Mulch, mulch, mulch
February 6, 2009 by simon
Filed under Feature Articles
Mulching is one of the most important aspects of gardening in Western Australia, without it your wasting your time.
Just imagine how hard it would be to live in baking hot desiccated sand, just like running over the hot sand to the beach without shoes. The surface temperature can be quite extreme, which is just sucking the moisture and life out of your garden.
Mulch serves two purposes, the first to provide an insulating layer over the soil and secondly, to feed the soil. The top 50% of the mulch provides the insulation and the lower will become a humid area that starts to break down. This humid area is what keeps the soil happy and in turn the plants happy.
Mulch should be applied as thick as possible or at least 10cm thick. The best mulch is ordinary street tree prunings (and it’s free), the key to look out for is Rough, Course and Irregular shaped particles (black mulch is a waste of time, usually shreaded in shape). Mulch isn’t something that should hold water per se, the water should be able to pass through it down to the soil. Black mulch tends to wick moisture from the soil, causing it to be evaporated.
Free mulch can be acquired from Mulchnet.com. This is a service that connects local tree contractors to people who want the waste or simply GREAT MULCH! Have fun gardening.
sarah on Fri, 4th Sep 2009 8:16 pm
Proof is always in the pudding. Dsatco lupin mulch is full of microbes, beneficial bacteria, brings in the worms, high in nitrogen, free draining, composted so its weed free. Roses need the lupin mulch now to power the growth along, veges also. Dsatco piggypost( pig manure/compost blend) is selling like a hot cake and once again – proof is in the pudding. Look up http://www.dsatco.com under piggypost for results in 3 weeks visually. In real life we saw healthy soil leading to very healthy plants, no bugs and what an improvement in sand turning into soil and soil full of worms and nutrition. Worth looking at – products that are gardners answers. Also lawn maximizer is full of lupin compost, high in nitrogen. One garden in a street has lead to a whole street ordering because of the water retaining, high nitrogen composting effect. All Dsatco products reduce water costs and add all you need in the garden for huge benefits.
Fu Manchu on Thu, 4th Mar 2010 5:46 am
Simon and team, thanks for a fantastic website full of the very best information. Such a high standard.
I also find the above comment of using Lupin mulch in regard to bugs. If I use other straws in winter (the above mentioned tree prunings/green mulch goes on top of that in summer at ours) I get little in comparison to the lupin mulch. Any done with Lupin mulch has less ants and far fewer bugs of any sort that can be harmful yet good bugs are plentiful.
Chris studies Mulching on Fri, 12th Mar 2010 1:04 am
Sad to say, mulching isn’t being practiced in my house. The leaves here are burned. But I’ll change that, one plot at a time.
Mulch - Which Type Should I Go For? - Renovate Forums on Thu, 18th Nov 2010 5:09 am
[...] Mulch, mulch, mulch : Sustainable Outdoors Click the mulch tab for the video in this link. John doesn't go into as much detail as I have but has taught me a fair amount over the years Great Gardens The following is from here Water Corporation Quote: [...]