This secret garden ingredient will transform your lawn and garden from burnt to bountiful
A dry autumn with burnt leaves, as Mississauga experienced last year, results in drought like conditions for your garden, lawn and trees, come the following spring. So what’s a gardener to do? Mulch.
What Is Mulch?
At a most basic definition, mulch is a material that you spread over your lawn and garden to protect it from the elements.
Mulch comes in a variety of formats. Some people use their fallen leaves in the autumn, but if you want to mulch year round, in garden beds for example, you can get bark mulch, as well as mulch made from recycled wood, in different colours (red, brown and black) to suit your landscaping design. In the case of the brown mulch, it is made up of natural pine and cedar so it not only has a beautiful colour, but also a heady aroma that gardeners favour!
What Is Mulch Used For?
Mulch has a variety of important uses. It works to keep moisture and nutrients in the soil while at the same time minimizing soil erosion and preventing weeds from growing. It also breaks down over time, enriching the soil. Think of it like the layer of leaves that protect a forest floor in the wild, except your garden has a little help from you (and your local garden centre)!
The weed prevention aspect is an important one for gardeners as a little mulch can go a long way to saving your back from endless weed pulling. There’s a reason you see it in garden beds on city / municipal property. It’s good for the garden but it also saves a lot of money in toil, weeding and maintaining the beds.
In the fall, a solid layer of mulch is a blanket between your garden and the cold and snow. Roots of plants, trees and shrubbery are better protected against the elements, by maintaining a more consistent, moderate temperature below ground. Come spring, it will also prevent soil erosion from heavy rain showers and run offs.
But if it is a barrier, isn’t it preventing moisture from penetrating? The bigger issue with moisture protection is evaporation and dew is the biggest culprit. Dew is mostly created by the condensation of the moisture in the soil, as opposed to the moisture in the air being deposited on the ground. So a barrier of mulch helps to prevent dew from the soil from forming and ultimately evaporating.
If you’re looking to grow plants like tomatoes, compost is indispensable, but so is mulch. Tomatoes are prone to soil-borne diseases and mulching your plants at the right time ensures that the soil won’t splash up onto the plants, during a rainstorm, for example.
What Is The Difference Between All The Types Of Mulch?
People use all sorts of things to mulch their gardens: straw, grass clippings, compost, wood chips, sawdust and so on. There are merits to all of them, and some downsides to many. Straw, for example, can attract vermin and may also contain some weed seeds, which really would defeat the purpose of using it in your garden. Grass clippings are useful to mix in with mulch if they’re green because while in that stage, they contain plenty of nitrogen and other nutrients. As the grass breaks down in the soil, those nutrients will be released and be good for your beds. Wood chips and shredded bark are the ideal forms of mulch, as they don’t come with the downsides of some of the others and are not only functional but add a lot of beauty to a gardenscape.
When Should You Apply Mulch To Your Garden?
You can mulch anytime of year: many people do it to beautify their garden beds in the spring and summer, as well as to minimize weed infestations. It creates a colour infusion or a lovely base for your grasses and flowers and will enhance everything from garden beds to pool decks.
The critical time of year to mulch that you should not miss however is in the fall, where the materials provide a blanket for your garden, to safeguard it through the winter months and help the ground retain the moisture it will need to be lush and full in the spring.
Whether spring or fall, just pile the mulch at the base of trees, plants and shrubs and if you’re covering a wider area, like a garden bed, make sure that you add a substantial enough layer—two to four inches ought to do the trick—to be effective in both moisture retention and weed prevention.
Where to buy your mulch in Mississauga
The good news is that mulch is one of our biggest spring sellers so we keep tons in stock. Come by the store to place your order, or order from www.gardenbag.ca and we’ll deliver it to you along with your soil.
If you need advice on mulching, composting or other gardening and landscaping needs, let us know! We’re happy to answer questions and remember that you needn’t cart your mulch home with you in the back seat: we deliver!
