Most people have heard about using mulch in their garden, but many are not too sure what mulching is, or why they should be using it, and others just never give it a second thought.
So, what is mulch, why do you need it in your garden, and how do you use it in your garden? One thing to be aware of is that using mulch in your garden is different from using compost or organic fertilizer.
A quick simple answer to the questions above is – mulch is a protective layer of an assortment of materials that protect your soil. It keeps down weeds, helps your soil retain moisture and can also fertilize the soil as it breaks down over a period of time.
You use a different thickness of mulch depending on the temperature in your garden, meaning if the weather is hot or cold. If you think of a forest and how everything settles on the ground, leaves, twigs, bits of bark and stems etc, all in various stages of decomposition, and the trees are healthy. That ground cover is equivalent to mulch.
Continue on to the following page for a very informative article about mulching and to watch a short video.