Learning About Landscaping Materials

Posted on: 3 August 2022

Mulching in your yard is a great way to protect the soil and the plants growing within the soil, and it also keeps your plants and vegetation from receiving winter damage when the environment freezes. However, there are some rules and guidelines that are important to follow when you use mulching in your yard and vegetation. The following gives you some helpful tips to prepare your yard for winter with the right mulching practices and yard maintenance.

Understand Mulching Benefits

Mulching in your yard protects your plants and the soil from winter's freezing temperatures and retains soil moisture when the weather warms up. During winter's freezing temperatures, without mulch, the soil will be exposed to more extreme freezing, and this can cause the soil to expand and push vegetation roots up and out of the soil's protection. Once they are exposed to the elements, they usually die or receive serious frost damage. 

Mulching acts as insulation to protect the roots of your plants and trees with the extra barrier the mulch places over the soil's surface. A layer of mulch gives the soil a barrier where it will keep the temperature of the soil more stable so you can avoid frost heaving. A mulch layer will also keep the soil temperature insulated to protect the plants from any mid-winter warm spell that can cause the plants to start sprouting again. You don't want your plants to sprout in January only to be killed off when temperatures drop down again to their normal winter lows.

Use Yard Mulch Materials

Anytime you can use items that you already have available to you, such as with mulching and composting in your yard, you will keep unnecessary waste out of the landfills but also use those nutrient-filled materials for a good purpose. And when you are getting such a great benefit of winter protection with your yard waste materials, you really get a double benefit from reusing the materials for mulching. 

Look for materials in your yard or your neighbors' waste piles that you can use for helpful mulch. If you have any trees that shed leaves in the fall, use these as a beneficial mulch barrier. You can use your mower to shred the leaves, or a mulching mower to break down the flat leaves into a mixture of smaller coarse pieces. Whole leaves tend to lay flat and create a wet crust of leaves that can smother your soil and promote mold and fungus. You can also apply pine straw, chipped wood from branches or tree bark onto your soil as mulch, or arrange for a supplemental delivery of landscape mulch materials to your yard.

Reach out to a local mulching service to find out more.