Alfalfa is a great mulch and soil conditioner

I bought two bales of alfalfa to mulch the artichokes and asparagus. Alfalfa has many advantages over straw or leaves. Leaves tend to blow away and are not compacted so that you have to pile them high in order to get the moisture and weed protection that mulch provides.

Alfalfa is usually cut before seeds form and is compacted so it provides a perfect mulch. And a little goes a long way.That is good news because alfalfa is expensive. I paid $10 a bale, but I can cover my whole perennial garden with one bale and use the other to put around sensitive plants to keep the ground around them moist and weed free. The other good quality alfalfa as is that is makes a good soil additive when it is tilled under providing a lot of nitrogen and tilth.

Barley and wheat straw are a lot cheaper but the problem is that when it rains the seeds in it sprout making its own set of weeds which have to be pulled if it's used for mulch. I don't use rice straw which is abundant in California because of the heavy spraying they undergo during the growing season. Any trip down I-5 during the summer and you will see crop dusters flying over the fields, spraying herbicide and insecticide. So for a few dollars more I use the alfalfa and am loving it. You can find it at your local feed store.It's also sometimes advertised along secondary roads where you can buy it direct from the farmer.

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