Tips For Choosing The Right Color And Kind Of Mulch For Your Yard

Tips For Choosing The Right Color And Kind Of Mulch For Your Yard
August 13, 2021 handsomelawn
In Article

If you happen to be new to the mulch game, but you want to use it to decorate and landscape your yard, then you’ve come to the right place. Mulch is a versatile product that has a multi-functional purpose for your landscaping needs. While many might think mulch is simply for decoration, there is actually a reason or two why your yard might need some mulch! Are you ready to start mulching your own yard? Let’s start with the basics – what is mulch exactly?

Mulching Your Own Yard? What Is Mulch Even?!

Mulch is a layer of mostly organic material applied to the surface of the soil. It can come in a wide variety of forms but is most of the time, mulch comes in a bag of shredded bark, in a few different colors. However, there are other types of mulch you can purchase, including:

  • Pine straw
  • Moss
  • Pine needles
  • Wood chips
  • Grass clips
  • Shredded leaves
  • Newspaper
  • Leaves

There are also synthetic types of mulch that are becoming increasingly popular. Have you been to a playground lately and stepped on what seems like recycled tire chips? This is considered inorganic mulch and is usually just to protect kids from falling down and hurting themselves rather than provide any purpose for soil or otherwise.

What Is The Overall Purpose Of Mulch?

While it’s pretty and offers a little razzle-dazzle for your landscaping, there is actual functionality to putting down mulch in your yard. For starters, mulch is used to retain moisture in the soil it goes over. This can help for a variety of reasons, but most importantly to keep the soil cool and with enough trapped water to enrich the plants nearby. But because of moisture retention, mulch isn’t good for every garden. In fact, putting mulch down in a cactus garden will keep the cacti moist and eventually kill them. This is why you see rocks or pebbles lining a cacti garden instead, so the rain can just sift through with ease.

Another reason mulch is important is to suppress weeds in the summer and frost heaving in the winter. You’ll likely see neighbors adding mulch to their front yards around their flowers or in their garden beds, and it sure looks pretty. But in addition, it will reduce the amount of weeding that needs to be done, as the mulch will prevent weeds from growing. So it’s a win-win really.

How To Know Which Mulch To Use

Not every mulch is the same and the type of mulch you’ll need for your yard will vary depending on the project you’re tackling. For instance, if you’re mulching around trees, shrubs, and within a garden bed, you’ll want to use a bark mulch. Anytime area that won’t need to be dug up frequently and can just be left alone does well with bark.

Grass clippings are used mostly throughout your yard where you’d like to suppress weeds. Grass gets wet and becomes matted to the ground, which prevents water from passing through.

Did you learn something new today about mulch? It’s pretty fascinating when you dive deep into something as simple as this. As always, if you aren’t feeling up to the task of mulching your own yard, or you need some help deciding which type of mulch is right for your project, Handsome Lawn Service can help.