Mulching Do’s & Dont’s

Mulching is a great way to really show off your landscaping and make it pop. having defined borders or edges in a yard will really keep things where their supposed to be. Such as the grass not growing in the mulch beds and or the mulch washing out into the lawn. Some things to take into consideration when mulching is having that defined edge around your mulch beds. having the proper depth of the edge and making sure it is deep enough to do the job is critical. Having nice curvature throughout your mulch beds is very appealing to the eye compared to having right angles or choppy lines.

Applying mulch sounds simple and it can be, but knowing where and how much to apply in areas is something I see people fail at a lot. If you have ever seen the trees that have mulch rings where the mulch comes up a foot or even more around the base of the tree is not good. This is what we call in the landscaping community as a mulch volcano. The mulch will hold moisture around the tree trunk and over time will begin to rot the trunk of the tree. This can cause disease, pest, rot, and eventually cause a tree to die and worse fall over during a storm.

When applying mulch be sure to pay attention to areas close to the house you do not want to have mulch to think or piled up around the houses foundation or wooden structures. Again going back to the mulch volcano it will hold moisture rot wood and invite pest. Typically 2-3 inches of mulch is a good standard for all your mulch beds throughout the yard. this layer of mulch will prevent weeds and also hold moisture for your plants throughout your landscape. Also will protect the baron roots from the cold winter months and the elements of mother nature.

Putting down a nice weed preventative such as preen before mulching will also help hold weeds back from growing your flower beds and mulch beds. This is the best way to do weed control so make sure before you start spreading mulch to put this down in all areas that you plan on mulching.