Transplanting into wood mulch

In a previous post I showed how I planted seeds into wood mulch. In this one I’ll show how I put my plants out into wood mulch.

Above I have my basic setup. I pull back the mulch where I want the plants. It’s hard to see in the picture but I have an old folding measuring stick that I use to space things out.

I use my Dutch auger to dig the hole (really – that’s the name, and they come straight from The Netherlands). I use this auger in my job to check soil moisture to guide irrigation. I can go a little over 3' deep which covers the rooting depth of most crops.

The nice thing using this is that I can stand up and dig the hole so it’s easier on my back. I put the soil in a bucket for using when planting. In the background of the above picture you can see onions planted earlier and parsnips from seed uncovered as they are emerging.

Next I add any soil in that’s needed if the hole is too deep.

Then it’s just a matter of pushing in the hole and packing in. I’ll use a little more soil from the bucket of needed.

It’s been raining all weekend so things are pretty wet now so I’m just leaving as is. If it were drier I’d water it in and lightly put some mulch back to hold in the water. Once things dry down I’ll put the mulch up close again.