How I Keep My Soil Moist (Without Buying Mulch)
Spoiler: The secret’s been falling from the sky, growing in your yard, and cluttering your garden path this whole time
It’s July.
It’s hot.
I’m standing in my garden at 7am, sweating. The sun isn’t even trying yet, and still the soil is already dry at the top. If I scratch the surface with my fingers, it’s dusty. But — dig down just a little deeper, and the soil is still cool, dark, and full of life.
Why? Mulch.
Not the bagged stuff you buy in spring when you’re feeling ambitious.
Not the chunky bark mulch that looks pretty on a Pinterest board.
I mean the messy, falling-apart, backyard-kind-of mulch. The stuff most people rake up and toss into yard waste bags.
It’s the mulch I love the most.
What I Use to Mulch (and Why It Works)
Here’s what’s going down in my garden right now:
Fallen Leaves
Yes, even in summer. I saved big bags of leaves from last fall, and they are gold. I crumble them up and tuck them around the base of my plants like blankets. They’re soft, they hold water, and they break down beautifully into humus. It’s like feeding my soil a warm, leafy stew.
Chop and Drop
This one’s my absolute favorite because it feels lazy (in the best way). I take garden plants that have bolted or are no longer productive like calendula, mustard greens, pea vines, bolted lettuce and I just cut them down and let them fall where they grew. If it’s a jungle of growth, I’ll chop it smaller with my pruners so it lays flat and covers more ground.
It’s instant mulch. No bagging. No hauling. Just “you lived here, now you mulch here.”
Grass Clippings
I don’t have a huge lawn (I live on a half acre plot) but when I do mow, I always collect the clippings and use them in thin layers around my tomatoes, squash, and beans. Thin is key - thick piles can get slimy, moldy and smelly. But when used right, they dry into a mat that locks in moisture and keeps the sun from baking the soil. Plus they’re full of nitrogen, so they feed the microbes too.
Cover Crops
When I cut down cover crops like peas or radishes, I leave the roots in the soil and the tops on the surface. That’s a double win: the roots decompose underground, and the leafy parts protect the topsoil from drying out. I don’t even move them - I just let them do their thing.
Let’s Talk About Wood Chips
Here’s the thing: wood chips aren’t evil. They’re just not the right fit for everything.
They’re great for perennials, for pathways, and for forest-loving plants that are used to growing in fungal-rich, woody environments. But most vegetables? They evolved in grassy meadows and disturbed soils. They like bacteria-rich, leafy decomposition — not woody chunks.
So when you bury your garden beds under bark mulch, your tomatoes might politely suffer through it, but they’re not thrilled. And the soil underneath stays… kinda dead.
Woody mulch takes a long time to break down and can tie up nitrogen in the process.
Your kale didn’t sign up for that.
But Isn’t This Messy?
Yes.
And that’s kind of the point.
Nature’s not neat.
A healthy garden doesn’t look like a magazine cover - it looks like a wild patch of life, in motion. If you’re someone who wants rows and tidy edges and nothing out of place, this might stretch you a little. But I promise: this kind of mulching leads to cooler soil, less watering, fewer weeds, and better soil over time.
Plus, it’s free.
Final Thoughts from the Compost Pile
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from years of direct composting and gardening with minimal effort, it’s that nature will do most of the work if you get out of the way. And one of the simplest, most powerful ways to help is by keeping the soil covered with mulch that plants actually want - leafy, grassy, green, and soft.
So this summer, instead of buying mulch, look around at what your garden is already giving you.
Fallen leaves. Bolted lettuce. That overflowing clover patch.
It’s not yard waste.
It’s soil armor.
Let it lie.
Beccalynne.
We have trouble with slugs here - so I find chop and drop makes handy homes for them so I mulch with (home made) compost instead. In a really dry spell I will mulch with large things like rhubarb leaves or comfrey leaves, that can be removed when it gets damp again. I really want chop and drop to work for me but I think I need to admit it’s not for my climate! I haven’t tried leaves in summer though- I wonder if dry leaves mignt be less attractive to slugs to hide under than freshly cut green plants - thanks for the idea I shall give it a try!
I have many Ponderosa pine trees on my property that drop copious quantities of needles. I use this "pine straw" as in under-mulch : a stiff reusable layer that helps prevent leaves from compacting against the soil and molding. The needles and maple leaves are all free.