We’ve all seen the bright red, different browns and the black coloured garden bed/tree circle fillers that give your property a finished look but did you know that “finish” has a purpose?  

Let’s start with – what is it that stuff?

That stuff is Mulch – Mulch is the material you place over the garden soil to keep the sunlight from directly hitting the area therefore reducing moisture loss through evaporation. 

The thing is what you use as mulch can be both good and bad to the soil beneath. 

There are 2 different kinds; 

Organic such as shredded pine, shredded bark, chopped leaves, compost, grass clipping. This is the brown, black, beige wood like product most landscapers 

Inorganic such as black plastic, rubber and stones. Stones tend to be used more during a large hardscaping project. A word of caution when using the rubber kind. These are typically made from used tires and petroleum rubber waste from untraceable source materials and can potentially contain heavy metals/toxic ingredients that can leach into soil. 

There are advantages and disadvantages to organic mulch.

Advantages

• Mulch reduces sun heat damage
• It suppresses weed growth
• During the summer, the soil will stay cooler and plant roots don’t stress from the heat.
• Reduces the soil erosion less likely to splash onto plants
• Provides soil nutrients and encourages soil organisms and worm activity. 
• It saves you time, money and water. – Yep – Water – Mulch slows down the evaporation so you don’t have to water as much. 

Disadvantages

• Mulch blocks sunshine so it stops seeds from germinating. This is great for keeping the weeds at bay but not so good for seeds. The best thing to do is wait until the seeds start to green up before adding mulch.
• Some pests love the cool, dark, moisture underneath the mulch, so best to keep the mulch on gardens to 3 inches or so. 
• Some mulch can be washed away from heavy rains –  a shredded pine or less “woody” mulch tends to absorb the rain. 

Here at Superb Group, we prefer to use a shredded pine. In addition to the above advantages, shredded pine has a lower pH than other mulches. It uses less nitrogen to decompose, so you don’t need as much fertilizer to keep your plants healthy all season long.  

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