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Are you mulching your garden and your plants? If you aren't by now, it's time to think about this mulching process as mulching should be adopted whenever possible.
Actually in Southern gardens it is a valuable cultural practice but is needed anywhere you want to grow healthy and beatiful plants, shrubs, garden crops, etc.
When you have a period of time when the rainfall is variable you will have dry periods, and mulch is a great help in maintaining an even supply of moisture in the soil.
It will actually keep the soil beneath your shrubs, plantings, strawberry plants, vegetable gardens and it is
absolutly essential to the welfare of Azaleas and Camellia plantings in the south. The mulch will really keep the soil cooler in the summer and in the winter warm from the air above the soil. As the organic content of the soil decays, it supplies acid for the many plants also that need an acid soil. Leaves, bark, peat and sawdust are among the important materials used in mulching.
If you prepare a two inch mulch of the following items-- grass clippings, straw, ground corncobs, or any other similar materials-- you can cut water loss due to evaporation from your soil up to as much as fifty percent. Can you imagine how much that will help your plants? Mulch will actually keep the soil protected during those times of hot sun and also the winds that will really dry your soil.
When the rains come they will compact the soil and keep oxygen from penetrating the root zone, so the layer of mulch keeps this from happening and protects your plants. Actually, a three inch layer of mulch can keep the soil underneath up to twenty to twenty five degrees cooler.
When your soil gets too hot in temperature the roots actually can stop growing and then the plants suffer, wilt and sometimes die from this high temperature even if you water faithfully.
You are probably wondering 'When might I apply this wonderful organic mulch to my plants, shrubs, etc.?' I would suggest that you apply the mulch in late spring or even early summer. In your area has a lot of spring rains wait until these are over and let the ground warm up so you can work the soil easily.
Notice perhaps a neighbor's shrubs, plants, etc. if he is already using mulch as there won't be a lot of dirt splashed on the flowers or on his food crops. Now when one layer of mulch seems to have decomposed, you will cultive this decomposed mulch into your soil and then you'll apply another layer of fresh mulch. Think of the wonderful
organic nutrition you'll be giving your soil by just repeating this mulching procss over and over. You will be admired by all who see your beautiful and healthy shrubs, plants, and garden.
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