Mulch is great for your plants. It slows weed growth, maintains moisture, and makes your yard more attractive. It is also inexpensive and easy to apply. While mulch can greatly enhance your outdoor areas and simplify your gardening chores, the numerous choices can be overwhelming. That’s why we’ve compiled this handy list. Use this guide to help you choose the best mulch to meet all your landscaping and gardening needs.
Things to Remember About Mulch
- You’ll want to pull all weeds from the area to be mulched before you put it down.
- Spread mulch about four inches deep to slow weed growth and retain moisture.
- While mulch reduces the need for yard maintenance, it doesn’t eliminate it. Mulch needs to be replenished periodically, usually every two to three years.
Benefits of Mulch
Mulch is any material that is used to cover bare soil, especially around plants and bushes. Adding a layer of mulch will help you and your plants in several ways.
- By slowing evaporation, mulch helps reduce water loss from your soil.
- Mulch also improves your soil’s water absorption when it rains or you turn on your sprinkler.
- A layer of mulch makes it difficult for seeds that accidentally land to take root. This slows weed growth and protects against weed infestation.
- Organic mulch enriches the nutrients in your soil as it decomposes.
- Mulch offers insulated protection from extreme temperatures for plant roots.
- An attractive addition to any yard or garden, mulch adds color and texture to your landscaping.
Types of Mulch
While you will find a variety of mulches at your local nursery or hardware store, no one type does it all. Each type of mulch comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages.
Aged Organic Mulch
Any mulch that is comprised of partially decomposed wood products is considered aged organic mulch. It continues to add nutrients to the soil as it further decomposes. This type of mulch is perfect for improving the quality of your soil and encouraging all-around plant growth. It also helps hold moisture but doesn’t provide the best protection against weed growth.
Fresh Organic Mulch
Wood chips and bark fall into this category. If you want to control weeds and improve the eye appeal of your yard, this type of mulch is a fantastic option. Perfect for use around trees and shrubs where soil improvement may not be necessary. Since this mulch is comprised of larger pieces than aged organic mulch, it will last longer, enriching the soil as it slowly decomposes.
Loose Stone and Gravel
When you use stone and gravel as mulch, you add attractive color and texture to your yard. This type of mulch is especially useful for stabilizing areas of your yard or garden that are vulnerable to washout, such as hillsides or areas surrounding downspouts.
Rubber Mulch
Made from recycling tires, rubber mulch is great for play areas. Not only does it look great but it also provides a soft bouncy surface that can reduce the risk of injury. Also, it will last essentially forever! Generally not found as a garden cover, but perhaps there would be special use cases where it would make sense.
Small Sampling of Mulch Products
FibreDust CoCo Mulch
This mulch is a 100% Coconut husk and with no other additives. It is an attractive rust color that doesn’t wash out even when exposed to direct sunlight. Instead, it darkens as it ages.
Unlike mulches made from other materials, you’ll only need to apply a cover that is about one-inch deep. One bag can cover as much as 24 square feet. It retains water well without becoming soggy or saturated and stays in place without washing away, even in heavy rain.
Unlike Cocoa mulch (which comes from the Cocoa Nut that makes chocolate), this product from Coconuts is pet safe once it has been hydrated.
Unlike other mulches that float, the CoCo mulch does not and is suitable even for slopped services which often have issues with mulch washing away.
This mulch comes as a 5kg (11 pounds) compressed block. You will hydrate and fluff it prior to installation. Each block becomes about 2 cubit feet of applicable mulch. This makes it much easier to deal with than heavy mulch bags. This is a unique and long-lasting product. Does not attract insects.
Also, because of the high lignin content, this mulch will outlast bark mulch every time. If you want a unique look and a quality product for your landscaping needs, look no further than FibreDust CoCo Mulch.
100% Natural Cedar Chips
This is a natural 100% cedar chip mulch. As pure cedar, it has all the great cedar properties. It is insect resistant just like your cedar chest and has that great cedar smell.
It has many uses from the garden to making sachet bags. It will perform well inside the home in potted plants or out in the garden. Just like other natural mulches, it holds water well and will control weeds.
Use it because you like the light color or great smell.
This accent mulch comes in several sizes from 4 quarts (1 gallon) up to 16 quarts (4 gallons). We found that the plastic bags were actually overstuffed with the product giving us extra to love.
CedarCide Insect Repelling Cedar Mulch Granules
These red cedar granules naturally contain aromatic cedar oil which repels unwanted insects like mosquitoes, roaches, flies, fleas, and gnats yet won’t harm honey bees or butterflies. It’s safe to use around children and pets, too.
It’s easy to use, just open the bag and spread. This cedar granule mulch adds a nice reddish-brown color to your flower beds and a nice cedar smell to your yard. You’ll fall in love with CedarCide Cedar Mulch Granules. You certainly won’t find a more attractive form of pest control.
