Every garden (and gardener) loves mulch, and not without reason. Bringing along with it several benefits that keep your soil and plants healthy in the long run, mulch is by far one of the most affordable options to improve your garden.
Is there any benefit to using mulch?
There are several benefits to using mulch, of which the chief is the retention of moisture, ensuring that your soil can provide a healthy environment to your plants.
Fertilization is yet another benefit that comes along with using mulch. When mulch eventually breaks down, it enhances the nutrient content in your soil as well!
Weed growth can be controlled with mulch, therefore making more moisture and nutrients available for your plants.
Soil erosion can be minimized with the help of mulch. This essentially means that mulch can keep your topsoil in the best possible shape for prolonged periods.
Warming the soil in winter can also be done with mulch, which essentially gives you a little extra time to plant your plants in advance to get more time to grow properly and not experience frozen roots in winter.
And the best part is a variety of mulches can be quickly delivered to your doorstep by Wondertote, ensuring that you can get the best gardening supplies while staying at the comfort of your home.
How to use mulch?
Mulch is very simple to use. There are only a few steps that need to be followed to use it to ensure the best results for your garden.
- Weeding: The first thing is to remove all weeds and ensure the soil is moist.
- Applying mulch to the Garden: Next, the mulch should be spread throughout the planting areas at about 2-4 inches of depth. Of course, for finer mulch, the amount used should be lesser. It should be a bit thicker for other types, such as bark mulch (keep reading to find out more bark mulch).
- Taking Proper Precautions: Proper precautions must be taken during application, such as ensuring that the bases of the trees are not entirely covered.
Following these few simple steps is the key to using mulch and reaping the benefits for your garden that it brings along.
Types of Mulch
There are, of course, several types of mulch available. Each of them has distinct advantages of its own and is best suited for specific cases.
Mulch can primarily be of two types: inorganic and organic. Of these, the main ones are as follows:
Leaf Mulch
Leaf mulch is the best option if you want to not only recycle your leaves but ensure that your garden gets the maximum amount of fertilization from it.
Bark Mulch
Bark mulch typically consists of hardwood bark, the main benefit from using this type of mulch is the increased level of water retention it provides. This is one of the most common types of mulch you will see in Calgary.
Compost
Compost is yet another mulch that you can use, one of the most common choices that gardeners choose. However, most gardeners also agree that manure compost is the best kind of compost out there.
Grass
Grass cuttings/clippings are yet another great option. However, if you choose to go for this option, ensure that you dry it properly before application to prevent mould formation.
Straw
Straw mulch is another excellent choice. It retains moisture and provides your soil with a fair amount of nutrients. If you’re planning to grow vegetables, this might be one of the ideas you want to consider.
Cocoa Mulch
You can also use the husk of cocoa as quality Mulch. Besides providing your soil with several benefits, this is by far one of the most aesthetic options… though it may be difficult to source in Calgary.
What to Keep in Mind When Ordering Mulch?
Mulch provides you with quite a few benefits. But it is essential to keep in mind that you must always get your landscape and gardening supplies, including mulch, from a trusted landscape supplier such as Wondertote.
