Many homeowners prefer to handle their landscaping needs themselves. You may be one of those homeowners that scours the internet searching for tips and how-to guides on how best to achieve a beautiful landscape and lush lawn. Well, mulching is a landscape basic that can be beneficial for your plants if done correctly. Therefore, it’s important to know why you should mulch and how much to mulch in your garden beds so that your plants can reap the most benefits. So today on the blog, our Kingsport landscapers share everything you need to know about mulching.
Why you should mulch
Mulch has several benefits to your garden and flower beds.
Here are a few reasons why you should mulch
- Helps reduce weeds – We’d like to preface this benefit by saying that mulch does not prevent weeds entirely. Instead, they reduce weeds by helping block weed seed germination. Mulch helps by blocking the seeds from reaching the soil and preventing the seeds from sprouting. This is beneficial because you’ll have fewer weeds to pull and deal with throughout spring and summer.
- Helps retain soil moisture – Mulch helps lock in moisture, which benefits plants during dry periods of no rain or little watering. It also shields the soil from the sun, which is another way that it helps retain soil moisture. However, avoid heavy mulching in shaded areas that rarely or never receive sunlight because it could cause too much moisture, which leads to fungus and plant diseases. Instead, spread a thinner layer of mulch in these areas.
- Invites earthworms and microorganisms – Earthworms and microorganisms are helpful creatures that breakdown dead plant matter and compost it into nutrients, enriching the soil and helping foster healthy plants. Plants require nutrients to thrive but pests, dry conditions, too much sun, and diseases can rob plants of the nutrients that they need. Therefore, the earthworms or other microorganisms attracted to the mulch are a natural and free way to add nutrients to your soil.
- Helps protect against erosion – Mulch helps disperse water and rain droplets before the water reaches the soil. Therefore, mulch can help reduce the occurrence of erosion, although heavy rains or flooding may wash away the mulching. Therefore, edging your flower beds with stone can help reinforce the mulch and soil and prevent it from washing away in a heavy rain.
- Helps maintain soil temperature – Mulching is often thought of during the spring and summer, but it’s also helpful during the winter as the temperature drops by acting like an insulator and protecting plant roots.
- Protects plants against mud splash – This sounds like a horrible thing, but while mud splash isn’t harmful, it causes plants to look dirty after a hard rain. Help keep your plants looking clean and vibrant by adding mulch to diffuse rain as it falls and prevent mud splash.
How to mulch your garden beds
We prefer natural mulch, instead of the dyed varieties. Spread mulch around the base of each plant and layer it about two to three inches thick. We recommend maintaining your mulch year-round, adding new mulch as necessary to maintain the proper depth.
Professional landscapers in Bristol, Kingsport, and Johnson City, Tennessee
Caring for your landscape can seem overwhelming for some homeowners. And now is the best time to add fresh mulch to your flower beds. If you’d like to learn more about hiring professional landscapers in Kingsport to handle your lawncare needs, including mulching your garden beds, contact Promier Landscapes by calling (423) 872-2988.