Adding nitrogen in the form of 34-0-0-11 is a good idea if you mulch and especially if you use wood or paper as they rob nitrogen. The last number (11) is sulpher which keeps you from getting moss. But this takes it out of the realm of organic which means I would have to use blood meal which stinks and attracts flies. For nitrogen I prefer rotating roots with tops making sure beans and peas get moved around because they are nitrogen fixers.
This would seem to have nothing to do with anxiety, but even if you don't garden, research in itself makes a very good distraction to relieve tension. You can always plan and dream. It may lead to actually doing. And gardening even on a small scale is so peaceful. Besides there is nothing like a fresh vegetable out of the garden, even if all it is is a radish. (did anyone know the flowers of Tiger lilly are edible and sweet.)
My problem is two fold. My garden is too big and I'm too disabled. Still I love to do it. The answer would probably be black plastic and a large drip system but that is too commercial for me and looks horrible. I do an intensive raised bed system. I rake up beds with a roto tiller width between them. Each bed has one, two, or three rows in it depending on what it is and how much room it needs. I have a bench that straddles it and I sit on it and weed and move along. The weeds get thrown between the rows and as long as they don't seed they can grow. Periodically I rototil these spaces between the rows as a green manure crop. All totally organic. Looks good too.
My nemesis is Canada Thistle with its long root. But still it adds a lot of material to the garden as organic material.
This fall I have a tractor powered tiller that will go deeper and chop smaller. It will get rid of a lot of weeds.
This is off the subject which I believe was ways to handle stress.
For me sitting on my bench weeding among the birds and looking around is very relaxing. There is also a feeling of accomplishment. There is also the lesson of learning to be satisfied with what you can do and not feeling bad if you stop short of where you intended.
As an aside, In one place under a crab apple tree I used a heavy tarp and covered it with wood chips. (hog fuel from a saw mill.) Dust and dirt blowing in and mixing with the chips has allowed it to grow grass so it has to come up. This tree produces very well, it will be interesting to see what the soil looks like under the tarp.
I used landscape carpet with mulch on top too. I had better success with the better quality wood chip mulch. This season the landscape carpet was torn off, and the weed still permeated the carpet, since it doesn't last forever. I suppose one could used better carpet too. The interesting thing about the carpet was that the carpet could be torn off annually, pulling away the weeds with it, leaving rich soil, like that removing hair with those strips. I've seen some straw used this year too(not hay I was reminded by a friend who inadvertently used that instead of straw, which retains moisture too), but it seems tricky since it shades the sun for small seedlings, because it tends to "poof" up.
I wonder if manually weeding with aerating through churning the soil isn't the best approach?
hi: just to add to this discussion. I've used landscape cloth for weeds and covered with mulch and no slugs. Of course, not for a large garden as yours Davit, but for smaller areas, it was no problem.
I have mulched and potatoes grow real good under mulch but I gave it up when I got slugs real bad. They seem to like brasicas and strawberries. Hey theres a use for my friend Greg's home made beer.
A 5000 sq foot garden takes a lot of mulch. Oh and I have been sick the last few seasons so I have a lovely crop of thistles. Those things grow through anything short of plastic.
You still have to weed some (just not nearly as much) so you still get the philosophical benefits of weeding... but mulching is sooooooooooo much easier on the body ! Ok, so that was more than one word. Still.....
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