Shut your mulch!

This weekend was the first weekend of dedicated yard work at my house. I had to mow the lawn, but there was one problem...

I don't have a lawnmower. So I trekked over to the Home Depot and bought myself a new shiny red lawnmower! Then I mowed and it was good.



Then I looked around and needed to put some fresh mulch in an area around some trees I had. Well I don't have a wheel barrel so I had to manually carry 12 bags of mulch, I know what a drag, but all in all it was a good work out. I also added some ceramic frogs my aunt gave me as a housewarming present.

So I thought to myself, Self what is the purpose of mulch, besides making the area look nice?

So off to the Google machine I went. I found http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/understanding-the-benefits-of-garden-mulch.html. This was a great resource of information.

Ultimately the mulch does a lot of things and not just making it look pretty.

• Prevents weeds
• Holds moisture
• Moderates temp
• Prevents frost-heaving in the winter
• Keeps roots cool
• Depending on the mulch it can provide nutrients to the soil as well. 

So it actually does a lot for the trees and plants in the area that you put the mulch. I used bark mulch as my did mostly did as well, but I thought what other types are there?

• Grass Clippings
• Bark Mulch
• Decaying Leaves
• Compost
• Peat Moss
• Straw
• Hay
• Rocks
• Fabric
• Rubber Mulch, usually recycled from tires

Each of these mulches have their own set of pros and cons and can be see at the dummies website.