Spring Mulching

Before you pick out summer plants and start a garden, first look into spreading mulch in the flowerbed. Mulch is very useful in suppressing weeds and holding in moisture and nutrients to help flowers mature quickly and healthily. Below are tips for mulching your garden this spring:

• First, remove weeds, grass, and unwanted vegetation from flower beds.

• Strip old layers of mulch from the bed or work the mulch into the soil. Don’t have any packed down layers of mulch that would inhibit root growth and water movement.

• If your soil is of poor quality, add fertilizer, peat, and fresher, higher nutrient soil to give plants a good place to grow. Manure is often a good addition, as it is high in nitrogen and helps to loosen the soil around plants.

• Plant the new plants only after making sure all dead or unwanted plants are removed.

• Apply a thin layer of mulch to your garden, being careful to not pile the mulch thickly around plants or around trees. Mulch heaped around trees makes a good environment for insects to live and cause damage to the tree and may also promote rotting.

• Mulch can be composed of many different materials, and all are effective. Some common materials used to make mulch are:

• Bark – Use either small strips of bark or chunks of bark, both are very common in flowerbeds and gardens.
• Ground-up leaves
• Lawn clippings
• Wood chips – Use either rotted or recently dead wood chips. Rotted wood chips may have higher insect and nutrient availability.
• Compost – Use compost of any type, whether detritus, vegetable, yard trash, or other types of compost. As long as it is high in nutrients, this will be incredibly beneficial mulch.

• Ensure that whichever type of mulch you use is free of weed seedlings or other unwanted plants.
• The mulch should be applied in a layer roughly 3 inches deep, if possible, with the finer mulch in direct contact with soil and the larger pieces of mulch (bark or wood chips) used as a more attractive top layer

To find out more about what mulch can do for your garden, contact us at Nature’s Image today!