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Part 4: How Mulch Work Do You Want To Do In Your Garden?

© Teresa Watkins

How do you know when you're finished with your garden project? Well, the final touch is spreading the mulch under all of your ornamental shrubs, trees, and around perennials for an aesthetic finish that shouts "TAH-DAH". But using mulch in your garden is so much more that just the icing on the cake, it's a smart move to help the environment and lessen your yard chores.

Mulching in the landscape stops erosion of dirt and sand from going into the road and stormwater drains and helps decrease the competition for water and nutrients that weeds and grass will cause. It reduces the amount of weeds in your garden beds by reducing the sunlight necessary for seed germination. Mulch also lowers soil temperatures, which helps decrease your water bills by slowing evaporation, allowing the plants to need less water. Any way you look at it, mulching is an absolute must in any sensible and responsible gardener's landscape.

Yet it amazes me how such a simple concept of using mulch in the garden can be blown out of proportion and be overdone to the point of being not only wasteful, but becoming an actual detriment to the homeowner. People think they are doing the right thing when using the "more is better" approach; they don't understand that creating mulch "mountains" of six to 12 inches of mulch around their trees defeats the purpose of what they are trying to accomplish: water conservation.

Mulch should be applied to a depth of two to three inches around planting material throughout the landscape while keeping it away from the trunks of shrubs and trees. You want to be able to see the flaring out of the trunk at the base of the tree. If you can't see the flare, your tree or shrub is planted too deep. Plants need to breathe; when planted too deep, they struggle without oxygen and usually never recover from retarded growth or die. Keeping the mulch up against the trunk or using too much mulch will also cause fungal diseases and rot. Especially with citrus trees - this is a good time to let you know what not to mulch! Do not mulch under the leaf drip of any citrus trees. Citrus needs good drainage and likes dry, sandy soils.

Another reason for only using two to three inches of mulch around your plants is that if you use more you will prevent any rainfall or irrigation to soak into the ground. The organic mulch will absorb the water and with high temperatures, evaporate before getting to the root system.

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