The Holistic Gardening Series: The Merits of Mulch

Mulch has become the way to go for today's busy gardener and with good reason: You spend all day at work, whether at home or someplace else. Why would you want to spend the bulk of your gardening hours pulling weeds and watering? If you are like me, some cleanup isn't a bad thing, if it is in the spring or the fall. But, the last thing most of us want to do is to become slaves to our gardens, doing only the less pleasant chores. It would be enough to take the fun out of the whole experience now, wouldn't it? Mulch can help you to enjoy the other aspects of gardening, so let's get into what properly applied mulch can do.

There are many reasons to apply mulch. Some of them include appearance, weed suppression, soil temperature regulation, and water conservation. Applied properly, mulch will provide all these benefits for the garden. Applied incorrectly, and disaster in the flowerbeds might be the result! Another thing to remember is to apply the correct mulch for the situation.

There are organic and inorganic mulches. Some examples of organic mulches would be shredded bark mulch, bark nuggets, cocoa bean hulls, salt marsh hay, and pine needles. These are but a few. Inorganic mulches would include pebbles, lava stone, and just about anything else that has never been part of the plant kingdom in its former life. They all have their merits and drawbacks.

Before ordering a truckload of shredded bark mulch or loading down the back end of the trunk with bags of mulch, consider your situation carefully. If you have an area in the front of the house with succulents or a rock garden, then shredded bark might not be the answer. You might want to consider dark or light pebbles or other stones, especially if the area is going to remain static, that is, no other plant material is going to be added. This would be, for instance, a shrub area with a mugho pine, perhaps some slower growing and spreading evergreens, yuccas, and the like.

On the other hand, if you have a perennial border, shredded bark or pine needles might be exactly what you need. Stones in this situation would not work at all; indeed, they would be detrimental to the appearance and function of the area.

Whether to add landscaping fabric or not depends upon one crucial factor: Do you intend to add more flowers or other plant material, or will the area be essentially unchanging? Using the pebble mulch area previously mentioned as an example, this area will be completed once planted. No other items will be placed in the planting bed once the ornamentals are in place. In this instance, the use of landscape weed barrier fabric would be a wise idea. On the other hand, the perennial bed is usually evolving. Plants are moved or removed, plant division needs to be done, perhaps seeds of annuals will be sown. That bed is fluid, not static. In this case, the use of landscape fabric would be rather useless.

When adding mulch, care has to be taken to apply it properly. If you are using landscaping fabric around new or existing plantings, then mulch would be added at about two inches or so over the top of the installed barrier. You do not need to apply as much mulching material over the underlayment as you would on the bare ground.

When applying directly to soil, be sure existing weeds have been removed as much as possible. Loosen and rake the soil around your plants, and add about a three or four inch layer of organic mulch over the top of this. Be sure that the mulch is not directly over the crowns or stems of plants, particularly young, emerging plants. If you want to add more plants or seed in some annuals, you can brush aside the mulch for this purpose.

Mulch on bare ground in flower beds needs to be refurbished. A light raking in the spring to remove leaves and to loosen the mulch is basically all that is needed. During the growing season, some weeds and grasses might try to take hold in the mulch. Pull them while they are young. You will find that as time goes along, you will have fewer weeds and they will be easier to pull.

Be aware that matted mulch will sometimes develop fungal threads. This is from decomposition and moisture. Loosen the mulch to aerate the mulch and decrease the fungi. The fungal threads themselves, however, are harmless.

After a year or so you will need to add more mulch if the mulch is directly on your flower beds or other planting areas. Mulch decomposes. I rake aside the top layer, and work the decomposing shredded bark into the existing soil. I do not find that the pH is changed dramatically, although there are reports that over time, pine needles in particular tend to lower the soil pH, making it more acidic. If you find that this is so, you can adjust the pH with agricultural lime or wood ashes.

One thing to avoid when using organic mulch is using sawdust, wood shavings, or fresh grass cuttings. These need to age for a while since they will cause a soil depletion of nitrogen. If you are going to use them before that time, add extra nitrogen around your plantings.

Some other options with mulching include using straw in vegetable gardens and using grass clippings with or without plastic mulch. One thing when using grass clippings: Be careful that the clippings you are using are free of herbicides or pesticides, particularly if applied directly on the ground. Also let clippings dry before applying.

Black plastic is still a good choice to use in vegetable gardens. Another mulch gaining in popularity is red colored mulch, which attracts more UV light to tomato plants.

Mulching definitely helps to cut down on chores while adding beauty and function to our landscapes. In my opinion, that's a big plus in any gardener's book. The merits of mulch are many, indeed!