Types of Mulch

Mulch makes good gardening covers. Mulch can be bought in bulk or can be bought in individual bags. Mulching can be a gardener’s best friend when gardening. It can be used in with trees, flowers, shrubs and even your vegetables. You will not have to spend a lot of time weeding and it helps you stay healthy. It is important to learn about different types of mulch to decide which is best for your garden.

Wood Chips and Bark

This is the most popular kind of mulch used when landscaping. The smell and the look is what make the cedar, pine and cypress more favorable. Also called waste wood, you will need two to three inch layers. It does not blow away in the wind. However, there are some problems with it including quick decomposition rate, attacks termites and during the decomposition period, it robs the soil of nitrogen.

Grass Clippings

Some of the most wonderful organic mulch that can be used is grass clipping. The best part about it is that it is free of charge. After you cut your grass, let it stay there and decompress and place nutrients back into the soil of the ground. Weed seeds can also so make sure you are careful when using this method.

Pine Bark

Pine bark is also an organic mulch. It is mostly placed by the plants in one or two layers. There are plenty of sizes that it comes in either shredded to the larger chunks and pellet shaped. It is high in acid so use it around plants that need that kind of acidic content turning it into a good organic fertilizer. It only needs to be put by the plants about once a year since it decompresses slowly.

Plastic Mulching

Plastic mulching is an inorganic compound. It does prevent weed growth and holds in moisture. However, watch out for it holding on to moisture for it can be bad in poorly drained areas. Black plastic reduces its efficiency as mulch because it breaks down in the sun. To cure that just collaborate it with wood chips and pine needles.

Coffee Grounds or Cork Grounds

You can use coffee ground to keep away slugs but it does even make your flowers grow. Cork grounds are not very cost effective but it does control the weeds and moisture retention.  It has no odor and resists decomposition.