Mulching Quick 'n Easy

Mulching is an excellent way to help your flowers and plants retain moisture, keep your soil cool, and to prevent weeds from becoming a problem in your garden.

And ... it can be done quick 'n easy too.

Remember that when working in your gardening areas it is always best to use material that will benefit your garden for both the short- and long-term.

You'll want to use good quality hardwood bark chips or an organic matter around your flowers and plants. Organic matter may be compost, chopped or shredded leaves, ground corncobs, rice or peanut hulls or other similar type material.

Mulching

You'll want to use material that will decompose or break down easily in your garden areas.

Using material which decays and decomposes well will serve to feed your soil good rich nutrients that will ultimately benefit future growth of your flowers and plants as well.

Remember that when placing the material around your flowers and plants you'll want to keep the area immediately around the plants open.

Keeping the area open around your flowers and plants allows for good air flow around them at all times.

Mulching Steps

The actual method of laying the material out around your flowers and plants in your garden is easy to do:

• lay down a three to four page layer of newspaper first; the width of a page is just about right for how wide you'll want a border of the material
• wet the newspaper if you'd like to hold it in place while you lay down your mulch
• cover the newspaper with about a three to four inch (3-4") layer of matter (using less than that amount will reduce the effectiveness of the layer for moisture retention and/or weed control)

You can then use these covered areas as established walkways in and around your garden, also. Using these mulched paths will help keep the soil up close to your flowers and plants from becoming too hard and compacted around them.

Generally, 1 cubic yard (27 cubic foot) of material will cover a 100 square foot area (10 foot x 10 foot), 2-3 inches deep.

Remember also ...

• the hardwood or organic material you might use may harbor slugs, one of the well-known pests of your hosta plants
• avoid using the matter around bearded iris during the growing season as the sun needs to reach the rhizomes (bulbs) to help the plant prepare for next year's blooms

Related Information:

Garden Care

Weeding

Watering

Plant Support or Staking

Fertilizing

Deadheading

Plant Division

Wintering

Adding Compost