Why Bare Ground Is Bad for Your Garden

Even after years of gardening growing up, one thing that I never realized was bad for the garden was bare ground. What do I mean? When you clear all the weeds and plants in a section of garden and then leave it empty so you can see the bare ground.  Mind you, my hard, clay soil makes this abundantly obvious when it develops deep cracks as it dries out but even if you have great soil, it's still not good to leave it bare - especially in the summer heat. Here's why.

1. Erosion: Any soil amendments and fertilizer you've put on your garden bed are likely to wash away in a summer downpour.

2. Heat: Bare ground heats up quickly which repels garden helpers like worms and other beneficial microbes.

3. Compaction: Bare ground will bake and get really hard so when you do want to plant something, it will be very difficult. This is especially true if you have clay soil like I do.

So what should you do instead? You can help your soil by covering it up in one of the following ways:

1. Mulch: Put any kind of non-treated organic matter and dump it on your empty space of ground until you are wanting to use it again. Anything from straw and grass clippings to pulled weeds. Seriously, I've temporarily got a pile of dead pea plants piled up in a part of my garden where I plan on planting fall crops in another month. Couldn't be easier or cheaper.

2. Cover Crops: These are plants like clover or buck wheat that help build your soil and keep it cool and covered while you're not using it. You can find seeds for this at most garden centers.

3. Let the weeds go: The caveat here is that you cant' let them go so long they go to seed and get out of hand. Even then, it's still probably better to leave some weeds than to let your ground go completely bare for long.

Keep in mind that nature abhors a vacuum. The only time you see bare ground in nature is in a dessert and we certainly don't want our gardens to resemble that. So do yourself a favor and keep your garden covered as much as you can and it will greatly improve your soil over time.