Synthetic and inorganic mulches do a good job of holding moisture and blocking weeds. However, as plastic decomposes, it's detrimental to the soil and the environment. Likewise, landscape fabric allows weeds through as it decomposes after a few years. If you like the functionality of plastic or landscape fabric but not the look, you can always add a thin layer of bark mulch on top of the plastic or fabric for camouflage.
As the bark decomposes, weed seeds will be able to take hold on top of the plastic or fabric. You will also need to replace the bark as it disintegrates. However, if you're an organic gardener, you may want to forgo using plastic in vegetable beds, as it can contaminate into the soil as it breaks down. Plastic and landscape fabric are good choices for around foundation plantings and other shrubs and trees.
Plastic gets very hot in the summer and, besides smothering weed seeds, it can also kill all the good things in the soil, including plant roots and microbes, unless there is sufficient moisture. Be sure to cut holes in the fabric to allow sufficient water to pass through. Gravel and stone work well as mulches in areas that require good drainage or beds with plants that like a little additional heat, like Mediterranean herb gardens and rain gardens. Stone is hard to remove, so give it a lot of thought before using stone or gravel as a mulch.
Which mulch you choose depends on the function and aesthetic you are looking for. There are more and more choices each year, so review your options before you start spreading and choose a mulch that will please you and aid your garden for many years. Mulch Basics. Using Grass Clippings as Mulch. University of Minnesota Yard and Garden Extension. The disadvantages of landscape fabric.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The bark mulch has not broken down yet this spring. I want to remove it in the beds I'm using for root vegetables. Is there a good way to do that?
Please and Thanks! Depending on the size of the pieces of bark in your mulch, it can take several years for them to break down. To remove the bark chunks that are mixed in the soil you might have to screen the soil. Prop it up on a tarp or lay it over a wheel barrow to catch the screened soil.
In the future, use grass clippings or straw mulch in vegetable beds. Save for bark for permanent plantings such as perennial beds or around trees and shrubs. Keep the screen frame; it will come in handy for screening compost. Please tell your readers not to put too much mulch around their trees.
In my residential area, the "lawn services" make money selling and piling the mulch in large thick circles around each tree. The mulch is 12 or more inches thick, and the circle is 4 feet larger than the tree trunk. You see it everywhere, in shopping centers, church yards, office parks. These "mulched" trees have fewer leaves each year, and finally die. The bales of straw I've gotten from home depot are full of seeds. It may be helpful if you're trying to grow your own hay, but I'm not.
I'm worried my potatoes are going to be smothered by all the fresh green hay growing up through the straw that surrounds them. I would be very angry with any retailer who sells weedy hay as weed-free straw! True straw is just the stalk of the grain after the tops where the seeds are have been harvested.
Can you take it back or have you used it all? I still would complain to them. In the future, inspect the bales as best you can and make sure no seedheads are present. If you have access to a pond and it has an overgrowth of pond weeds, such as chara algae, I recommend pulling that stuff out and using it for mulch. I use chara algae as mulch and it suppresses weeds, allows water to pass through, and adds zero weed seeds to your soil such as green waste can do.
Your article touts all the benefits of mulching, and the different types to use; THEN you mention how it allows various pests to show up under it. Do the benefits of mulch really outweigh the prevalence of garden pests? I have a problem with slugs and long ago removed all mulch from my yard. I've never found a good solution for controlling those nasty creatures, and I've tried many, many treatments. I AM going to place some lime around my hostas as a preventative this year.
Wish me luck! Everything we do has its pros and cons. I just want you to be aware that there are two sides to the coin. For me the benefits of mulch far outweigh the cons. It is up to each individual to see what works best for them. As for your slugs, have you tried diatomaceous earth? I have a lot of Hostas and I sprinkle dried used coffee grounds around each Hosta. Snails do not like to cross over the grounds because of their soft under bellies.
It has worked for me. I also put Irish Spring soap around hostas to keep deer away. So far that works too. Good luck. We have used newspaper as mulch. The newspaper allows water to pass through and disintegrates eventually. Both types of mulch discourage weeds, but organic mulches also improve the soil as they decompose. Inorganic mulches don't break down and enrich the soil, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're not a smart option for your garden. Case in point: Black plastic, a popular kind of inorganic mulch, warms the soil and radiates heat during the night, keeping heat-loving vegetables like eggplant and cherry tomatoes cozy and vigorous.
Here are the six most common types of mulch to choose between:. You can purchase bags of decorative wood chips or shredded bark from a local garden center to mulch your flower garden and shrub borders. For a less expensive option, call your local tree-care or utility company to see if they have any extra wood chips on hand. Or if you're really planning ahead, chip your Christmas tree instead of tossing it to the curb.
If you have trees on your property, shredding the fallen leaves creates a nutrient-rich mulch at no added cost. You don't need a special machine either: a lawn mower with a bagger will collect leaves and cut them into the perfect size for mulching.
Spread a wood chip or shredded leaf mulch anywhere on your property, but it looks best in flower beds, shrub borders, and garden pathways. Of course, it's right at home in a woodland or shade garden. Keep in mind that wood chips aren't a smart choice for vegetable and annual flower beds, since they'll get in the way as you dig the beds each year. Grass clippings are another readily available mulch, although it's a good idea to save a portion of the clippings to use as a natural lawn fertilizer.
When you have remaining grass clippings, use them as nitrogen-rich mulch in vegetable gardens. Give your compost another purpose: If you have extra to spare, use it as mulch. It will enrich the soil and make plants happy, but keep in mind that when any kind of mulch is dry, it's not a hospitable place for plant roots.
That means, you may want to reserve your compost to spread as a thin layer around plants and top it with another mulch, such as chopped leaves. This allows the compost to stay moist and biologically active, providing maximum benefit for your vegetables, fruits, or flowers.
If you're planting a vegetable garden, consider covering it with straw, salt hay, or weed-free hay. Not only does it look clean and crisp, but this type of mulch retains soil moisture, prevents weeds, and adds organic matter to the soil when it breaks down. Technically, mulch is any loose substance which is laid over soil as a covering.
Mulch can be any number of substances from compost to bark, straw to grass cuttings. There are also a number of reasons why a gardener might use mulch, as the incredibly versatile process of mulching can have all sorts of benefits for the soil and the garden. At heart, mulching is simple enough laying down your chosen material over your chosen patch of soil and is most often employed to benefit the soil in some way, perhaps by helping it retain moisture, fertilise it or protect it from certain hazards.
Different kinds of mulch are used for different purposes and, although there are few handy principles that apply in all cases. Generally speaking, mulch will protect a layer of soil and, in the vast majority of cases, decompose. This means that mulch might have to be replaced, but it will enrich the soil with nutrients as it decomposes. Most growing guides for plants will recommend that you mulch after planting to get the soil to optimum conditions and provide a supply of much needed nutrients.
Generally speaking, the moister a mulch, and the more organic material it contains, the more nutrients it will impart to the soil and the faster it will decompose. The drier a woodier a mulch, the less nutrients it will impart, but the longer it will last. As such, this type of mulch is more often used for protection purposes, such are preventing unwanted seeding, weeds or protecting the base of plants from rooting when in contact with moist soil. For poorly draining soil, for example, digging in a good amount of mulch will break it up and improve the drainage.
As you might have guessed then, mulch has all sorts of uses but the application is never difficult and the type of mulch you should use is usually pretty obvious.
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