At Mastergrass, we love mulch. Frankly, we can’t get enough of it! How could you ever get tired of a material that comes in so many forms and has so many uses?

Mulch is a simple ingredient you can add to your landscape and completely change the feel of whatever garden you mulch. And while you may have a favorite mulch one year, you might want to try another the following year.

Mulching is like one of those songs that played on the radio when you were a kid that you might here differently today, but that doesn’t mean you get tired of it. So today, MasterGrass will get down in the dirt with mulching, tell you what good it can do your yard, and what mulches might be best. You’ll be singing…

Your Mulch Breaks Down, But Then We Mulch Again

Most (but not all) mulch is of the organic variety, meaning it originally came from a plant source. One of the advantages of organic mulch, which can also be considered a disadvantage depending on your point of view, is that organic mulch breaks down.

Benefits of Organic Mulch

The advantage of a mulch that breaks down is that it feeds your garden wherever you place it. Mulching also has the side benefit of allowing you to change the look and feel of your garden and match the mulch to anything new that you are planting that year.

The Downside of Organic Mulch

Of course, some would look at that breakdown as a disadvantage. However, if you like less maintenance, you might prefer not having to replace your mulch each year and, in that case, select one of the inorganic mulches we’ll discuss later.

Your Plants Are Never Gonna Get Too Cold

No matter the mulch you choose, it will come with certain advantages to your flowers and other gardens. Mulch can improve the aesthetic of your garden. But one of the main reasons that gardeners like mulch is its insulating properties.

In the summer, mulch prevents tender new plants from burning in the hot sun. When seedlings are first emerging, this protection is critical!

Then when things cool down in the late autumn and winter, the mulch will continue to insulate dormant plants and prevent them from freezing.

All year, mulch also has the advantage of helping to improve water retention. Mulch soaks up water and slowly percolates it into your garden, preventing plants from drying out and soil erosion when too much rain at once could damage your garden.

Mulching the Weeds Away

One of the basic processes of gardening is creating conditions that support the plants you want while discouraging the growth of the plants you don’t. One practice that prompts this is (you guessed it) mulching.

After planting the flowers or veggies in your garden and giving them all the water, fertilizer, and other nutrients they need, we surround these new plants with mulch. The mulch provides the insulating and water-retention benefits we’ve discussed above but also has the added advantage of preventing other plants from getting a foothold in your garden.

Mulching stops weeds because it limits the surfaces where they can gain purchase and the light that underground weeds can receive. In addition, mulch makes it easy to spot the few weeds that do poke through, making it easy to remove them from your garden manually.

You Try A Cedar Mulch: Pest Reduction

Weeds aren’t the only unwanted visitors that mulch deters. Certain mulches can also be effective for keeping away garden pests. For example, slugs often don’t like the texture of many mulches. And several organic mulches have natural insect repelling qualities.

One such mulch is cedar. Cedar is hated by certain ants, mosquitos, rodents, snakes, and even – believe it or not – termites!

Cedar’s smell repels these creatures, so fresh untreated cedar works best. A thick, heavy layer of fresh mulch is also an excellent treatment for killing ivy!

You Try a Rocky Mulch

Rock mulch has the benefit of not breaking down. Rock and stone mulch can also be quite a stunning addition to the property. However, rock mulch can attract heat rather than insulate against it.

Rock can change the feeling of a yard giving it an earthy, elemental —–. Like many mulches, you can find rock mulches in numerous colors, including black, brown, and red.

Similar to rock mulch, you can also use polished glass as mulch. Though the rough edges are smoothed so as not to hurt human or pet toes, they are still enough to discourage slugs from feasting on your tomatoes or other prized plants.

Rubber Mulch: A Mulch That Reminds You of the Good Times

Rubber mulch might be familiar to some of us who spent time on rubber mulched playgrounds during recess.

Rubber mulch started to replace sand in many playgrounds across the country because it needed to be replaced less often and was not hard on children’s feet. (It also was less likely to be used as a giant litter box. Yuck!)

Old tires are diverted from landfills and (after cleaning) shredded to make playground mulch.

When We’re Winning That Landscape

With all the varieties of mulch available, you are sure to be able to find one that will best suit your needs. Master Grass can help you mix and match mulch varieties for different parts of your yard and weigh the pros and cons of each type.

Of course, depending on the mulch you pick, you don’t have to have the same kind every year. Your mulch can have as much variety as the flowers and crops you grow each season! The important thing is to mulch with something to get the weed prevention, insulating and water-retaining benefits.

If you have any mulch or other landscaping questions, let us know on the Master Grass Facebook page!

And if you didn’t like the cheesy 90s lyrical references, you can feel free to knock us down there. But be warned, we will get up again and come back with more landscaping and lyrical puns. You’re never gonna keep us down.