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Mulching your gardens

Mulching your gardens

Help retain moisture. It acts as in insulating layer that significantly reduces the evaporation of moisture from the soil for your garden and its plants. Rain and water are valuable, and lets face it - don't come along as often as we would like. So when we do get our gardens nice and wet - make sure you hang on to that moisture!

It looks great! A uniform colour and texture of a good mulch highlights your plants that feature in your garden spaces. It is the quickest and most cost effective way to dress up just about any garden. It stops weeds taking over your garden. Where a weed seed on the wind or dropped by a bird on bare soil, can simply grow with the first shower of rain - the same thing dropped on top of a good layer of mulch may sit dormant, unable to grow for years.

Thermal insulation. In the heat of Summer, or the midst of Winter, your mulch will help keep your valued plants happier year round. Even on a hot Summers day, pull back the mulch and feel the soil... Compared to the bare earth elsewhere in your street, the soil in your mulched garden bed will be significantly cooler. This same insulation effect will help your plants in Winter too, by hanging on the the days warmth from the sun into the soil, much longer - like a blanket.  

Soil improvement. Over the years your mulch does decompose, and adds nutrients to the soil below it. Worms and grubs also work through your soil every day, and part of what they do, takes decomposing mulch and leaf matter down into the soil. This helps keep your soil open (preventing compaction), and bringing nutrients down for your plants to feast on.

HOW LONG WILL IT LAST ?

As a process, it is generally accepted that a good standard depth of mulch to aim for is 100mm when applied. This will settle over time, and when wetted down. Depending on what product your have chosen to use, this may last for up to 5 years in most conditions (natural decomposition of the product). This would be true for products such as tea tree mulch, cyprus mulch, wood-chip and pine bark. Cheap products such as "forrest litter", contain large amount of leaf matter, which breaks down quite quickly, and you may find only a small (woody) component of this product remaining after 12 months. You get what you pay for.

HOW IS IT DONE ? 

For many garden spaces - up to 8-10 cubic metres of product, manual labour is most often how we move mulch. In large plastic tubs, and wheel barrows, mulch is fairly light, and placed in heaps through a garden, and them spread around by hand to achieve a uniform depth of product, and even finish. Larger jobs, and difficult access areas can be best tackled by enlisting the help of mulch pumps or "bark-blowers".

WHICH ONE DO I USE ? 

There are plenty of choices, listed below are some of the more commonly considered ones, with a few notes on each.

  • Tea tree mulch - a very attractive dark coloured mulch with a fine finish, marketed as "termite resistant". Good quality, on life product.
  • Red cyprus fines - a fine mulch with a reddish brown colour, marketed as "termite resistant".Good quality, on life product.
  • Soft Fall - a very fine version of the old pine bark nuggets. Looks great, lasts many years, but is the most expensive mulch/ bark product by far.
  • Hoop Pine Bark - Long curly bark product that works very well on steeper slopes as it "hangs on" much better than finer products.
  • Pine Bark nuggets - long lasting, good looking product approximately 50mm in size.
  • Forrest Litter - Tree loppers waste, can vary greatly from batch to batch. Can contain a lot of leaf that breaks down fairly fast. Good as a soil improver compared to products that break down very slowly.
  • Sugar Cane Mulch - Can be bought by the bale, so good for smaller projects. Breaks down fairly fast. Good as a soil improver compared to products that break down very slowly. As this product is physically light - it can end up blowing about paved / pool / lawn areas if exposed to windy conditions.


ABOUT STRATAMOW

Since 2005 we've been helping strata and commercial properties all over Brisbane with our garden maintenance services. Our Gardeners keep your property looking great season to season, year in and year out.


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