Should I use mulch in my garden?

Mulch is brilliant for your garden. Mulch is one of the most versatile and useful materials for your garden and can come in many forms.

Mulch is essentially a top dressing for your soil. It can be used on beds and planters. It provides a range of benefits from suppressing weed growth to helping retain moister. The term ‘Mulch’ is a generic term to describe materials that can be used as mulch.

Here are just a few reasons to consider using mulch on top of your garden beds and planters.

• Keeps your garden soil moist in summer
• Protect roots from cold in winter
• Improves soil texture
• Deters some pests
• Suppress weeds
• Gives a decorative finish
• Provides nutrients into the soil
• Perfect for beds, borders, planters and containers

Organic Mulch

We recommend organic mulch when possible, mainly because it can be created from recycled garden waste. Basically a mix of soil, compost, wood chippings and leaf mould combined, could create a great organic mulch. This mulch also offers the best moisture retaining properties.

Wood Chipping Mulch

Wood chip and Bark chippings can be an excellent mulch. They have great moisture retention and offer all the benefits mention above. It is also versatile and a little cleaner, you can walk on it to tend plants or event use for paths.

Stone chippings / aggregate

Stone chippings became popular for top dressing beds, due to their low maintenance and wide range of materials and colours. It doesn’t offer the same moisture retention as other mulch, but other wise will do a good job. Hard warding and wont rot down over time like organic mulch.

If you would like Eco-Gardener to help with your garden contact us here