Oyster shells? Shredded tires?
My husband and I are in the family room discussing our mulch options. (Note to anyone who still has a chance to keep home ownership from consuming your life … This is where a house with a yard will lead.) We put wood mulch all over the yard two years ago. I naively thought then that once you put mulch down, it stayed down, like a driveway.
It doesn’t. Because at night, mulch seems to sprout little wings and fly off. The pieces of mulch that stay behind then degenerate. Eventually, this dual action leaves the ground looking dull and thin as an old man’s hair. One day, you have a rich deep layer of mulch doing its job – murdering weeds and smothering the ground below. The next day, poof! Your yard is bald and you’re sitting in your family room having an inane yet somehow serious discussion about mulch.
Corncobs or carpet scraps?
Coming up with new mulch varieties has preoccupied the deepest, darkest recesses of human imagination. When inventive people don’t have anything better to do, they think about what garbage they can grind up and throw all over their gardens. The super industrious ones sell it, too. Imagine this scene playing out:
“Hazel, what should we do with this old, stained, putrid carpet? Seems a shame to throw it out.”
“Why, Alfred, we should throw it through the combine along with those corncobs you been savin’ and shred it up to mulch our petunia beds?”
This is how much of the mulch industry was born. Before that, nature herself had the monopoly on mulch: Leaves fell from trees creating a crunchy protective carpet to snuff out competitors. Or prairie grass died and collapsed to protect new shoots until the kids got tough enough to push through.
Now companies all over the globe manufacture mulch out of burlap, coconut hulls, newspaper, poultry litter, seaweed, rice, fiberglass, cow manure, oyster shells, recycled tires and peanut hulls. Some have even used the remains of human corpses. That idea apparently came out of Sweden.
And I thought manure was disgusting.
So what’s next in mulch? Repurposed disposable diapers?
After mulling our options, Dan and I again decide on cedar mulch. It’s a boring but reassuring choice. As Dan blankets our yard with it, at least I know he’s not burying any skeletons.
Marni Jameson is a nationally syndicated columnist who lives in the Denver area. You may contact her through marnijameson.com.
Considering mulch?
Consider these tips from the experts:
Type. No one mulch works for every yard and garden. Your choice depends on your climate, application, needs and, possibly, your quirks – poultry litter, anyone? A Xeriscape or Japanese garden will do well with gravel mulch, but a bed of ferns won’t. Organic mulches will add nutrients to the soil as they decompose. These also encourage worm activity. The non-organic stuff like the recycled rubbers lasts 10 times longer and doesn’t have little mulch wings so it won’t fly away or decompose. Ask your local garden shop for area-specific recommendations.
Benefits. Mulch does more than make a yard look pretty. It protects the ground from erosion and evaporation, controls weeds, buffers extreme soil temperatures (keeps soil warm longer in winter and cooler in summer), and can enrich the soil. It also holds water and prevents run off so you can water less.
Timing. The best time to mulch is late spring after the ground has warmed. If you apply mulch too early, you might keep the ground from warming enough. Many gardeners also like to refresh their mulch in fall.
Depth. Most experts recommend a mulch depth of 3 to 6 inches. Avoid mulching so much that plants don’t take root in the soil below. And take care not to pile mulch too heavily around the base of young plants. Mulch is like parents – the best protect without smothering.
