Are you looking for an inexpensive and fast way to upgrade your Fort Dodge area landscape yet don’t have a ton of money or time to spend? Perhaps you want an installation of mulch. Mulch adds color, helps suppress weeds, protects your soil, and adds an attractive element to an otherwise dull lawn without breaking the bank. But mulch isn’t just a way to upgrade your yard; it hosts a ton of other tremendous benefits. Read on to find out everything you ever wanted to know about mulch and the advantages it can have on your Iowa business or residential yard.
What is Mulch?
Mulch is a protective layer of various organic or inorganic materials spread over soil or around a tree or plant. Organic mulch includes formerly living materials such as grass clippings, compost, wood chips, sawdust, pine needles, and shredded bark. Inorganic mulch is made from man-made materials such as rocks, stones, gravel, black plastic, and synthetic fabrics. Both types of mulch have their advantages but because organic mulch was once alive, it has nutrients and minerals that nourish the soil.
What Types of Colors Does Mulch Come In?
Lots of gardeners and landscapers have their theories about the various advantages and disadvantages of different colored mulch, but the three basic colors mulch comes in are red, brown, and black. Using colored mulch can help accentuate lawn decorations and various elements of your landscape. Studies show that red mulch helps increase the growth of tomatoes while black mulch absorbs the sun faster, making the soil beneath warmer. Colored mulch is typically dyed with chemicals but is safe to use if certified by the Mulch & Soil Council.
Benefits of Using Mulch On Your Fort Dodge Landscape
Whether or not you go with organic or inorganic mulch is strictly up to you and the unique needs of your landscape. Both organic and inorganic mulch offer tremendous benefits for your lawn and are great options for your trees, shrubs, and fruit and vegetable gardens. But for the purposes of this article, we focus on the benefits organic mulch provides.
Mulch Improves Soil
Soil is the key component of any plant. The soil contains roots, which are the lifeline of any plant, and determines whether or not the plant lives or dies. It’s essential to keep the roots of your soil well-nourished and healthy. When organic mulch breaks down, it deposits organic matter deep into the ground penetrating your soil. That organic matter becomes additional food for your soil, helping to keep it nourished and well-fed. The type of soil, containing roots, determines whether the plant is healthy or not.
Mulch Protects Your Soil
In addition, the mulch provides a blanket of protection for your soil, adding an extra layer of insulation in the winter, and blockade from the sunlight in the hot summer. This helps to keep your soil at a balanced temperature.
Mulch Increases Your Soil’s Moisture Retention
During our hot Iowa summers, plants are more susceptible to moisture loss. Having a layer of mulch over top will help shade them, decreasing your soil temperatures and slowing down the evaporation process, retaining moisture. Adding mulch to your landscape will require less watering on your part, and who doesn’t need that?
Mulch Protects Your Trees and Shrubs
A layer of mulch helps protect your trees and shrubs by adding insulation to the soil and roots, regulating the temperature, and protecting against climate stress and damage. Utilize mulch as added protection to help secure all the hard work you performed on your garden and landscape this spring.
Mulch Smothers Out Those Fort Dodge Weeds
Weeds are annoying, bothersome nutrient thieves who like to steal all the valuable minerals your vegetation and plants need. Like other plants, they require three things to survive, sunlight, oxygen, and water. A layer of mulch will help smother weeds by cutting off their air supply and making it harder for water to get through. By shading the soil, the mulch also helps prevent new weeds from germinating. All the nutrients weeds used to steal will now go toward your beloved flower and vegetable gardens.
Adds Curb Appeal to Your Fort Dodge Landscape
Adding mulch adds instant appeal to any landscape. There are so many different types and colors of mulch, you can match them to coordinate with other areas. Mulch will complement your flower beds, garden, plants, and even your trees, adding valuable curb appeal to your home.
For All Your Mulch-Installation Needs, Contact the Professionals at Smitty’s Lawn and Landscape
Smitty’s Lawn and Landscape provide mulch services for the entire Fort Dodge and surrounding areas. As the area leading experts on all things lawn care and landscaping, we provide mulch installation and mulch replenishing services as well as a ton of other programs to help improve and maintain your landscape. Learn more about how a colorful layer of mulch can improve the look of your property today. Visit our website, contact us online, or give us a call at 515-576-0985.
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