the soil. As we bring home armfuls of beautiful flowers, or baskets full of tasty fruits and vegetables, we are removing organic matter from our plots. The plants create this organic matter, and when it is not, at least in part, returned to the soil, the soil is deficit. So, if you want to show your soil some love this autumn, I recommend mulching.

What is mulching?

Mulching is the process of laying organic matter, usually in the form of compost or well-rotted manure on the surface of the ground. It is then gradually incorporated into the soil by the organisms that live within, as they come to the surface to feed. These creatures then distribute the organic matter through the layers of the soil and form organic glues. These glues, made primarily by bacteria and fungi help to bind the particles of sand, silt and clay within our soil, pulling them together into aggregates, and opening spaces called pores.
Aggregates act like tiny subterranean sponges, clinging onto water, while pores allow water and air to filter through the soil.
When we dig in the organic matter to our soil, we break up fungal hyphae, disturb the soil ecosystem, and dissolve the glues holding together soil particles.
So, what’s the catch? Can it really be as simple as adding organic matter to your beds and then walking away?
Well actually, it is that simple. Doing this will help to suppress weed growth, feed your plants, increase the water holding capacity of your soil and aerate it, without you needing to do anything else. It’s the ultimate gardening “hack”. Of course, like everything in nature, it takes time. One cannot expect an army of microscopic organisms to build good soil structure overnight. This therefore makes it difficult to see the difference that your making, as the change is slow and subtle.

So, to make sure you’re doing it right, here are a few tips from me, author of Grow a New Garden, on how to mulch in the right way for your garden. Before we begin, you will need to understand what soil type you have:

Simple soil test

Go into your garden or allotment and dig down a few inches. Take a handful of soil and hold it in your hand. See if you can shape it into a rough ball. If you cannot shape it because it falls apart too easily, you likely have sand or silt soil. Sandy soil will feel grainy, where silt soil feels smooth and soft. If you can shape it into a ball, now take your thumb and forefinger and squeeze the ball. If it crumbles when pinched, you likely have a loamy soil, but if it just indents, or splits rather than crumbling, you have clay. Other clues are:

- Sandy soil: well-drained, easy to dig, often light in colour.
- Silt soil: very light and dusty, feels soft to touch, water can sometime run straight off the surface rather than soaking in.
- Clay soil: sticky and slippery when wet and hard, sometime cracking when dry.
- Loam: often a dark chocolatey colour, feels crumbly and is easy to dig.
We should note that all of these soil types exist in a spectrum, and will consist of sand, silt, clay and organic matter, in differing quantities. Your soil may look like something in between two or more of these soil types.

Choosing your mulch

When you know what kind of soil you have you can choose the right mulch for your garden. I always choose Dalefoot Composts as they are organic, high-quality products that help to support conservation work and sustainable farming in the Lakeland fells. I have been using Dalefoot for many years and always find it excellent to work with. It doesn’t contain slow-release nutrients, but rather a suite of naturally occurring nutrients that help to feed your plants, and support the insect and microbial communities in your soil.

Mulching on sandy or silt soil

Sandy and silt-based soils are well-drained, and don’t hold onto water very well. As water can drain through them quickly, nutrients can be washed away, meaning that sandy and silt soils are often less nutrient-rich than clay or loam. So, when you choose your mulch you will want to choose one that is rich in nutrients, like Dalefoot’s Wool Compost Double Strength, with added nutrients from comfrey. This is a soil improver, and while not suitable for young seedlings, if applied in autumn can help to bolster the health of your soil before the new season begins. I would recommend covering the soil too, either with a cover crop or green manure, or with cloches to help minimise nutrient loss. If you want to be able to plant straight into your mulch, try using the Wool Compost for Vegetables and Salads, as this works very well as a mulch and isn’t too strong for seedlings when used as a mulch.
As sand and silt soils are so free-draining they will likely need a thick layer of mulch if you want to reduce the amount of watering needed. After a few years of consistent mulching, you should be left with much-improved soil that holds water and feeds your plants effectively.

Mulching on clay soil

As clay soils can hold a lot of nutrients, but lack drainage, the aim of your mulching should be to improve the structure of the soil. This will help it hold water in the summer and not dry and crack, and help it not get slimy, sticky and waterlogged in winter. However, to improve the structure of clay soil, it is important to choose a mulch that contains lignin. Lignin is a protein found in wood and bracken. It’s very hard and breaks down slowly, and as it does so it forms glues that help to bind soil particles. As such, lignin is excellent at adding structure to clay soils. That’s why for my clay soil I choose Dalefoot’s Lakeland Gold compost, which is made with bracken from the Lakeland fells, adding lots of lignin and feeding my soils.

Mulching loamy soil

Loamy soils don’t need a lot of mulch as, by their very nature they are rich in organic matter already. However, it is important to treat them with care, minimising disturbance, and putting back what you take. If you are harvesting from loam soils, be sure to apply a layer of mulch to replenish their organic matter content, but you will not need to do this as much or as often as you would with soils containing less organic matter.

Other ways to improve your soil

If you want other ways to improve your soil this winter, why not consider planting cover crops. Field beans are an excellent choice of cover crop that will help to add nitrogen to your soil, and if you let them go to seed, will also provide you with a crop. They make large plants that add bulk to your compost pile, and they are easy to remove once you are ready to use the space. You simply need to snap or cut them off at ground level. Other cover crops include Daikon Radish that can help to decompact heavy soils. Mustard, rocket, and phacelia are also easy to work with in a no dig system, and do not require you to dig them in, rather remove the top part of the plant, leaving the root in the soil, and use the tops to add to the compost. In the summer, sunflowers also act to decompact heavy soils with their deep roots, giving you the perfect excuse to grow more of them!

So, if you want to give back to your garden this winter, give it some mulch and make sure it’s the right sort for your soil type. And if possible, try growing some green manures and cover crops as well, your garden will thank you next year!

About the author:

Becky Searle is an ecologist and gardener best known for her Instagram account @sow_much_more. Her new book Grow a New Garden takes an ecological approach to planning, designing and creating a garden from scratch, or transforming your existing space. With a whole chapter on soil, and lots of information on balancing your garden ecosystem, this book is a mine of information for new and experienced gardeners alike.