A soft layer lying on top of the soil — leaves, bark, straw, grass cuttings — slowly rotting down, holding the water in and keeping the light off the weeds.
mulch 的畫面可以想成蓋在土表面的一層軟東西。落葉、樹皮、稻草、剪下來的草，堆在植物根部四周。它不翻進土裡，就躺在上面慢慢爛掉。水份被它壓在土裡。陽光被它擋住，雜草長不起來。這個字的每個用法，都繞著這一層東西打轉。
From the word’s history
The word probably comes from Middle English melsche, molsh, meaning soft, and behind that Old English milisc, literally honeyed or mellow. The softness of half-rotted leaves is in the word from the start.
這個字大概從中古英文 melsche、molsh（軟的）來，再往前是古英文 milisċ，字面是「加了蜜的、甜軟的」。那股軟爛的感覺，就是落葉鋪在土上慢慢化掉的樣子，從一開始就寫在字裡。
Wiktionary entry 'mulch' (kaikki snapshot 3f6f69a190036ae4), supplied in this packet; the source itself hedges with 'probably'
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。