The Do’s and Don’ts of Mulching

Besides making your yard look nice, when done right, mulching is actually important for your trees’ health because it helps to regulate soil temperatures, preserves soil moisture,  and keeps weeds down,. But unfortunately, if done wrong, mulching can actually negatively effect your trees growth. So, properly laying it down is the key here, but before we get into how you mulch, let’s take a look at why you should mulch.

You may be thinking mulch needs to be replaced every year so why should you bother? It’s just a hassle. What’s the point? But the fact that your mulch has broken down and gone into the ground is a good thing. It’s doing part of its job. Because we typically have clay soil in our area, the mulch breaking down and going into the ground actually helps the soil drain better, even as fast as sandy soils. This prevents water from just running off the surface of the soil, and it also allows oxygen to reach the roots and encourages them to grow. On the other hand, when soil is left bare beneath trees and shrubs, the soil temperatures tend to fluctuate widely, and water will easily evaporate, leaving large cracks in the clay soil. This gives weeds a prime opportunity to flourish.

So, now we know why we mulch, but how do you properly mulch? There actually are right ways and wrong ways to mulch. Placing what some call a mulch volcano around the trunk of a tree is not proper mulching. This doesn’t allow the mulch to penetrate the soil, and thus you lose all the benefits that you should get from mulching. Plus, it can lead to the roots taking on a volcano like shape, causing your ground and tree to rise which, unfortunately, is irreversible if you don’t fix it soon enough, and it can lead to disease and damage to the bark of your tree. Also, you must be extremely careful if you dig what they call a mulch moat. This may look nice, but unfortunately, it is very easy to hurt the root system. So, if you do try this method, use extreme caution. Now, the way the experts recommend you lay your mulch is in a wide circle around the ground with a depth of no more than 2-3 inches. You don’t want the mulch to get on the trunk of the tree to prevent damage to the bark and to keep the roots from volcanoing so be sure to pull any rogue pieces away, and fill in the circle, making it as wide as practical for your yard.

There you have it! The Do’s and Don’ts for mulching! I hope this helps! Happy Gardening!