Mulching

We use premium hemlock mulch. The following are ideas you can try yourself organically!!

If you're looking for a way to save lots of time in the garden, look no further. Mulching your flower and vegetable beds will drastically reduce the amount of time spent weeding, watering and fighting pests. Mulch also improves the appearance of your garden, and keep dirt from splashing up on your flowers and vegetables when it rains.

If possible, consider using an organic mulch. Organic mulches are those that used to be living material, such as bark, straw, leaves, grass clippings and pine needles. These organic mulches improve the soil by adding nutrients as they decompose and encouraging earthworm activity. Organic mulches aren't perfect, though. If you have problems with rodents, you may want to choose an inorganic mulch. In very moist climates, organic mulches may hold too much moisture. The excessive moisture will encourage slugs and snails, and may even cause the stems of your plants that come in contact with the mulch to rot.

For hardy perennials, mulch is often the best protection. When applying mulch, remember that mulches with small individual particles, such as coffee grounds, should be applied in thin layers while a courser mulch such as straw or pine needles can be applied liberally. Here are some recommended mulches:

Material	Advantages	Disadvantages
Straw/Hay	Cheap, readily available, adds organic matter to your garden	May contain seed deed, insects and disease
Leaves	Readily available, free, rich in nutrients.	Can mat down or be too acid for some plants
Grass Clippings	Free, easy to apply, good source of nitrogen.	Can mat down and may contain weed seeds
Pine Needles	easy to apply, attractive	May be too acid
Wood Shavings	Weed and disease free, easy to apply	Can be acid and tends to tie up the nitrogen in the soil
Manure	Great source of fertility and organic matter	May burn plants if not well-rotted, sometimes expensive to buy, usually contains weed seed
Newspaper	Easy to obtain and apply, earthworms love it	Decomposes quickly and must be weighted down
Plastic	Total weed control is opaque is used, warms soil well, heavy plastic is durable and can be reused	Expensive, unattractive, adds nothing to soil, must be weighted down