May is for Mulching

Swanee River Rock

The month of May means many things to the gardener. One of the most predictable April/May activities for homeowners and landscape businesses around town is the spreading of mulch. Piles of mulch appear on driveways everywhere. I don't remember what we did before mulch was invented, but it has done much to enhance the landscape. Mulch can be cheap (free wood chips are often available) or more expensive (bagged cocoa bean mulch, delivered). It can be shades of brown, gold, red or black. Or it can be stone. I had a new experience last week. I scooped up 360 pounds of river rock into 5-gallon partially filled pails (so I could lift them). Rocks are a kind of mulch--these rock were spread around the perimeter of my aunt's waterfall pond. Their pond guy "Jack" was kind of busy this year so I decided to get the needed stone myself.

I asked my neighbor to pick up two bags of black mulch to "finish" my pond. She decided on black color-enhanced mulch this year. I also have brown shredded bark and lots of free wood chips from last year.

One of my clients likes the so-called wood fines mulch, pictured below. All mulches add a finishing touch. I like to think of the mulch as the matting, the landscape edging as the frame and the plantings as the art subject. Mulches also help to keep moisture in the soil, keep soil temperatures more moderate, keep weeds down and eventually break down to enrich the soil. Fresh chips can rob the soil of nutrients, thick mulch can form a barrier to block water from the roots, and mulch piled up around the base of trees can be unhealthy. So, a few caveats, but otherwise, a wonderful invention, indeed.

Black mulch for my little pond

Wood "fines"

Added 5-21 - Friend O's Pile