Tips for Mulching the Garden

So it is time to get your plants into the ground. You take the necessary steps of purchasing your flats of flowers, pots of vegetable seedlings, and maybe even a starter shrub or two. You get home and you turn over the soil, adding proper nutrients where necessary and start planting. You add some water and out come the sun getting you well on your way. Well you are almost on your way. There is one missing step to completing the planting cycle, mulch.

Mulch is really nothing more than a ground cover for your garden that serves many beneficial purposes. Mulch serves the function of weed prevention, water retention, nutrition, and carries aesthetic value to your yard and home. Mulch can be considered organic and inorganic. The organic mulch may be common items composted from your yard waste such as grass clippings, pine needles, or even decomposed leaves. Such organic matter can serve your plants well when used appropriately. The inorganic mulch may consist of plant bed liners made of plastic, as well as synthetic "nuggets" you lay down to provide cover for the soil and plants. These inorganic mulches have positive benefits but can also appear to be detrimental to your plant growth if they create too much of a wet suffocating environment thus causing rotting of root systems.

Reasons for Mulching: Weed Prevention

One of the main reasons I use mulch is to cut down on the amount of weeds that seem to take over my garden when unattended. The constant pulling of weeds every weekend gets to be a bit much causing some resentment to the whole gardening affair. Mulch keeps weed growth to a minimum as it blocks out ultraviolet rays that are used to promote such weed growth. Most weeds need the sun as do your flowers and other garden items. There still may be a rogue weed that can poke through two or three inches of mulch but overall the lack of weeks will be very pleasing to the home gardener. My mulch process for weed control of flower beds consists of using a layer of landscape fabric covered with a few inches of cedar mulch. Yes, the weed picking days in the flower bed are over.

Reasons for Mulching: Water Retention

Mulch also tends to keep the soil beds cool as the sun's rays are blocked from baking the soil into cracked hardpan. Once the rays go away and storm clouds move in, the mulch will do an excellent job of keeping the rain water trapped as the evaporation rate will be severely delayed. This water retention feature is a huge bonus to those gardeners that water the garden infrequently. This benefit of water retention allows the home gardener the ability to relax every other night or so since he or she does not have to water on a daily basis. Those that use flower bed soakers will also need to use such irrigation less frequent than usual when the plant bed is covered with a few inches of mulch. Too much watering will cause rotting of the plants undergrowth.

Reasons for Mulching: Nutrients

It is better to use organic mulch to your garden whenever and wherever possible. The fruit and vegetable gardens will thrive very well in gardens mulched with peat, mushroom compost, and even organic matter generated from home compost boxes. The tomatoes and berries harvested from such an environment may be your best crop ever. The compost method is also a good way to stay green with the environment as you are making excellent use of yard waste.

The concern one must have with usage of organic mulch is maintaining the proper pH balance. For plants that require low acidity one will want to refrain from using any mulch containing pine needles. The acid levels very with organic matter, so be sure to apply much with the appropriate acidity level.

Reasons for Mulching: Aesthetics

Another top benefit to mulching your garden is the aesthetic value. This is evident as most garden centers sell mulch in colors and compositions that are not even indigenous to certain areas. The most popular choice of mulch one will notice in most residential areas is the red dyed cypress mulch. The look appears crisp and may be used to match tones of the home, but comes across as very artificial since most areas do not have vegetation or hardwoods that even resemble such mulch. I try to refrain from using dyed cypress mulches even though the cost of the material is on the lower end. I usually spend a little extra and opt for the cedar mulch as I enjoy the smell of the cover and it also appears very pleasing to the eyes.