Should I mulch my flowerbeds?
Many gardeners ponder the wisdom of laying mulch on their flowerbeds, or do not fully understand the reasons for doing it, or the many benefits of doing so. Here is a quick summary of the reasons why you should do it, and how to do it.
The best kind of mulches to use are organic mulches, and here at Tom Angel Studio we tend to use composted bark mulch. The benefits of mulching include looking after valuable soil resource by retaining moisture, increasing organic content, aerating the soil, moderating the temperature of the soil, providing frost protection, and benefitting soil organisms. These all benefit the plants growing in the flowerbeds who receive increased levels of nutrients, reduced numbers of some pests, and less competition from weeds. It is important to understand that mulching is not done to eliminate weed growth, whilst it will help to some extent, and in the short term, it is not the main purpose. Eventually weeds will grow in the mulch surface, though your weeding job will be a lot easier. The principle reasons are the health of the soil and the health of the plants. Mulch also helps soak up water and provides an attractive decorative finish - especially if you use a composted bark mulch.
Recent research also shows that mulching increases by biodiversity by increasing earthworm populations. Once considered a garden pest by gardeners, it has now been realised how incredibly beneficial earthworms are for the health of your soil, plants and overall garden ecosystem.
Should you use a geotextile weed barrier membrane? Short answer - no, and there are good reasons why garden designers hate using this stuff. Whilst there are situations when you might want to use this, it would be a thicker geotextile to go under areas laid to gravel. Never use plastic sheet, not only does it get punctured and become useless, it is not permeable and so it not only looks bad when it inevitably appears on the surface, it allows weeds to grow through punctured holes and prevents water reaching the soil potentially leading to problematic boggy areas elsewhere in your garden.
How to do it: mulch should be applied across all bare earth surfaces, including around all plants, but take care not to swamp low growing plants or to pile it up against the trunks of trees or stems of woody plants. Mulches should be laid at about a 5-7cm thickness, but once you have done it once you can simply top up each year - and annual refreshing is important as the mulch biodegrades over time, exactly as we want it to. Mulch should be laid over moist soil, after removing weeds, and when the soil is not frozen. Tree circles should be mulched to at least a one metre diameter, but ideally they should spread the entire area of the canopy’s drip circle, increasing over time as the trees grow. Mulch mats are another great option for young trees, to help suppress weed growth in the early years.
Garden designers and landscape gardeners in Glasgow will always recommend and want to use mulch on your flowerbeds, and it is not an area to save money on. Mulching benefits your garden in a multitude of ways - as well as looking good, it benefits all the plants and the overall ecosystem, and keeps everything as healthy as it possible can be.
Other great resources for learning about mulching can be found on the RHS, Gardeners World, and Love The Garden websites.
To discuss garden design or horticultural consultancy, give Tom a call on 0141 432 1141 or email on tom@tomangel.co.uk