Mulching

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Created on Thursday, 14 March 2013 12:32

If you did not heed the advice from our winter posting on mulching, take note now.  As spring is almost here and our Florida summer is just around the corner, mulching your landscaping is once again a must do.

 Weather forecasters are predicting a dryer than usual spring and summer. Watering restrictions have been adopted limiting sprinkler usage to once per week. With this in mind, we need to be mindful of water conservation and your landscape health.

Ornamental shrub and flower beds look really pretty after you apply a fresh layer of mulch, yet the benefits of mulching are more than just a layer deep. First and foremost, mulching prevents the easy germination and spread of weed seeds in your flower beds. Secondly, mulch offers water conserving properties as it shields the soil from the sun's heat and the wind's dryness. The wood chips discourage pets and other fauna from digging in areas where you have planted ornamental flora. Last but not least, organic mulch gradually decomposes. In so doing it improves soil qualities.

Types of mulch vary as do their landscape properties;

Wood Chips, Sawdust and Bark Mulches
Appearance: Good
Insulating value in summer: Good
Insulating value in winter: Good
Lasting value: Good
Nourishment and aeration afforded to underlying soil by decomposition: Fair
Lets water and oxygen move freely into soil: Good
Ease of application and maintenance: Good

Stone Mulch
Appearance: Good
Insulating value in summer: Fair. Stone mulch tends to heat up, but it also retains much of that heat within itself.
Insulating value in winter: Fair. Again, while stone mulch easily grows cold, at least it keeps much of that cold off your soil.
Lasting value: Excellent
Nourishment and aeration afforded to underlying soil by decomposition: None
Lets water and oxygen move freely into soil: Yes
Ease of application and maintenance: Good

Straw and Hay Mulches
Appearance: Straw brightens your area nicely; hay is less attractive, but provides a softer look (and feel!)
Insulating value in summer: Excellent
Insulating value in winter: Excellent
Lasting value: Poor (breaks down quicker in the Florida sun than bark mulches)
Nourishment and aeration afforded to underlying soil by decomposition: Excellent
Lets water and oxygen move freely into soil: Excellent
Ease of application and maintenance: Fair
Note: Straw is preferred over hay, because the latter tends to be riddled with weed seeds.
Note: Straw is one of the best mulch choices for winter protection, due to its insulation potential. Being hollow, each strand of straw provides dead air space -- perhaps the #1 characteristic of an effective insulator.

Rubber Mulch
Appearance: Good
Insulating value in summer: Good
Insulating value in winter: Good
Lasting value: Excellent
Nourishment and aeration afforded to underlying soil by decomposition: None
Lets water and oxygen move freely into the soil: Good
Ease of application and maintenance: Good

Do not try to save money when mulching. For maximum effectiveness, buy enough bags to allow you to spread a two-to-three inch deep blanket of mulch. The one-inch deep spread might let the bags go a lot further but (other than some cosmetic improvement) there is little value to the application.

Hope the above information will help assist in a healthy and attractive landscape for you. If interested in having your beds mulched, please contact us. Thanks!