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You want the best garden on the block, well, we’ve got one word for you: mulch. You might not know what mulch is, but we’re going to tell you, and we’re also going to tell you how to make it yourself and why it’s the best stuff ever for your garden. Thanks to us, you’ll be mulching in no time!
Mulch is any material – both organic and synthetic – that is either laid or spread over soil as a covering. Avid gardeners use mulch to keep their gardens moist, deter weeds, keep garden beds cool in warm weather, and to them easier on the eye. Organic mulches also help improve the soil’s fertility because they release all kinds of nutrients as they decompose.
When we say mulch is anything that covers and protects the soil, we mean it. This includes organic waste like grass clippings, leaves, straw, wood chips, bark, paper, and compost, to name a few. Even synthetic materials that don’t biodegrade can be used to mulch soil. We’re talking plastics or even carpet.
Green waste like tree limbs, leaves, and grass don’t pose a problem in the forest because of the circle of life: dead organic material is just part of a nutrient cycle. Mother Nature knows what’s up when it comes to your garden and you can take a few pages from her book by putting your yard waste to good use around your trees, shrubs, and in your garden beds.
Mulch benefits your landscape by:
Apply mulch after you’ve set and watered your plants. If you’re planting in the late summer or early autumn, apply the mulch immediately after watering the plants so the soil will be kept warm during the cool nights.
There are so many different kinds of mulch mixes. The only thing limiting you is your imagination! Let’s take a look at the best organic and synthetic mulches to use in your garden:
Woodchip mulch is one of the easiest mulch mixes you can create and offers a protective layer for your plants. As you trim hedges, trees and shrubs around your garden, use a chipper to create a hearty mulch for your garden. Not only will your garden thank you for it, you’ll also save on trips to the tip to dispose of your green waste.
Straw is mostly used for livestock beds, but it’s great for vegetables too. Straw is cheap and cheerful and decomposes slowly. This means your mulch will last the whole growing season, leaving you with more time to relax in your garden. It also makes a home sweet home for spiders and other beneficial creepy crawlies who move in and help control the pest population. Best of all, it’s easy to either rake up or work into the soil once it’s time to plant a new crop of veggies or put the vegetable garden to bed for the winter.
While all kinds of yard waste makes good mulch, compost is one of the best. You can make compost by combining food scraps, grass clippings, and other organic materials in a fit-for-purpose bin you can get from your local hardware store. Compost can be used just about anywhere, as long as its well broken down. You also want to make sure that it’s free from weeds, otherwise you’re just helping weeds take root in the garden you’re working so hard on. Use compost mulch as a coating during spring and summer to insulate your patch and give it a natural boost of nutrients. It’s also a great way to get rid of scraps! The best thing about using compost in your garden is you’re reducing your family's landfill waste by up to 30 percent while feeding your garden nature’s best food.
Cocoa shell leftovers offer a different kind of mulch made from the roasting process. Cocoa husks or hulls are perfect cover for your garden. Many gardeners like it for how beautiful it looks, and yes, how incredible it smells! Organic cocoa mulch contains nitrogen, phosphate, and potash and has a pH of 5.8 so it adds good nutrients to your soil while serving as an attractive top cover for both flower beds and vegetable patches. If you’re a chocolate lover, this could be the mulch of your dreams. Just keep in mind that cocoa mulch is toxic to pets, especially curious dogs.
Bark mulch is best for using around large or established bushes and trees. Woody mulches don’t mix well into the soil, so it can turn into a real hassle if you have to keep moving them around to make the space for new plantings. Plus, who’s got the time to be mucking about with big bark when there are vegetables to plant. Bark mulch lasts longer than other organic mulches, and another benefit is that they look great once you put it down, much better than your kitchen compost, right?! Bark mulch is also an excellent choice when it comes to conserving water when times are high and dry, because it provides a good barrier against evaporation (like many mulches do). But it’s not all good news: the downside of bark mulch is its size. Most bark mulch comes in big chips, and these puppies decompose really slowly. Shredded bark is available and often a better choice because it still traps moisture in your flower beds but decomposes quicker, which means it adds nutrients to your soil faster, keeping your plants happy and healthy!
