![]() These can be bait for termites, and actually rob your soil of nutrients as they decompose. Many mulches contain recycled pallets and other waste wood. For instance, most plants prefer “acid” soils, so pine bark is healthier for them than hardwood mulch, and much healthier than dyed wood chips. Some mulches are much better for your plants than others. That makes them ultimately cheaper, because you need less in future years. Course bark mulches or “nuggets” aren’t so friendly to weed seeds, and they last much longer before turning to soil so they make better weed barriers for a much longer period. Fine-ground mulches are much like potting soils wind-blown weed seeds or blown grass clippings will sprout and root easily. Think of weed seeds as germs, and do your best to keep the mulch clean.Īll mulches are not equally effective at weed control. Most people don’t spread mulch thick enough, or do the housekeeping to clean up the beds before mulching. If you introduce weed seeds into or on top of the mulch, for instance by blowing clippings onto it or digging up the underlying soil, you’ll have weeds. It won’t help with deep-rooted perennial weeds that are already growing. Mulch suppresses weeds by preventing the sun from reaching weed seeds. We like to say “whatever you spread on your landscaping each year, that’s what your soil will become”. It’s common sense that if you add several inches of anything to your gardens each year it will affect the soil quality over time. “You are what you eat” is an old saying, and it points the way to picking the right mulch for your landscape.
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