Mulch n. Half-rotten straw, or any similar light, porous, organic substance strewn on the ground, as over the roots of plants, to protect from heat, drought, etc., and to hinder weed growth and preserve moisture.
... and men had flocked down from their cottages and out of the dairy-house with the arrival of the cows from the meads; the maids walking in pattens, not on account of the weather, but to keep their shoes above the mulch of the barton. Each girl sat down on her three-legged stool, her face sideways, her right cheek resting against the cow, and looked musingly along the animal's flank at Tess as she approached. The male milkers, with hat-brims turned down, resting flat on ... — Tess of the d'Urbervilles - A Pure Woman • Thomas Hardy
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