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Gardening.ygoy
http://gardening.ygoy.com/2007/08/03/mulching/
Mulching
What is Mulch?
Mulch is the big brother of compost, to be precise.
What is it used for?
- It shields the soil from the sun and prevents the moisture from evaporating.
- It prevents weeds from growing by blocking the sunlight.
- It will cut down the amount of water you usually put by retaining moisture.
- It improves the quality of your soil by adding organic matter and by encouraging earthworms.
- It controls soil erosion and slows run off velocity.
- It repels insects
- It controls soil temperature and keeps it cool during the summers.
- It reflects sunlight upwards to the plants and helps improve growing conditions.
- It allows early seeding and transplanting of certain crops.
- It encourages faster growth.
What is it made up of?
- Organic mulches are made up of
- Animal Manures
- Compost
- Composted Municipal Sludge
- Hulls, Shells and Cobs
- Muck Peat/Sphagnum Peat Moss
- Pine Needles
- Straw
- Wood products
- Shredded, chip or chunk bark
- Wood chips or Shavings
- Waste wood
What is Mulching?
Application of Mulch is commonly referred to as Mulching.
Mulch is usually spread on the soil bed as a thick layer about 7 centimeters deep leaving a gap of about 7 centimeters around the stem to prevent the rotting of the stem.
Mulching is usually done in the beginning of the growing season.
Mulching needs to be redone every season because Mulch tends to break down very quickly.
