5 Advantages of Mulching in the Spring

Advantages of Mulching Around Your Landscaping

MULCHING | SPRING LAWN CARE

Most homeowners mulch at least some part of their landscaping each year. The reason being that the advantages of mulching are many. It is not only visually appealing but the purpose of mulching has many benefits that you may or may not think about when you are putting it down.

What is Mulching Anyways?

Simply put, mulch is applying any material, organic or inorganic, over the surface of the soil as a covering. The types of mulch can range in variety from the traditional and most commonly used shredded or chipped bark to things like compost, grass clippings, straw, shredded leaves, stone and synthetic rubber mulch.

Benefits of Mulching with Organics

The traditional mulches homeowners purchase at Home Depot or Lowes are usually shredded bark, colored in black, brown or red. The benefits of mulching with this type of mulch, or any organic mulch, is that it decomposes. Organic mulch provides all the advantages of mulch plus it decomposes, which increases soil fertility and improves plant growth. Disadvantages of using mulch that is organic is that each year after year it needs replaced as part of your annual spring lawn care schedule.

Advantages of Mulching with Inorganic Materials

Today, inorganic mulch is becoming more and more popular with homeowners. Specifically, Landscapers in Carlisle, PA such as A Brand New Leaf Landscaping have noticed a big uptick in the number of homeowners requesting stone or other inorganic mulch instead of traditional bark mulch.

The advantages of mulching with inorganics like stone or synthetic rubber mulch is that you have many more design options and it is for the most part a permanent solution. Stone comes in a wide variety of sizes, shapes and color options to match almost any landscape. Also, rubber mulch can be colored based on your landscaping needs. The biggest difference, however, is that inorganic mulch does not decompose. It is a disadvantage in that you do not get the soil fertility benefits of mulching with organics but you also do not have to replace it each year either.

5 Ad​vantages of Mulching This Spring

For many homeowners, mulching is one of those annual spring lawn care tasks when the weather breaks from winter. The importance of mulching is much broader than its visual appeal in your landscaping design. Certainly there are disadvantages of using mulch, whether it be organic or inorganic, but the benefits far out way the few disadvantages of using mulch. Although lawn and landscape professionals can probably come up with dozens of benefits of mulching, here are the top five advantages to mulching.

1. Reduce weeds - Any type of mulch will reduce the occurrence of weeds. In fact, it is probably one of top objectives of mulching in flowerbeds. Mulch acts to block sunlight and serves as an obstacle to make it challenging for weeds to grow.
2. Maintain soil moisture - The main purpose of mulch in gardens and around trees is to maintain soil moisture. Mulch reduces evaporation and helps to hold soil moisture around plants and trees. Doing so means less watering throughout the summer.
3. Stop soil erosion - In conjunction with retaining soil moisture, mulching also helps to prevent soil erosion. Mulch reduces the force at which heavy rains impact soil, which reduces the likelihood it washes away. In addition, stone mulch can act to hold soil in place along landscaped steep banks where surface run off can erode soil.
4. Protect trees - Mulching around trees, especially younger, newly planted trees helps to protect them. Soil compaction from lawn care services can harm the roots and ultimately the growth of newly planted trees. Also, mulch is important around trees because it regulates soil temperature and moisture from extreme cold and hot swings, which are bad for tree growth.
5. Stop irritating and damaging pests - Different types of mulching can have an impact on pests around your home. For instance, cedar bark mulch provides all the advantages of mulching above plus its natural oils repel many kinds of insects. Cedar bark mulch is a great choice for gardens and around trees for that reason. Similarly, stone and inorganic mulch can prevent damaging pests like termites. Trade out organic mulch, which provides an ideal home for termites, for stone mulch to prevent termite damage around your home.

Lastly, mulch provides a visual identity to your landscaping around your home or business. The choices of types of mulch are somewhat endless. You can mix and match colors, sizes and organic and inorganic mulch depending on your landscaping needs. Beyond its landscaping design benefits, the advantages of mulching go well past the five listed above. These are, however, the main reasons why landscaping professionals recommend mulching in the spring.