Choosing the Right Garden Mulch

Mulching plays a large part in having a successful garden. The purpose of mulch is to help your garden maintain moderate soil temperatures, retain moisture, keep weeds to a minimum and prevent soil erosion. There is a wide variety of choices for you to choose from when it comes to mulch, so your sure to find something that fits your needs as well as your budget.

Garden mulch is generally broken down into two categories, organic and inorganic. Organic mulches are things like grass clippings, compost, bark or pine needles. Organic mulch is basically any material that is going to eventually decompose back into the earth. This is one reason many people choose to use organic mulches, because this helps to add organic matter and nutrients to the soil, creating healthier plants.

Other organic mulches would include buckwheat and rice hulls, straw or hay, nut shells, cocoa bean hulls, pine needles and pine boughs, salt hay and seaweed. Most of these mulches will provide added nutrients to your plants as they break down, however some are purely esthetically pleasing and provide no nutrients at all. You should always do a little research about your plant before mulching, because some mulches work better than others for some plants. Many of these organic mulches are very inexpensive while others tend to be more pricey. Many however, can even be free. If you choose to use grass clippings, leaves or pine needles for instance, most of these items can be found in your own yard.

If you have a big garden, ask neighbors, friends and family to save you these items from their own yard. You can also try checking with your local municipal building and ask if they offer free leaf compost. In my opinion, leaves are one of the best mulches that you can use. They are good for any kind of garden, help add nutrients to your soil and if you till them into your soil at the end of the season, you will be amazed at how great your soil is the following year.

Inorganic mulch includes materials such as any color plastic, landscape fabrics and newspaper. They are even making mulch "mats" now, made from recycled tire rubber. Inorganic mulch is for the most part any material that will not break down and decompose. I say for the most part because newspaper will eventually break down but is generally not considered organic. Inorganic mulches are great for keeping weeds down and soil moist, however they're usually not very pretty to look at.

Plastic mulches can work great if they are used properly. Plastic mulch should never be used around permanent plants because they can inhibit proper growth of the plants roots. Also, over time they can promote fungal disease and lower soil oxygen levels. Black plastic mulch though works great in a vegetable garden. Landscape fabrics are also very popular, but you should keep in mind that it may be difficult or even impossible to remove it as plant roots grow and weave through the fabric. If you then try to remove it, it will damage the plants roots.

Some people may swear by landscaping fabric, but I would say to just stay away from it. Most people usually end up choosing to cover the fabric with some form of organic mulch to make it look better anyway, so you might as well just opt for the organic mulch from the beginning. Inorganic mulch may be effective for some areas of your garden, but for the most part, organic mulches are the best route to go.