If you have never used mulch before, a good start is to learn its properties. Mulching can keep the sunlight and temperate air away from your soil surface. This means that the soil can remain cool and protected from the sun’s heat on summer days and prevent your plants from freezing during cold winter nights.
However, its important to be careful with the layer of mulch you are going to apply. If it is too thick, then you may have built a house for worms and slugs that will destroy your plants.
Types of Mulch
There are several types of mulch, therefore, you should conduct some research in order to find the one most suited to your needs. Professional help from experienced contractors like CLC will be also pretty useful for this process. Bark, cocoa hulls, compost, grass clippings or hay are some of them.
Check their specific properties and select the one most suited to your plants. For example, bark is long-lasting mulch however due to the large nuggets that it has it may be less pretty and attractive when it is applied around beautiful, delicate flowers.
You can even make your own mulch out of fresh leaves. Keep in mind that shredding them before applying them enables them to be able to break down faster. A trick to stretch mulch is using newspaper to apply a 5-10 layers before of mulching to disguise them. If you have Pine trees, they can offer you a ready to apply produc t as pine needles are ideal as mulch and can last up to four seasons.
Application
The ideal time to mulch is when you first plant your new plant. In regards to the time period, it is a popular belief that during spring it is an ideal period to mulch. If you try mulching earlier than that you may stop the plant’s growth and lead it to dormancy.
If you didn’t have the chance to mulch during spring, perhaps you should try at fall. This way you will have the chance to plant in a ground that is no longer frozen. If you have a sandy soil you will need more mulch thus, create a thicker application.
Before applying, make sure that the area around each plant is clean and grass-free. When the plant is on its own, it gets all the nutrition, and it grows faster. If your gardening area is close to your house, make sure you don’t apply mulch near the exterior walls.
Things You Should Be Careful of
It is important to watch over the amount of mulch you are going to apply. If you apply more mulch than needed, it may destroy your plant. Water will not be able to reach the roots of your plant.
After applying the mulch, you should often check for slugs and snails. If you find any insects near your plant use a slug and nail bait in order to prevent them from eating and destroying your beautiful plant.
Be sure to always check the mulch. The plant will show you what exactly needs if you pay attention.
