Mulch Benefits
Mulch is typically an organic product that is applied in landscapes. These mulches are installed in landscapes to help retain moisture, reduce weed growth and some mulch provides nutrients to feed your plants. Also installing mulch to landscapes in flowers beds will help insulate plant roots over the winter. When applied correctly mulch will help limit your regular maintenance requirements and give you a beautiful bright apperance and the curb appeal that will make your neighbors envious.
Mulch can be applied in different season of the year depending on your intentions. In spring mulching serves to warm up the dirt by retain the heat mulch creates while decomposing. Mulching this early helps encourage existing plants to grow or flower earlier. Applying mulch later in the season such as fall is beneficial to slow the growth or germination of perennial plants the following spring and over winter months reducing the possible freeze thaw damage done to weaker or less established plantings.
Natural or organic mulches can also be dyed to countless different colors to meet any needs of the consumer. Coloring or dying of mulch is done during the grinding process and uses a water based colorant solution and chemical binder. Years ago when mulch first became popular many of the formulas were concerned with be toxic. After investigations were done the results showed that colorants used for mulch will not harm people, the environment or animals. Colorants used today are similar to those used in the cosmetic industry. Mulch that has been dyed or colored can be used everywhere natural mulches are applied and have many of the same benefits as well. Over time mulch decomposes regardless if its natural or colored and may require more mulch to be installed or rotate existing mulch for a cost effective way to keep the appearance of your landscape and continued mulch benefits for another season.
Basic Mulch Installation
Once you’ve decided you’d like to mulch your landscapes or flowerbeds there are a few things you should do before applying mulch. All areas should be cleaned of all unwanted plant growth and weeds down to your soil or base layer. Once you’ve cleared the area you need to decided if your installing mulch directly to the soil or install a landscape fabric or weed barrier. So weather you decided to install mulch over your soil or on top of a weed barrier a good idea is to apply a pre-emergence herbicide. Applying a pre-emergence herbicide before mulching will further decrease possible weed growth. Now your ready to install mulch to your prepared landscape areas and flowerbeds. While spreading your mulch a good rule of thumb is to install mulch a good rule of thumb is to install 3″-4″ for optimum benefits of moisture control and weed growth. Mulching around trees, shrubs and flowers you should cover as much of the root zone as possible from the trunk or base of the plant out past the root ball. While installing mulch around all plants never create a mulch “volcano” at the base of a plant. Leaving 1″-2″ of breathing room between trunk/base/stem is recommended for the best health of your plants. These mulch “volcanoes” can cause bark at the base of a tree to rot leaving vulnerable to diseases. All types of organic mulch will fade in color and decompose from the exposure to rain, snow, sun. While the rate this happens will vary greatly you can refresh areas as you need. Newer mulches can be rotated or cultivated to freshen up. For the diy you can buy mulch dye and apply to your current mulch to extent the life of your mulch another season. Mulch can be done as frequent or infrequently as you desire just remember to much mulch can be as bad or worse then not enough mulch. A big benefit to mulching is its ability to help reduce weed growth. While this is true the forces of mother nature can make weed control difficult from wind born seed, birds and other animals that carry seeds. These seeds typically germinate at the surface of you mulch creating small unwanted weeds. Generally thses weeds have little to no root base so removal can be quick and easy by removing by hand or garden tool. Doing regular inspections to your landscapes and flowerbeds are recommended to limit any problems when left un-maintained.
