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Mulch
Mulching is one of the simplest ways to enhance your garden. Mulch insulates the soil, protects it from erosion, conserves moisture, reduces weed growth, reduces soil compaction from heavy rain, provides a beautiful finishing touch to your garden, and may even improve soil quality.
Mulching, or top dress, refers to covering the bare ground in your garden by spreading an organic material, or some sort of rock. Many materials have been tried and proven effective as mulches: compost, manure from poultry and herbivores, including chickens, horses, and goats, ground bark, leaves, sawdust, straw, processed by-products (grape and apple pumice), lawn clippings, and old newspapers.
Most medium and high water-use plants will benefit from a two-inch protective layer of organic mulch on the soil surface above the root area. Mulch will moderate soil temperature (keep soil cool), reduce water evaporation between watering, and reduce undesirable weeds. For plants that live in dry climates, substitute crushed rock as a cover for bare ground. It also reduces evaporation and weeds.
General tips:
Mulch Myths Myth No. 1: Mulch provides a permanent barrier to weeds. While mulch reduces the number of weeds, some pesky nuisances may still manage to grow through the mulch, or on top of it. Weeds are especially likely in a new landscape for the first year or two, even with mulch, because of the abundance of weed seeds in the soil. However, once the weeds are brought under control, fewer will follow. Organic mulch needs to be replenished when decomposed to less than 1 inch thick.
Myth No. 2: Mulch placed against your house will attract termites. In reality, it’s moisture, not mulch, which attracts termites. So any landscaping, including shrubs, can lure the unwanted critters. Irrigation systems up against the house also create a termite-conducive environment. Even gravel or rocks around the base of a house can hold in the moisture attractive to termites.
Myth No. 3: There’s no wrong way to mulch. When mulching, keep the bark or rock one to two inches away from stems. Mulch creates a warm and humid environment that is perfect for the establishment of various fungi that can injure or kill the plants. Also, avoid covering the crown of dormant perennials.
How Much Mulch?
For more information: About soil fertility and mulch:
UCSC Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems: http://casfs.ucsc.edu/publications/gardenideas/soilfert.html
Places where you can find mulch locally:
Santa Cruz County Dept. of Public Works: http://www.compostsantacruzcounty.org/Collection_and_Processing/products.htm
Organic Materials Exchange: |