Simply start with a certified sprouting potato, some compost and mulch. Lock in summer soil moisture with mulch. Sow lots of flowers. March is the best […]. Add compost, rock minerals also known as soft rock phosphate, rock dust or minerals and mulch. If you have a worm farm, add vermicast worm castings. Avoid high nitrogen fertilisers as you […]. Hats off to you! You did a nice job to hack the secret about mulch.
I belong to Asia where mulch is almost free to get. My question is: Is Mulch an alternative to fertilizer? If we spread it then should we fertilize the plant or not? Hopefully, you will guide me. People in my area throw it away like a useless product. Now I will collect it from dumps and will use it for making plants healthy. The type of mulch you use determines how much nutrient and organic matter it contains and whether it will help to feed the soil or not.
Pebbles, for instance, are an inorganic mulch. Whereas grass clippings, leaves or bark chips are natural materials that will decompose and help feed the soil over time. If you have poor soil, this is a way to increase minerals and slow-release nutrients to make them available to your plants. Make sure you are careful about where you get your mulch though. Food for thought! Cheers Anne.
Hi Tim, I apply it as needed. During summer some mulches break down faster than cooler months, but at least seasonally to keep the soil covered. I found it interesting when you said that mulch can be a barrier to weeds since it blocks the sunlight. My wife is wanting to get some mulch down on our garden this spring since we have to deal with many weeds where we live. You got me when you said that mulching can help you to block sunlight which can help you to easily remove weeds.
My husband and I want to have a green lawn. Mulch is definitely an important aspect of gardening! My garden is usually covered in mulch, I always mulch around small plants and newly germinated seeds. Thanks for sharing this helpful info!
Salut Annick, merci beaucoup pour vos commentaires. Trouver la joie dans chaque jour dans les petites choses que vous voyez. Hello I grow a lot of Kale here in Vancouver. I was going to put it into my compost pit, but thought maybe I can put it a mulch around my kale plants.
We are two and eat one full garlic every day in our food I cook Asian and stirr fry a lot. But when to plant it in a region like Vancouver where it rains a lot and we have coldish sometimes snowy winters otherwise very wet most winters.
I have a full south exposure plot unused and could grow it there its above a stone wall so very well drained. Thanks love your blog. Thanks Vic. Despite your sunlight hours your soil must be good to produce healthy crops. These materials will add organic matter and slow release nutrients to your garden at the same time.
They are also ideal ingredients in compost so you could add some to increase the variety of ingredients you use in your system. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask and thanks so much for your feedback. Congrats on a great garden — keep up your efforts.
Cheers, Anne. Anne thank you for your help in regards the magnolia. I followed your instructions and I have been waiting patiently for a whole year now; looking at the tree every day; and as you wrote to me;. You make a lot of people happy.
Everyday you were in my mind because I see that tree 8hours a day. I remember it was in a very sad state a year back when you sent the pics. Your patience has paid off! Thank you for your lovely comment and so thrilled my advice has made a difference. We LOVE to recycle forest residuals into useful products. Protects plants from heavy rain.
The protective interlocking nature of mulch protects and helps bind together the plant structure. Prevents erosion and soil compaction particularly from foot traffic on pathways and play areas.
Improves the visual appearance of your garden. Especially if you use a beautiful coloured mulch. We love to hear from you so please either share this with your friends or you can email us any questions you might have. We hope you enjoyed our 20 Reasons for Mulch. I had no idea that mulching your garden could help prevent weeds. I can see why this would a great reason to consider putting it in. This picture from the GardenFarm shows the large hardwood chips I use in pathways and the finely-ground wood mulch I sometimes use in my vegetable beds.
When you purchase mulch, know what you are buying. Dyed mulch is a great example. These products typically use food grade coloring. The issue is that those colored mulches are often made of chipped shipping pallets. Many shipping pallets are treated with a toxic insecticide, methyl bromide, to kill insects which might be hitching a ride into the U.
Pallets which reach the end of their use are ground up, dyed to look nice, and sold on the market as mulch. So although they may look pretty, avoid dyed mulches. I also recommend against cypress mulch products. These tend to be popular because cypress is long-lasting.
These products usually come from wild cypress forests. Too often, these trees are cut down specifically for use as mulch, and it takes decades for trees to mature. Louisiana and Florida cypress forests are in serious states of decline, yet they continue to be harvested as a mulch source.
There are just so many more environmentally-responsible options to choose from. Avoid cypress mulch products. If you need more than 27 bags or so to mulch your landscape, consider buying in bulk. It will be less expensive, and many bulk mulch suppliers will deliver to your property.
Another benefit to buying in bulk is that the material tends to be locally sourced, so it has a lower carbon footprint. If you do buy in bulk, a little homework on the source is still a good idea. Ask the supplier where they get their material.
I was once all set to buy from a local supplier when a casual conversation revealed that their heaps of wood mulch came not only from area tree service companies a good resource but also from area work crews demolishing old play sets, decks and other wood structures.
It was the thought of all that construction material that stopped my purchase cold. Those structures are typically built with treated wood, and one of the primary chemicals in older treated wood is arsenic. The chemicals are then released through all the exposed areas of the wood chips.
I found a different supplier. Speaking of ground up building materials, dyed mulch products are also known to include demolition byproducts and treated wood. Sometimes, I want to shout about my love of leaves from the rooftops.
I collect them every fall — not only from my yard, but from friends and neighbors too. I even offer to pick up bagged leaves destined for the landfill with posts on local social media sites. Once I get them home, I spread them out and run over them with a mulching mower. Mine has a bagger attachment, so I can dump the ground leaves directly into a garden bed or a storage container. Before I had a bagger attachment, I would rake up and bag the ground leaves the old fashioned way.
Shredded leaves are great to work with. I add compost directly over the decomposing leaves, which are rich in calcium and micronutrients, to create amazing soil that keeps getting better year after year.
Having this gorgeous pile of shredded leaves to spread throughout my garden makes all the work of fall gathering and grinding so worthwhile. Chip products, finely-ground options, hardwood, pine and more — how do you know which is best?
For example, how long would you prefer the mulch to last? As I mentioned, I use longer-lasting hardwood chip mulch in my GardenFarm paths but softer, smaller wood products anywhere I want something which will break down quickly to improve the soil.
I use arborist wood chips regularly in my landscape beds. I love that you can find this material for free from local tree services. Try contacting your area services to let them know that you are interested in taking their load of chipped wood.
Some gardeners worry about using arborist wood chips and ask if chips which come from a diseased tree will spread disease in their landscape. Most studies indicate that diseased mulch does not spread disease to surrounding plants, trees and shrubs; so the risk would seem to be low. Those are both myths. As a result, I scored these free arborist wood chips to replenish the mulch in my landscape beds.
Most of the wood chips break down within a year or two and begin to look like a blended soil mix. At that point, the material can be incorporated into your soil, if need be, without any negative impact.
Be cautious when it comes to any material from black walnut trees. There is an allelopathic chemical, known as juglone, in black walnut trees which can inhibit the growth of sensitive plants in your landscape.
This chemical is most present in the tree roots, but it is found in all parts of black walnut — including the leaves. Juglone will begin to dissipate after about six months, but the longer you can allow it to age, the better. Hay or Straw — These materials are readily available from home improvement stores, garden centers and farm suppliers. Both options are easy to spread, and they look nice in the landscape. There are key differences between these two materials.
Straw comes from grain crops and is just the stalk of the crop. Hay comes from grass crops, like fescue and bluegrass, so it will likely contain seed heads.
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