Mulching | Article

Tip! There is no need to apply the mulch 6 or 8 inches high, as often is seen

When you see a well tended garden, you feel refreshed and at peace. The reason for this contented feeling is the green grass and bright coloured flowers. However to achieve that green garden look, some work is required. One of the best ways to help your garden to look healthy and green is giving it a good mulching compound.

Mulches are a layer of protective material that is placed around your plants and shrubs. They can be organic mulches or inorganic mulches. As the gardener you must choose which type of mulching will suit your garden.

Organic mulches are very similar in effect to pine needles and leaves that autumn to the ground in forests. As organic mulches are of plant matter, they decompose over a period of time. This decomposed mulch helps to keep the soil moist and the plant roots cool, while keeping nutrients locked in.

There are different types of organic mulching that you can use. Bark, Wood Chips, Sawdust, Straw, Pine Straw, Shredded Leaves and Newspaper are some of the material that is used for mulching. As each of these mulches has different characteristics you should take care where you will lay them in the garden.

Bark, Wood Chips, Sawdust, Straw and Shredded Leaves can cause problems in the garden. These organic mulches can be washed away in the rain, rob the soil of nitrogen and let weeds grow in between their organic matter. However Bark and Wood Chips can give an attractive look to the garden.

Pine Straw and Newspaper mulching are best organic types to put in the garden. Newspaper mulching works best for your vegetable garden as they tend to suppress weeds. Pine Straw mulching works like the natural autumnal pine needles. They decompose slowly, resist being washed away, and keep the nutrients in the soil.

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Inorganic mulches like crushed stone, gravel and volcanic rock have a tendency to work their way into the soil. When this happens, you will have a bit of trouble getting them out when you need to do some digging. This type of mulching is somewhat permanent.

Plastic mulches should mainly be used for vegetable plots. Irrigation paths can be laid out on the ground beneath the plastic mulching. This will keep the soil moist and the plants well watered. You can also cut holes in the plastic mulching where you want water to go into your vegetable plot.

The other type of inorganic mulch is that of geotextiles. This is fabric mulch made out of polypropylene or polyester. While a closely woven geotextile mulching allows water and fertilizer to enter the soil, it inhibits the growth of weeds. This is probably the best type of inorganic mulching that you can put in your garden.

For a healthy garden then, you should place some mulching compound amongst your plants. You will still need to keep an eye on those pesky weeds though and pull them out, but in the long run, this too should be easier for you.

Tip! Weed control is essential in successful vegetable gardening as weeds can rob cultivated plants of water, nutrients and light. It is important that the soil is hoed or cultivated after each rain or irrigation to kill the weeds that have sprouted.

Mulch is a layer of material spread on top of the soil to conserve soil moisture, discourage the growth of weeds, help prevent erosion and prevent large fluctuations in soil temperature. In other words, mulch modifies the soil micro-climate around your growing plants.

Ideally, mulch is light and permeable enough to allow water and air to pass through, yet dense enough to inhibit or eliminate the growth of weeds.

Mulches may be organic (usually plant material), mineral (crushed stone or gravel), or synthetic (plastics and geotextiles). Understanding their differences will help you choose the best mulch for your situation. Generally speaking, organic and mineral mulches cool the soil while synthetic mulches warm it up.

Tip! Environmental Stewardship. Gardening organically means that the environment benefits from the reduction in contamination of the water supply and air pollution.

Any biodegradable material can be used as an organic mulch. Some of the most easily attainable materials include shredded or chipped bark, shredded leaves, hay, straw, and peat moss.

Avoid using whole leaves unless you mix them with straw or some other light material as they tend to mat down and get soggy. They can actually prevent water and air from reaching the soil beneath.

Grass clippings are an excellent choice of mulching material. They're so small they start breaking down and enriching the soil almost immediately. If you do use grass clippings, be sure they don't have pesticide residue on them. Many lawn treatments contain herbicides that kill broadleaf plants, including those that you may be trying to grow in your garden. And of course, if you're mulching a vegetable garden you don't want to be adding poisonous chemicals to it.

Tip! Mulching materials may be organic, from living sources such as wood chips

You may be fortunate enough to live near a source of industrial by-products that are useful for mulching. Some ideas are sawdust or shavings from sawmills, spent hops from breweries, or composted manure from mushroom growers.

Careful with the sawdust. It's deficient in nitrogen so you might want to mix it with some compost. Also, softwood sawdust is acidic, so you don't want to use it too close to plants that prefer a neutral or alkaline soil.

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Mulched plant roots are not subjected to extreme temperatures. Un-mulched roots get hot and dry in the summer and can be damaged by the heaving of soil during sudden frosts and thaws in winter.

Organic mulches and some mineral mulches contain nutrients that gradually wash down into the soil and fertilize the plant roots.

Weeding and hoeing the garden are practically eliminated when you mulch! The few weeds that manage to poke up through the mulch are easily nipped out, and there's no need to cultivate because the mulch keeps the soil loose.

Mulch protects the soil from the drying action of the sun and wind, and protects it from erosion from wind and hard rain. Mulched plants can often endure a long dry spell with hardly any watering.

Tip! Don't over do it~ one or two hours of gardening is plenty, especially when you are beginning! 2. Don't lift objects that are too heavy for you.

Mulch protects vegetables such as squash, cucumber, unstaked tomatoes or strawberries that lie on the ground when they're ripe. The mulch keeps them clean and dry, preventing rot and mildew. Likewise, low growing flowers will not be splashed with mud in a mulched flower bed.

Seedlings planted in very moist soil should not be mulched until they are well established, as the higher soil moisture can encourage damping-off, a fungal infection that is usually fatal.

Tip! Mulching improves nutrient and water retention in the soil

If the soil is waterlogged from spring rains, let it dry out a bit before mulching perennials to avoid crown rot, another fungal infection. It is best to leave an open circle a few inches in diameter around the base of each plant for air circulation.

There's too much to learn about mulching to fit it all into one article, but I hope you can see that mulching has great benefits for your garden and for you.

Tip! Mulching reduces the need for tillage and the use of weed-control chemicals.

Your plants will benefit by having their roots protected from heat and dryness in the summer and from frost heaving in the winter, your soil will stay loose and friable, weeding will disappear off your chore list and you'll save water too!