You love to mow your lawn and now there’s something you can do with all of those grass clippings! Grass clippings are best suited to remote areas of your garden where you want to stop the growth of weeds. Like most green plant debris with high water content, grass clippings decompose super fast, and get quite slimy in the process, leaving an unpleasant, albeit natural, smell if left in large piles. One method is to hire a lawn mower and use it with the catcher on to collect the clippings, then spread over your garden beds in an even layer to add fertility to the soil. Another is to bag your grass clippings after mowing, but don’t throw them away. Untreated grass clippings can be dumped into your compost bin or mixed in with other mulch mixes such as wood chip mulch, before being spread on your garden. Just keep them away from your entertaining area!
You might not be into receiving the newspaper anymore considering everything is online, but shredded newspaper has been used for years as a very popular mulch. Stacking newspaper can hold in the water to act like other organic mulches - that they make it harder for weeds to take root while keeping soil temperatures steady. Newspapers are also great for smothering existing grass if you’re looking to create a new garden bed. To use newspaper as a mulch in your garden, simply spread a layer of sheets around the plants and dampen them with water so they don’t fly away in the wind – especially if you live in Wellington. If you don’t like the look of the newspaper on your lawn, just cover it with organic mulch, the pretty stuff like bark, and your garden will be protected from weeds while looking good.
Shredded leaves are nature's favourite mulch! They can be used anywhere and best of all, they’re totally free. Worms love their shredded leaves, too. Gathering up leaves is easy: just grab your rake and attack that lawn, mate! Or hire a leaf blower if you’ve got more leaves than you know what to do with. Keep in mind that if you shred them, your leaves will decompose faster, making “leaf mold”. This is actually good for your garden. Leaf mold is high in calcium and magnesium, and holds a lot of water making it better for your garden than peat moss.
Inorganic mulches are made from synthetic materials like:
They do just as good a job of holding moisture and blocking weeds as organic mulches do, but they don’t add any fertility to the soil. They don’t decompose which means they don’t need replacing as often as organic mulches. Look at them as a time-saving mulch if you don’t have extra time to spend in your garden every week! Hate the look? Don’t worry. You can add a thin layer of natural bark mulch on top of your inorganic mulches. As the bark decomposes, you’ll just need to replace it.
Plastic sheeting and landscape fabrics are great options around plantings, shrubs, and trees in your yard. Plastic gets hot and retains heat during summer months making it a great material for smothering pesky weed seeds. Sadly, it can also kill the good things in your soil but if your soil is moist enough, it shouldn’t be a problem. Cut holes in the fabric to let water pass through. And again, if you hate the look of the stuff, just cover it up with some organic mulch.
Gravel and stone work well as mulches in areas that need good drainage or beds with plants that want little additional heat, like Mediterranean herb gardens. Stone is hard to remove, so you want to give it a lot of thought before committing to using it as mulch.
Rubber mulch is made from, well, rubber. Ground up recycled tyres to be exact. While using recycled materials is environmentally friendly, just keep in mind that rubber mulch doesn’t break down and will stick around in the soil for a long time. Rubber mulch effectively stops weeds from growing and helps keep the moisture in your soil, but the toxicity of rubber mulches is still being studied. Do the research before you go to your local tire yard.
No matter what mulch you’ve chosen, only apply it about 4 inches deep and no deeper than 6 inches and be sure to keep it at least 6 inches away from tree trunks. If you over mulch, you risk ruining the garden you’re trying so hard to help. If you’ve got plants that have been around a while, apply mulch mid-spring, when the soil has warmed up enough to really activate root growth. The mulch will keep the ground cool helping roots stay cool in the warm months. Also put mulch around any plants that are likely to suffer during dry weather. Don’t forget those shrubs! They may seem fine but they need regular mulching too. Annual mulching will put your shrubs and plants under less stress as they won’t need to compete for water and food because there are fewer weeds so water stays in the soil longer. When your shrubs and trees are well fed and protected by mulch, they can fend off parasites and bugs better.
Mulch is great for your garden, but if you go overboard, it can be the worst thing ever for it. The most common problem with mulch is collar rot. This is what happens when moisture is trapped close to the plant stem, keeping it moist for too long, and causing it to rot. Finer mulches can be problematic because they form a barrier or mat to block air and water moving into the soil meaning rain won’t get through the mulch and reach the soil leaving your plants thirsty as. It’s also worth noting that if you use too much mulch your soil can become too moist, resulting in the suffocation of your plants! Remember, using the right equipment is always the best bet when it comes to mulching. If you don’t have your own natural mulching equipment, you can always hire it. Get in touch with your local branch if you need a hand. We’ve got you covered, like a fine layer of mulch.
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High Demand Product: We suggest making a booking for this item in advance.
