The first reason to mulch your garden is that it will help to conserve moisture. It is important to mulch your garden especially in the summer months. Mulching will keep the soil cool and help to keep it damp, saving you money both on your water bill and also saving your plants from dying. Cool, damp soil not only increases your plant's growth, it attracts beneficial earthworms that help to increase the soil's productivity through nutrition. Mulch itself is a form of food for plants. Another reason to is that mulch on your garden inhibits weed growth. You are doing your plants a good turn because they won't have to fight weeds for their share of food and water. Therefore they will be much stronger and healthier. Weeds often cause diseases or pest plagues by making a home for the pest, or restricting air movement around plants and so encouraging fungal infections. You will also save yourself a lot of work weeding. The third reason for mulching your garden is aesthetics. A garden that is mulched simply looks better than one that is not mulched. The beauty of the plants is enhanced when they don't have to compete with weeds for water and nutrition. The whole effect is more visually pleasing because in a dry time there is not dust blowing about and so you don't lose all your topsoil in the wind. Mulches can be organic or non-organic. Organic mulches are made of those things that will gradually break down and become food for plants. It may be hay or straw. Lucerne hay provides excellent nutrition. It could be leaves collected from under trees or lawn clippings or a mixture of all these things. Pine bark is sometimes used too, or sawdust. Non-organic mulch can be pebbles, rocks, pine chips (these are so slow to break down they are classed as non-organic), or even black plastic. Black plastic is good for keeping weeds down, but has a detrimental effect on the soil over a long period of time. It super-heats the soil, so drying it out and killing of all the beneficial micro-organisms needed for healthy soil. So do yourself and your garden a good turn by mulching. |
