By James Thomas 
Mulching is the method of covering the soil around your plants with a layer of organic or inorganic textiles. This can be done using a mixture of materials, such as straw, grass clippings, leaves, wood chips, gravel, and even pliable. The purpose of mulching is to create a protective layer that allows moisture in the soil, suppresses weed growth, and controls soil temperature.
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Important Benefits of Mulching
Here are some of the key advantages of mulching in your garden:
1.) Water Conservation:
One of the most important benefits of mulching is that it helps conserve water. When you use mulch to your garden, it helps to decrease evaporation from the soil, which means that the soil retains more moisture. This is particularly important during hot and dry weather when plants need more water to succeed. Studies have shown that mulching can lower water usage by up to 50%.
2.) Weed Suppression:
Another benefit of mulching is that it allows to suppress weed growth. By making a layer of mulch around your plants, you are essentially creating a barrier that prevents weeds from germinating. This is because the mulch deprives the weed seeds of the daylight they need to germinate.
3.) Soil Health:
Mulching is also excellent for soil health. As the mulch breaks down over time, it adds organic matter to the soil, which enables it to improve soil structure and fertility. This, in turn, allows to promotion of healthy plant growth and reduces the demand for additional fertilizers.
4.) Temperature Regulation:
Finally, mulching can also help to control soil temperature. In the summer, the mulch helps to keep the soil cool by reducing evaporation and glancing sunlight. In the winter, the mulch helps to protect the soil, keeping it warmer and protecting the sources of your plants.
Types of Garden Mulch
There are many other types of garden mulch you can use depending on the outcome you require. Growing vegetables may need high-feed mulches, whereas ornamental flower beds may use chipped bark to reduce weeds or even rock.
Mulches are often listed in times of biodegradable (organic in structure and breakdown) and non-biodegradable (stone, man-made matting, or inactive materials).
Each has its own set of benefits and liabilities to enable you to pick the right mulch for your garden and flower beds.
Biodegradable Mulches
1. Compost: Peat-free compost is likely the best form of mulch as it contains a high level of nutrients. It retains a lot of moisture and is readily absorbed and taken down into the soil by healthy bacteria, earthworms, and invertebrates.
Always select peat-free or homemade compost as this protects peat bogs that are being destroyed by retail peat composting extraction.
2. Leaf Mould
Probably one of the most useful types of multi-purpose mulches for counting bacteria and acting as a gentle feed to your soil. Leaf mold is light and very easy to lift and move around the park.
Leaf mold is easily made from dropped leaves and takes around 12-18 months to make yourself. It’s a great way to recycle and leaf mold is also great for bringing on germinating seedlings.
3. Chipped bark
Chipped bark or woodchip is great for a cosmetic look mulch and to help keep water retention in the soil. Yet, it can start to rob nitrogen from the ground, a major core nutrient; as the wood breaks down, it uses special nitrogen from the soil. So if you already have insufficient soil this may further reduce your garden fertility.
Care ought to be taken to balance the feed of the ground to compensate for this or to use peat-free compost instead of a sailboat.
4. Straw or hay
Straw and hay can be used as soil mulch to help keep water in the ground. It is often used in hot climates and used frequently by budget owners or homesteaders as a way to reduce the watering of garden vegetables.
Straw mulching doesn’t add massive amounts of feed to plants and does take a while to fall down. Birds and garden visitors such as squirrels can also make a right lot of it as they dig and peck through it!
Non Biodegradable Mulches
1. Gravel
Gravel or stone chippings are especially useful as mulch for alpine plants and pond plants as they help reduce soil disruption and assist with drainage. It contains no organic or nutrient value indicating it won’t feed your plants only suppress weeds and hold moisture in.
2. Landscape matting, weed membrane, or tex
Another form of mulch is using geography fabric or geotextile. This is laid usually before plants are drilled into the ground. It acts as a blanket for all of the plants to control weeds and seal in moisture.
However, there are serious worries about using such man-made materials as they are usually made from plastic. These plastics can’t be easily reclaimed and can contaminate the soil and food chains. If using landscape cloth then natural hessian can be a better option which will gradually break down over period.
How deep should mulch be?
Strive to mulch your garden to a depth of 2-3 inches or 5-7cm in depth. Therefore, This helps deliver enough cover for the plants and keep moisture whilst suppressing weeds. If you don’t mulch deep sufficiently then the benefits will be reduced and you’ll find yourself holding to weed more and still water your plants at the same speed.
This depth of mulch helps get the most benefits to your garden soil and flowers. It’s useful to spend the extra time ensuring you’ve wrapped the ground to the right depth, a least 2 inches worth of whichever mulch you prefer.
How long does mulch last?
Different mulches will last for various times depending on the amount of organic matter. For instance, compost mulch won’t last as long as a chipped sailboat, but it will add more value to the soil even though it dies down quickly. Most mulches last a max of 2 years, except gravel or the dreaded plastic mulch.
Below is a guide for the quickest mulches vs their soil improvement benefit.
- Leaf mold – fastest to break down – slow firing medium nutritional worth
- Compost – second fastest to break down – tallest nutritional value fast release
- Straw – slow to breakdown – little nutritional worth
- Chipped bark – Slow due to breakdown – long release light nutritional worth
- Gravel – never breaks down lasts the longest – no nutritional worth
- Landscape fabric – very slow to break down and can contaminate the ground – no nutritional worth
Therefore, Leaf mold lasts around 6 months as a mulch. Compost usually lasts one year as a mulch and chipped sailboat will last 2-3 years before breaking down.
| Aspect | Benefits |
|---|---|
| Definition | Protects soil, conserves moisture, suppresses weeds, and regulates temperature. |
| Types of Mulch | Each type serves specific purposes based on nutrient release, aesthetics, and longevity. |
| Water Conservation | Can lower water usage by up to 50%, crucial in hot, dry conditions. |
| Weed Suppression | Reduces competition for nutrients and space among desired plants. |
FAQs
1. Maintain the Mulch?
It’s essential to maintain your mulch throughout the growing season. This suggests regularly checking for any bare spots and adding more mulch as needed. You may even need to remove any weeds that manage to grow through the mulch coating.
2. Watering With Mulch?
Now that you have planted and designed your garden and added the necessary layer of mulch, watering should be very comfortable. At the beginning of the season, and for the rather 3-4 weeks after planting, a deep watering that thoroughly soaks the garden will be required at least once a week. If you have great dirt, a nice layer of mulch and water efficient plants, your garden should thrive off birth rainfalls only, or within watering conditions during summer months.