[willowman]

Been reading on here suggestions for mulching in this hot weather, so I looked it up in my gardening books.

All have recommendations, but the question of what to do with the mulch after the plants have grown and been harvested never arises.

I can understand that some mulches, eg grass cuttings, could be dug in at the end of the season, but what about things like bark? Surely these cannot be dug in?

Do we have to scrape off the mulch, dig the plot and then put the mulch back?

Sorry if this seems an obvious question and answer, but I'm on a HUGE learning curve here, even as I approach retirement age.

[Zippy]

You don't mulch with bark unless it is a static herbaceous border or the like; not for veg plots.  What you need is something like your own home made compost, lawn clippings etc and just mulch around the base of plants likely to suffer in dry weather. you should find the mulch will be dragged down by worms or you can just hand-scrape the mulch back and put it in the compost bin if you need the soil for another crop; otherwise just leave it to be pulled down.

The only digging I do is to fork out potatoes and form trenches for things like leeks and planting in Squashes with their neighbouring watering pots. No digging for me!

[JayG]

The best mulches for veg are those which either easily rot down (e.g. grass clippings in modest amounts) or preferably already rotted (i.e. home compost or well-rotted manure)
They can then be dug in at the end of the season or left for the worms to do it for you.

Bark chippings are best used for mulching flower borders as they take a long time to rot down and take nitrogen from the soil especially if dug in.

[willowman]

Now it all makes sense.
Many thanks.
I shall continue to use the grass cuttings from my large lawn, and try to see if my own compost is ready yet.