The Benefits of Mulching
Elsie Sydnor
Mulching with organic material enriches and protects soil. In fact, it is one of the simplest and most beneficial practices you can use in the garden. Mulch is a protective layer of material that is spread on top of the soil. It protects the soil from erosion, reduces compaction, conserves moisture, maintains a more even soil temperature and prevents weed growth. A fresh layer of compost gives a garden a nice finished look.
As mulch slowly decomposes, the organic matter helps keep the soil loose, improving root growth and increasing water infiltration and retention. Nutrients provide a friendly environment for earthworms and other beneficial soil organisms.
Lawn clippings make good mulch but new mulching lawnmowers leave the grass on the lawn to add nourishment there. Leaf mold or the decomposed remains of leaves gives the forest its absorbent spongy structure. Chopping leaves up with a lawnmower prevents them from blowing about when used as garden mulch. Various sizes of bark chips make a clean groundcover and puts nutrients back in the soil as it decomposes. Believe it or not, newspaper, (black and white only) used as mulch, controls weeds. It needs to be held down with soil or other mulch. Pine needles are a good source of mulch around acid-loving plants.
Compost made from garden trimmings, grass and kitchen trimmings, (no meat products) coffee grounds and tealeaves makes good mulch, but it never makes enough! With all the recycling in California, many communities make compost available to their residents free of charge or at a low cost. Bagged compost can be purchased at garden centers, also.
Mulching before winter sets in gives plants some protection from cold temperatures. It should be loose material that will act as insulation. Mulched soil tends to cool down more slowly in the fall and warm up more slowly in the spring. In a seedbed it is better to apply mulch after the soil has warmed up in the spring. In cold, freeze prone climates, adding compost to existing perennial beds is best done in the spring after the soil has warmed. However, in warmer areas where gardening is done year around, a light layer of compost can be added in fall and again in the spring.
Remove weeds before applying mulch and leave an inch or so of space around each plant to prevent diseases flourishing in the humidity. Landscape fabric or plastic is often used to keep down weeds in paths and even is large landscape plantings. This works awhile, but as the mulch breaks down weeds will grow in the mulch itself. Also, the fabric or plastic prevents the mulch from improving the soil.
As communities work to cut down on how much refuse is taken to garbage dumps, it is an excellent idea to give back to the soil what we have taken out of it.
Source: Backyard Conservation, a cooperative project of USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Association of Conservation Districts and Wildlife Habitat Council, April 1998.