Have you ever wondered why Knapp Valley recommends mulching your landscape? Mulch has many benefits that will improve the look and behavior of your perennial gardens and can also cut down on the time you spend tending, freeing up more time for enjoying your outdoor surroundings.
What is Mulch?
Mulch is any type of organic material that is spread over soil as a cover. It provides wonderful benefits for surrounding plants as well as freshening up the appearance of your home or workspace. Wood chips and shredded bark are commonly used for mulch. Pine straw, coconut mulch, and compost are other types of mulch that are beneficial to your landscape plantings.
Knapp Valley Gardens features four types of mulch: shredded hardwood, black or brown colored, or cedar wood. Each provides your garden with a different look. Additionally, cedar mulch may hold up a little longer than the other options, and it gives off that pleasant cedar scent which can help repel garden pests. Knapp Valley also carries wood chips, an ideal product for things like playground areas or wooden pathways.
The Benefits of Mulch
Whichever type you choose, mulching has many benefits. By covering the garden bed soil with mulch, moisture is locked in, making it available to plants. It is best to place more mulch over sandy soils and less mulch over clay soils.
Installing mulch also helps keep the soil cooler during the hot summer months and aids as an insulator in the cooler spring and fall months. Another fantastic benefit of mulch is that it suppresses weed growth. Additionally, mulch brings a clean, finished, and professional look to your landscape.
Over time, mulch naturally breaks down to further improve the soil structure, providing nutrients and improving the quality of the root zone. Most people replace or refresh their mulch every year or two to maintain its look and benefits. Turning the mulch a couple times a year so that buried pieces get moved to the top can also keep it looking its best longer.
Guidelines for Mulching
Here are a few guidelines to follow when you are installing mulch:
1) Apply fertilizers and weed prevention before spreading mulch.
2) Spread mulch to a depth of 2–4 inches. More than that will suffocate the root zone.
3) Leave a 4–6-inch open space around the trunks of trees and shrubs to avoid rot and damage.
4) Do not cover the stems of perennial plants. The goal is to protect the root zone.
5) Mulch should be kept at a minimum of 4 inches below the bottom of your home’s siding.
6) Do not mulch flowering annuals because it ties up nitrogen and slows their growth.
Wondering how much mulch you might need? Click here for our Mulch Types page and click on any type of mulch to access the calculator for that product.
It may take a little extra time, effort, and cost up front but mulching now will pay off in your gardens all season long. Knapp Valley Gardens’ mulch delivery is available six days a week. Order online or call during business hours to set up delivery today.
