How Savvy Gardeners Use Mulch To Make Garden Work Easier

Article by: Judith Schwader

Mulch provides many benefits to plants , Easy Landscaping and Curb Appeal for Florida Homes and soil: insulation, shade, moisture , Light Up the Night! Quick Facts about Outdoor Lighting retention, weed , The Best Fertilizing Tips For A Green Healthy Lawn reduction, and soil , 6 Indoor Plants That Love The Dark: A Tip From The Garden Center Nursery building. But when mulch is applied at the wrong time or in the wrong form, it can do more harm than good. Use the following guidelines to get the greatest benefit from your mulching effort.

First, make the most of your garden , How Bat Houses Can Improve Your Backyard Experience space, moisture, , 3 Hillside Landscaping Tips For A Beautiful And Healthy Garden and organic , How To Bring An Old Lawn Back to Life matter (including mulch) by planting wide rows - a width that you can comfortably reach across, rather the width of a single plant. , Caring for Your Water Garden Pond Wide row planting reduces the number of paths , Outdoor Deck Lighting needed through your garden, , US State Flags and keeps more of the soil , Hydroponics Gardening - An Introduction To Hydroponics Gardening For Beginners (part 13) Oxygen surface covered. This results in fewer weeds , Gardens: They are Fragrant, Breathtaking— the Perfect Idea for More Outdoor Decor and better moisture , Tulip Bulbs - Fall is the Time to Prepare the Perfect Spring Flower Garden retention, so your mulch can be applied where it is really needed.

~~Finished Compost , Tulip Bulbs - Fall is the Time to Prepare the Perfect Spring Flower Garden Mulch~~
There is no bad time to add finished compost , Easy Landscaping and Curb Appeal for Florida Homes to the soil, , US State Flags but for maximum value from this black gold the best time is shortly after spring , 6 Indoor Plants That Love The Dark: A Tip From The Garden Center Nursery shoots and seedlings have gotten established and have their true leaves. Apply a layer of finished compost , You Can Grow Your Own Herb Garden - Part 1 mulch. Often called a top dressing, this layer will merge with the topsoil quickly, but try to keep the compost , Hydroponics Gardening - An Introduction To Hydroponics Gardening For Beginners (Part 1) Starting Out from touching the plant , Container Gardening Is For Everyone stems anyway.

How thickly you layer the finished compost , Caring for Your Water Garden Pond mulch depends on how much you have available and how much ground you have to cover. Even a thin layer is beneficial; it provides nutrients that gradually work their way down, and gives some protection against weeds, , Why Do Flowers Inspire Me So Much? temperature , Lawn Maintenance extremes, hard rain, and so forth.

~~Partially Composted Material~~
Half-finished compost , Hydroponics Gardening - An Introduction To Hydroponics Gardening For Beginners (Part 1) Starting Out or compost , Recycling Carwash Wash Water for Landscape and Toilets that is noticeably fibrous is never good for mulching plants, , The Perfect Beginner Perennial Flower or even for adding to the soil , Container Gardening Is For Everyone near growing plants. , 3 Hillside Landscaping Tips For A Beautiful And Healthy Garden Separate additions of partially composted material from planting by at least two or three weeks. The best time to add this kind of compost , Japanese Garden Lights Bring Tranquillity to your Garden and Peace to your Body and Mind is in October or November in ground that will be allowed to rest.

Soil bacteria will break down the material, but these organisms have to use nitrogen in order to do their work. Eventually, the microbes will release the nitrogen and make it available to plants , The Perfect Beginner Perennial Flower again, but in the meantime, the half-finished compost , Recycling Carwash Wash Water for Landscape and Toilets has the effect of starving rather than feeding any growing plants. , Planning Permission Tips UK - Landscaping Schemes - Do They Add Value-Is It The Chicken Or The Egg?

~~Hay and Straw~~
Apply a layer of straw , Bird Baths in Your Yard or hay once plants , Amish Furniture on the Front Porch are beyond seedling stage. The timing also depends on soil , You Can Grow Your Own Herb Garden - Part 1 temperature. Since this mulch forms an insulating layer, wait until the soil , Plant A Simple Tea Garden is warm; else the layer of mulch will insulate in the wrong way-preventing the soil , Gardening from warming up.

In addition to the straw , Introduction to Snow Blowers or hay forming an insulating layer and helping retain moisture, , Amish Furniture on the Front Porch the mulch becomes a nice resting place , Japanese Garden Lights Bring Tranquillity to your Garden and Peace to your Body and Mind for melons and squash.

Straw is more carbonaceous than hay, and will break down more slowly. Hay often has a moisture , 3 Hillside Landscaping Tips For A Beautiful And Healthy Garden content, and will break down faster. Both are good mulches, but if slugs and snails are a problem, straw , Wicker Patio Furniture - Buying and Maintenance Tips is better. Again, keep the mulch back from touching the plant , Gardening Vertically: Fad, Emerging Frontier or Long-Overlooked Art Form stems.

~~Leaves and Grass , 6 Indoor Plants That Love The Dark: A Tip From The Garden Center Nursery Clippings~~
I prefer to compost , Wicker Patio Furniture - Buying and Maintenance Tips leaves and grass , Easy Pond Algae Control the Ecologically Safe Way rather than use them as mulch. Leaves are generally acidic, and affect the ph of the soil. , Recycling Carwash Wash Water for Landscape and Toilets However, some plants , Natural Garden Pest Control such as raspberries prefer slightly acidic soil, , Caring for Your Water Garden Pond and for plants , Outdoor Deck Lighting that don't like an acid ph, an amendment of lime could help neutralize the effect of the leaves.

Grass clippings can be very effective mulch - especially for moisture , How To Bring An Old Lawn Back to Life retention, but keep an eye on it. Grass , US State Flags packs down, preventing air , The Best Fertilizing Tips For A Green Healthy Lawn circulation so that anaerobic decay occurs. Again, I prefer to compost , Moss on Lawns grass; turning the compost , Gardening Vertically: Fad, Emerging Frontier or Long-Overlooked Art Form keeps it aerated.

Life-time gardener Judith Schwader specializes in organic gardening , Container Is For Everyone methods. She shares expertise, humor, and advice , Lawn Mower Safety for your gardening , Introduction to Snow Blowers success at A to Z Gardening. , Wooden Greenhouses Also visit FB Home , Gardening Soil for additional home , Gift Ideas for Bird Lovers and garden , The Secret to Pruning Apple Trees information.

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How Savvy Gardeners Use Mulch To Make Garden Work Easier

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