Mulch, mulch, mulch

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.