How to Properly Mulch Your Landscape

Mulching around pathways and plants helps reduce weeding chores.

While it's tempting to think of mulching your landscape as the final aesthetic touch on a finished product -- like icing a cake -- mulch has many practical functions that keep your yard and gardens healthy and attractive. In some areas of your landscape, organic mulching material is the best choice to place around plants. In other sections of your design layout, inorganic mulch material like woven ground cloth, gravel or pebbles are more suitable for the area's use. The energy you invest in a properly mulched landscape is well spent when you enjoy the attractive appearance and reduced maintenance time for your property.

Things You'll Need

• Grass clippings
• Shredded leaves
• Fir bark
• Pine bark
• Pine needles
• Woven ground cloth
• Pebbles
• Crushed stone
• Wood chips
• Straw

Instructions

1. Spread a 2-inch to 3-inch-deep layer of grass clippings and shredded leaves in a 4- to 6-inch-wide ring around newly planted perennials to retain moisture around the roots when you create flower beds and borders. Replenish this type of organic mulch, which decomposes rapidly, once or twice during the first growing season to keep weeds in check until the plants' foliage spreads to shade the surrounding soil.

2. Mulch flower beds, foundation plantings and islands in the lawn with fir or pine bark for an attractive, uniform surface. Place a 2-inch to 3-inch layer of shredded or ground bark in smaller spaces to keep weeds under control. In large areas, such as foundation plantings or a swath of shrubs, use larger bark chunks or nuggets, which allow water to easily pass through to the soil beneath.

3. Lay pine needles around the base of plants that thrive in acid soils, rhododendrons, pieris, American holly and heather. Also useful for hillsides, a 2- to 3-inch-deep layer of pine needles forms a loosely woven porous mat that reduces soil erosion.

4. Cover a broad, expansive area for a xeriscape, where drought-tolerant trees and plants are grown, with woven ground cloth. The porous material allows water and nutrients to pass through to the plants' roots while providing a barrier against weed growth. Top the landscape cloth with pebbles, crushed stone or wood chips for an attractive visual impact.

5. Protect plants and tender shrubs from cold weather by mulching them with straw in late autumn. Cover the crown and root-spread area of the plants with a 4- to 6-inch layer of straw to reduce the impact of frost-heave which can kill or severely damage even well-established plants. Pull the straw away from the plants in early spring and recycle it as mulch between rows in the vegetable garden or in the compost bin.

6. Create permanent pathways and borders with inorganic mulches such as crushed stones and pebbles. The rocks will absorb heat, so avoid placing stone mulches around delicate plants that can be damaged by a hot environment. While the inorganic mulches do not decompose, plan to add about 1 to 2 inches of stone on top of the mulched area every year or two to maintain its attractive appearance.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep mulches at least 2 inches away from tree trunks and woody plant stems to prevent potential mold and fungi growth or ground-level insect infestation of the plants.

References

• Clemson Cooperative Extension; Mulch; Marjan Kluepfel, et al.; April 1999
• University of Florida IFAS Extension; Mulches for the Landscape; Robert J. Black, et al.; March 1992
• University of Minnesota Sustainable Urban Landscape Information Series: Mulching and Watering
• Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service; Landscape Plants for Acid Soils; Michael N. Dana, et al.; October 2000