At last we can now look forward to summer. This is when your garden will begin to fill out and blossom and grow, grow, grow. Where only a month ago there were empty spaces and twiggy branches we begin to see lush growth beginning to cover the soil once more and healthy trees and shrubs are alive again, dressed in the finery of nature’s green robe.
If you made the effort to plan and plant your garden in early spring, you take great pride in it. Of course, you will want to keep it looking great and producing abundantly throughout the summer months. One of the greatest ways of achieving this is mulching and now is the time to do it. Mulching is extremely beneficial whether you enjoy creating an ornamental garden filled with beautiful flowers, or one filled with tasty fresh fruit and vegetables for the home kitchen, or both.
Mulching is very simply adding a protective layer of organic or inorganic material on top of soil, around plants, or even over plants. There are many reasons for doing this, especially as the mercury rises and rainfall decreases. At this time of the year mulching will help retain moisture in the soil, prevent the weeds from growing and, if you mulch organically, nourish the soil. It also provides a cooling effect, essential to some plants. As organic mulch breaks down it not only adds goodness to the soil but in addition will assist in conditioning compacted clay soils. This sounds like a win-win situation to me!
At other times of the year, for example in the fall when frosts are likely, mulching can help extend the season for a week or two. During the cold winter months you should always mulch to insulate the soil and regulate the temperature, thereby protecting plants from the freeze-thaw-freeze cycle.
One of the best mulches you can provide for your garden is good old garden compost. I know I am always applauding the virtues of the humble compost heap but I would emphasize that you should make it an essential part of your gardening program; in my garden I have three! As well as using compost to fertilize and improve soil texture you can use it partially decomposed to provide excellent mulch.
Other home-found mulches would include leaf mould (shredded leaves make a great winter mulch around perennials) and grass clippings, but only a centimeter deep at the most and always herbicide-free. Newspaper can be used as a cooling mulch, either in layers or shredded, as well as well-rotted manure, pine needles, sawdust, seaweed and straw.
So far I have only mentioned the benefits to the soil that mulching provides. But what about the aesthetic advantages? This is also an important consideration. Providing an attractive carpet of bark mulch around plants and shrubs gives a natural and finished look to your garden. At the garden centre today you will discover a huge selection of mulches. Most of these are packaged in easy to manage bags.
A popular choice is cocoa-bean shells. These are very easy to spread around plants and break down relatively quickly. One of the attractions is the chocolatey aroma dispersed into the air, especially after a shower of rain! Stone has improved by leaps and bounds and not only can you choose between brick red, white and black, but also different shapes and textures have now been added to the collection. When laying down stone chips as a mulch, always place a black landscape fabric on the soil first, to avoid incorporating the chips with the soil.
Cedar mulch is now available in both red and black and a 2cu. ft. bag will cover 12 sq. ft. at a recommended rate of 2in. thick. Eucalyptus is another popular choice, available in mulch and fiber mulch, and gives the appearance of newness longer as it darkens with age.
Tip:
Get your garden under control by spreading some mulch throughout your garden this month. It is the perfect time to do it; the soil is warmed up and the weeds have not yet grown out of control!
