WHY MULCH?

A garden soil without mulch is much more time consuming to maintain because the soil dries out rapidly between watering or rainfall, and therefore more frequent watering is required. When the soil surface is bare and exposed, weed seeds can easily take root, and these weeds will compete with your plants for sunlight, moisture and nutrients. Bare soil, whether it is sandy or clay, becomes hard baked on the surface, and this means that watering and feeding are difficult because the moisture won’t penetrate.

HOW MUCH MULCH WORKS

In native bushland areas, the soil is covered with leaves and bark that have fallen from trees, and this is nature’s mulch layer. In your situation, you can recreate these conditions by covering the soil surface with organic materials to construct the same healthy growing conditions as nature does. Mulch works in several ways to improve the health and fertility of the soil, which in turn increases the health and vitality of your plants. Mulch acts as a surface layer between the soil and the elements - especially the sun and the wind, which can cause so much damage. Mulch also forms a barrier cushion on the soil surface to protect the soil from compaction associated with watering and rain which also shields the plants against the effect of mud splashes. When you mulch the soil surface with deep layers of organic material, the soil will not dry out rapidly and time spent watering can be reduced and saves water. Weeds are much easier to control in a well - mulched soil, because the mulch will smother them or prevent them from taking root.

CAUTION

Many plants resent the mulch being taken up too close to their stems, because it increases ground level humidity and fungal problems can result. This applies to small seedlings, which can collapse if mulch is against their stems, and also to trees and shrubs, which can develop, collar rot if mulch is piled up around the base.

For this reason we recommend pine bark products for their inherent fungal suppression properties, texture, ease of application and cost effectiveness.

TEMPERATURE

Mulching will effectively moderate the extremes of soil temperature that can be experienced during hot sunny periods and cold frosty periods by insulating the soil surface. Plants will grow poorly or not at all at soil temperatures below 6 degrees Celsius and can be quite severely damaged in soil temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius.

GENERAL

The soil is the host for a diverse range of living, breathing micro-organisms and worms. They, as do the plant roots, require oxygen to survive. Air must be able to penetrate through the mulching layer and into the soil. It is important to use a mulch that is "fluffy" or open and not prone to rapid decomposition.

Avoid working on wet soils when applying mulch, as compaction of the soil will occur. The previous years mulch can, each year, be top dressed with fertiliser and be blended into the soil to provide excellent soil conditioning. This will serve to significantly improve the physical properties of the soil and further improve the cost effectiveness of mulching.