Landscape Mulch
Landscape Mulch | Learn about organic mulch, recycled rubber mulch, and many more mulching tips here.
Adding landscape mulch to all of your landscaped areas is a great eco friendly thing to do. If you are considering adding mulch to your flower beds or other landscaped areas, read on to learn about the benefits, how to use it, and what type of mulch to use. We'll even talk about recycled rubber mulch - quite new to the market.
To understand why there are so many benefits to using mulch, start by consider how mulch occurs naturally in the forest:
The forest floor consists of a top layer of dry leaves and discarded needles. Beneath that is a layer of semi-rotted material Next lies a layer of leaf mold, and finally a deep layer of moist rich soil that is the result of many years of decomposing material.
The forest floor is an ideal growing medium for plants because of the moisture holding abilities and the nutrients that are present in the mulch layers. If you can reproduce this same scenario in our gardens we will have the ideal growing medium.
Landscape Mulch is Very Eco-Friendly
Adding landscape mulch to all of your landscaped areas is a great eco friendly thing to do. If you are considering adding mulch to your flower beds or other landscaped areas, read on to learn about the benefits, how to use it, and what type of mulch to use. We'll even talk about recycled rubber mulch - quite new to the market.
To understand why there are so many benefits to using mulch, start by consider how mulch occurs naturally in the forest:
The forest floor consists of a top layer of dry leaves and discarded needles. Beneath that is a layer of semi-rotted material Next lies a layer of leaf mold, and finally a deep layer of moist rich soil that is the result of many years of decomposing material.
The forest floor is an ideal growing medium for plants because of the moisture holding abilities and the nutrients that are present in the mulch layers. If you can reproduce this same scenario in our gardens we will have the ideal growing medium.
If you choose an organic mulch, it will improve the structure of the soil by adding decomposing rotting matter (humus) to the parent soil. This rotting matters supplies needed nutrients to the plants just as it does in the forest setting. The mulch layer also reduced your need to add nutrients to amend the soil, saving you money in fertilizers.
Landscape Mulch - Keeps Your Beds Neat & Clean
A thick layer of mulch gives your garden a very natural, consistent look if spread over the entire surface of the planting area. When raked smooth, it give a tidy look, provides a walking medium and and becomes an important design element in our gardens.
Hard rains will cause areas without mulch to suffer from splashing of the rain and dirt on the plants and leaves. Mulch absorbs the hard rains and keeps our plants, leaves, and fruits clean and fresh looking. Again, this save the gardener time in the beds.
A thick layer of landscape mulch will provide you with a wonderful place to run drip irrigation piping. Simply embed the irrigation within the mulch layer, which will not only keep the pipes out sight, it will also allow the moisture direct contact with the root area of the plant.
We like organic mulch because, well, it's organic. In most cases, organic products are more eco friendly than inorganic products. In the case of mulch, we really like organic because it breaks down and adds nutrients to your soil. Of course, that also means that it has to be replaced on a fairly regular basis. Following is a list of organic mulch.
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Landscape Mulch - Leaf Mulch
This can be either loose leaves or shredded leaves. Green Living Made Easy prefers the shredded variety as it decomposes much quicker. Depending on the variety, shredded leaves allow for water to penetrate better than the whole leaves.
Be careful when using oak leaves. With their leathery consistency, they do not decompose very quickly and tend to provide an impervious layer, making it difficult for water to penetrate.
Also, Oak leaves tend to be quite acidic and will make your garden soil more acidic than you would want. If you grind up your leaves with your lawn mower in the spring or fall, this make for a great mulch medium, especially in the fall because the leave make a very good insulator against the cold.
Since pines shed their needles to make room for new needles, you will find an abundance of them around pine trees. They make excellent mulch, but tend to raise the acidity level of the soil.
Landscape Mulch - Cocoa Bean Hulls
This is a great choice for a flower garden. Don't spread it on too thick though, as it can get moldy quite quickly. Since cocoa bean hulls are a light material, sprinkle immediately after placement to keep them from blowing away. Avoid using if you have a dog as chocolate makes dogs very sick.
Use rocks, stones, and chips to provide areas of interest and surprise. Do not use stones for an entire landscape bed as it tends to look harsh and unnatural. Whey you use rock, be sure to place a layer of geotechnical fabric beneath the rocks as a weed barrier and you will have a nearly maintenance-free landscape bed.
Landscape Mulch - Recycled Rubber Mulch
This is a fairly new option for landscape mulch and it good because it gives a new use to tires that are difficult to recycle otherwise. The benefit to using recycled rubber mulch is that it doesn't break down, so it won't need to be replaced. However, because it's black, it will generate additional heat in your landscaped areas, just as an asphalt driveway would. Consider using it in small areas.
Landscape cloth is usually used as a weed barrier. However, it's not attractive at all, so if you choose to use it, you'll still want to choose a mulch to place on top of it for aesthetic purposes. Garbage bags used to be a popular form of weed control, but landscape cloths are a much better choice as they allow air and water to flow freely.
The best way to use compost is to spread it in a 1/2 inch to 1 inch in between layers of mulch. For example, start by adding 2 inches of mulch to your landscape bed. Next, add your compost. Finally, finish with another 2 - 3 inch layer of mulch. This allows nutrients from the compost to reach the plants, while protecting the mulch and allowing it to last longer.
Prepare your beds by leveling the soil and picking any weeds or rocks out. If you haven't planted your plants yet, do so before you mulch. I also like to loosen up the soil a bit with a garden fork or small tiller to aerate the soil and give better access to the moisture.
Spread the mulch in a layer of 3 to 4 inches thick. Level off with a rake or by hand. Don't put the mulch on top of any of your annuals or perennials - keep it from direct contact with the trunks of trees as excess moisture can cause disease and rot to the tree.
The best time if to mulch in early spring during your spring cleanup chores. This will give you a full growing season to realize the full benefits of mulch.
Add new mulch as yours starts to decompose. Typically, you should only need to add a fresh top-layer of mulch each spring.
