Many gardeners believe that mulch is reserved for flower beds surrounding the home to increase curb appeal or for someone using the Back to Eden gardening method. In reality, mulch can be an incredible asset to any garden. Let’s talk about what mulch is and the benefits of mulch in the garden.
Uses and Benefits of Mulch in the Garden
What is Mulch?
Mulch is simply a layer of material that is added to the top of the soil. Mulch comes in many different forms and offers a plethora of benefits to vegetable or flower gardens.
Common Types of Mulch
There are many different types of mulch, but they can be broken down into two basic categories: organic and inorganic.
Organic Mulches
Organic mulch is made up of living or previously living organic material. This type of mulch naturally breaks down to improve the quality of the soil.
The most popular mulches are wood mulches like pine bark mulch, hardwood mulch, wood chips, and cedar mulch.
Other organic mulches include:
- Pine Straw- dried out pine needles
- Grass clippings
- Leaf Litter
- Hay or Straw
Inorganic Mulches
Inorganic mulches are made up of non-living materials that do not decompose like the living matter in organic mulch.
They do not enrich the soil, but they do serve other purposes in the garden.
The most common inorganic mulches include:
- Landscape Fabric
- Black Plastic Sheeting
- Rubber mulch
- Rocks/Stones/Gravel
8 Benefits of Mulch in the Garden
There are many great benefits to using mulch in a vegetable garden or flower beds.
1. Regulates Soil Temperature
Mulch helps to keep the soil cool during the summer heat. When a garden is mulched, the surface of soil is covered… This acts as a natural shade and insulation which helps to regulate soil temperature.
2. Retains Soil Moisture
Mulch on top of a garden reduces soil evaporation. This means that water stays in the soil to hydrate plant roots much longer than it would in bare soil. This is especially important for sandy soils as they tend to dry out quickly.
A garden that is properly mulched will reduce the amount that you need to water the soil. That’s great for the plants and for you!
3. Slows Soil Erosion
Garden mulch also serves as a protective layer from the elements. The mulch helps to hold the soil in place during high wind, heavy rain, and hail.
Mulch added on top of clay soil will slow the water run-off by giving the clay more time to absorb the water and it will hold sandy soil in place.
4. Reduces Weed Growth
If you don’t like pulling weeds, add a good mulch to your garden. Mulch is a great weed control method. It acts as a natural barrier that will block sunlight and smother weed seeds as they try to germinate. You may still have some weed growth, but much less than a garden with bare soil.
5. Improves Soil Structure
Decomposing mulch will help to decrease soil compaction in clay soils which will encourage root growth.
Mulch works to bind sandy soils by holding water in and reducing soil erosion as mentioned previously.
6. Improve Soil Health
Organic mulch will increase soil health over time. The mulch will break down into the soil enriching it with organic matter. As it breaks down, it will attract insects, worms, and beneficial microbes that will improve the soil even more.
7. Increases Growing Season
Just as mulch can keep the soil cool in the summer, it can also trap heat during winter. By covering the soil surface, mulch serves as an insulator that can warm the soil and allow you to grow into the colder months.
8. Prevents Plant Diseases
Adding a good mulch layer on top of bare soil will reduce the amount of soil and water that splashes on the leaves. This helps to prevent the spread of fungal and bacterial diseases.
Mulching Considerations
Get the Most Out of Your Mulch
Kill weeds before mulching. You can do this by covering the garden area with a tarp to suffocate the weeds or you can pull them by hand.
You should also water the soil thoroughly before adding mulch. This will jumpstart the moisture retention properties of the mulch.
Choose the Right Mulch
Think about what your goals are and choose a mulch that will help you to achieve those goals.
- If you want to improve your soil, choose an organic mulch.
- If you want a garden that requires little maintenance but doesn’t improve the soil over time, choose an inorganic mulch. You will need to keep inorganic mulch free of soil or compostable materials or seeds will germinate in it and grow weeds through the fabric.
- If using wood mulch, be sure that it isn’t fresh wood. Wood mulch that is too fresh can potentially increase the acidity of your soil and tie up some of the nitrogen. Wood mulch isn’t recommended for gardens that will be growing plants with high nitrogen needs, such as tomatoes, peppers, squash, corn, etc. The wood mulch will tie up the available nitrogen for the plants while they go through a slow composting process. Do not use bark mulch or mulch made from large branches as they take much longer to break down and tie up nitrogen longer.
- Exercise caution when sourcing organic mulches. Leaves gathered from suburban lawns often have been in contact with herbicides sprayed on the lawn over the summer. Straw is an excellent choice if you don’t want to risk bringing weed seeds into your garden, however, most grains are heavily sprayed. Choose an organic straw source. Organic or no-spray hay can also work well. Some may be concerned about weed seeds but generally, you can cover young tender seedlings with another heavy layer of mulch and kill them. Source hay mulch that was stored in a field for at least a year. Most weed seeds will have been heated (and killed) or already germinated. An increasing concern with hay mulch stems from a newer herbicide, Grazon, that does not break down. (This also causes an issue with compost made from manure of animals fed hay sprayed with aminopyralid-based herbicides.) It is best to ask the farmer who grew the hay what his growing practices are and what chemicals he uses in his field. Learn more about aminopyralid herbicides, such as Grazon, here.
Mulch Depth
If you are using coarse mulch, you can add 4-6 inches to the soil surface.
When adding fine mulches to your garden, add 2-3 inches to the top of the soil. Water and sunlight cannot travel through fine mulch as easily as it can travel through a coarse material. If you add too much, the plants can suffocate and dehydrate.
Homestead Gardening
Get ready for a great growing season with these articles to help you grow more in your homestead garden!
- Favorite Gardening Tips
- Winter Garden Planning
- How to Grow Carrots
- How to Grow Onions from Seed
- The Benefits of Barefoot Gardening
- Small Gardens Can Make a Big Difference
- DIY Raised Beds
Ah, but the trick is knowing which mulch to use (especially for veggies) and where to get it. And how to know if what you’re getting is really what you need. For leaves and such, we would have had to save them from last year, so trying to find what to BUY for this year is the trick. I use pine straw for my blueberries, and they are fine under azaleas, but I wouldn’t consider them for my veggies. And inorganic “mulch” needs a whole heck of a lot of consideration regarding watering methods (especially sheeting!)
Hey Valerie – we actually did save our leaves from last Fall in large trash bags (outdoor trash bags). We only did part of our yard and ended up with something like 12 very large bags. I’ve been using them in compost and now have a 4’x4’x4′ bin almost full to the top with a ton of leftover leaves. If you buy a box of large outdoor trash bags (I think they are 30-40 gallon size) you will be set for next year! They preserve very well as long as they aren’t soaked with water. Ours got caught in a rain storm and were wet all winter and spring. They dried out in a few hours after unbagging this summer and are fine. Just thought I’d offer that idea up since leaves are freely available in the fall. Good luck!
It’s valuable that you highlight the fact that mulch can help prevent weeds from growing in your garden. I am planning on planting a garden in my backyard next week, so I should probably have some mulch delivered to my home. I’m going to look for a good business that offers mulch delivery services in my area to hire.
It’s valuable that you expound on how mulch can suppress weeds from growing in your garden. My wife and I would like to plant a garden in our front yard next year, so we should probably buy some good mulch for it to keep weeds away. I’m going to see if there’s a good business in our area that can sell us some mulch.