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Photo Credit: ©2001 Dolezal Publishing/Image Point
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Mulched planting beds give a garden an attractive, polished look, as well as help conserve water and eliminate weeds.
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You don’t need to be an experienced gardener to know the key elements to successful gardening – plants, light, water and soil are typically the most obvious. But mulch is probably one of the best green thumb secrets out there: It lessens the need for weeding, helps conserve water, insulates roots to avoid soil temperature swings and fortifies the plants.
Applied after planting, a layer of mulch keeps weed seeds from germinating and conserves water by slowing evaporation and keeping the surface from forming a dry crust that can promote runoff. In spring and summer, it keeps roots cool. In fall and winter, it helps prevent plant damage by reducing the number of freeze-thaw cycles. Even better, organic mulch – naturally occurring products like cocoa hulls, wood chips, organic compost, ground bark and straw – breaks down as it decays into rich, fragrant humus, creating ideal and nutrient-rich garden soil without too much extra effort on your part.
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Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/Donna Krischan
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Mulching your garden mimics the conditions found on woodland and forest floors: It preserves moisture, limits soil erosion and moderates changes in soil temperature.
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In addition, mulch simply makes your garden more attractive, providing a sense of neatness and giving your beds definition. What’s more, by lowering the incidence of soilborne diseases and keeping weed growth down, mulch also keeps plants healthy while reducing yard maintenance tasks.
Adding mulch to your planting beds – and even to your containers – is easy. For mulch to be effective, however, you need to apply it correctly. That means laying down about 2-3 inches of it over your planting beds. Make sure the soil is moist before you spread your mulch out, and always leave a space of 3-4 inches between the mulch and your plants’ trunks or stems. This mulch-free zone helps prevent basal rot from developing.
When your mulch has decomposed to about a 1-inch layer, it’s time to replenish it by adding a new layer. How often you need to do this depends on your climate and the type of mulch you’re using. (Typically, bark chips outlast pine needles and straw.) You may need to replenish about once a year…only time will tell.
To mulch properly, grab your product of choice, gardening gloves, a garden cart and a fine-tined mulch rake. Then follow the steps shown in the pictures and described in their captions for – and watch your garden grow!
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| Warnings |
- Keep mulch away from the trunks of trees and shrubs and the stems of plants. It will retain moisture in these areas and could lead to decay.
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| Facts |
- Compost, or decomposed organic matter, is an excellent soil amendment and mulch. Best of all, you can make your own at home.
Read More... - As natural biological processes slowly break down your mulch, it affects your soil’s pH by releasing either slightly acidic or slightly alkaline substances. As a general rule, pine straw, pine bark, cypress and eucalyptus products release acid, while hardwood mulches release alkaline substances. You can use this knowledge to your advantage by putting acid-releasing mulches around acid-loving plants like rhododendrons, and using hardwood mulches around plants that like neutral or alkaline conditions.
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| Tips |
- Inorganic mulch, like gravel, seashells and rubber chips, also suppress weeds and insulate the ground. Consider using these for locations where you want to block all vegetative growth, including paths through a garden. They also suit some landscape designs well, such as a gravel flooring for a few perennials highlighted within an Asian-themed formal garden.
- Save money by choosing a mulch made of locally available material, or call an arborist or tree care company and ask if they have any waste wood chips. Buy larger bark chips if you don’t want to replenish your mulch as often. Smaller chips blow away and break down faster.
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