"We shall never achieve harmony with land, any more than we shall achieve absolute justice or liberty for people. In these higher aspirations, the important thing is not to achieve but to strive." - Aldo Leopold
We do things a bit differently here at Rocky Comfort. First of all, we are completely naturally grown. We use no chemicals (pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, synthetic fertilizers). We do use a complex sea mineral to nourish our plants. Read more about our inputs here.
-Mulch, Mulch, Mulch!! We try to apply a heavy mulch to each bed, which serves many purposes:
We do things a bit differently here at Rocky Comfort. First of all, we are completely naturally grown. We use no chemicals (pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, synthetic fertilizers). We do use a complex sea mineral to nourish our plants. Read more about our inputs here.
-Mulch, Mulch, Mulch!! We try to apply a heavy mulch to each bed, which serves many purposes:
- Mulch helps to keep our soil moist, which saves water
- Mulch stimulates our soil food web. Fungus, microbes, worms, and little insects eat our mulch, breaking it down into a form easily accessible by our plants, adding nutrients.
- Mulch insulates our soil, regulating the temperature (cooler in summer, warmer in winter)
- Mulch keeps our opportunistic plants (aka weeds) at a level that is easier to manage.
- Mulch protects the soil from direct exposure to the sun. Exposed soil tends to get baked by the sun, burning up the organic matter before it can be used by plants.
- Mulch protects the soil from damaging effects of weather. Rainfall on bare soil causes erosion, crusting of the top soil layers, and compaction of the soil, all things we want to avoid. Wind dries out exposed soil, making it require more irrigation.