If you are a gardening amateur the task of finding the best mulch or a fertilizer is a huge one as you might not know how to select the right mulch for a flower bed or any other project or why do you need mulch in the first place in your landscaping plan.
You should know that you need mulch as it will help in endeavours to conserve the soil, protect delicate landscaping during winter months and use less water.
It will also keep the plant roots cooler during the summer months and deter weeds. You can also trust it to minimize the erosion. In short, mulch will help your garden to grow.
You also need mulch because it will minimize the amount of lawn that you must actually mow.
When you establish a ring of mulch around the plants, trees or other landscaping features like a pond, you are establishing a barrier for weeks along with protecting delicate roots from damage that the blades of a lawn mower can cause to roots along the surface and tree trunks.
Choosing the Mulch
When selecting a mulch, you should first decide why you need it. You either need it for enriching the soil or any other purpose.
If your aim is clear then you will have no difficulty in choosing the right mulch. For instance, if you are looking for mulch that’s just decorative then you have many options.
Some of the mulches are made or wood chips, bark chips, pine needles and many such materials that look amazing in a flower bed. But do remember that these options do very little for the soil by way of providing nutrients.
Decorative mulches are also available in form of gravel or rocks. These options are awesome if you live in an area where lack of water is an issue.
Organic is the Best
Mulches that are beneficial to gardening are more organic in nature. They will decompose quite rapidly and enrich the soil during the process.
You also need to remember that when it comes to mulch, less can sometimes be really more. It is also essential for you to remember that mulch should be applied at the same depth across the board and not in mounds because the former is the more effective option.
A Word of Caution
Always remember to choose mulch on the basis of the needs of your flowerbed and the specific flowers you need to grow. Don’t listen to anyone’s advice except the advice of a landscaping expert while making this decision.
Your cousin or your friends advising you on mulch might be telling you what worked for them but it doesn’t mean that it will work for you.
Always remember that if you choose the wrong type of mulch you may not get the results you want and the entire exercise may be fruitless.
So, be sure to take the advice of experts or at least do some internet research before making a decision in this regard.
