The Real Benefits of Mulch

For a material to be considered mulch, it just has to do one basic thing: cover and protect the soil your plants are growing in. Depending on where you go, you may actually find many different varieties of mulch, and you’ll be able to choose yours based on personal preferences.

But did you know there are actually numerous benefits to mulching, above and beyond aesthetics and basic soil protection? From cleanliness to week control and everything in between, the advantages of a good mulch cannot be overstated.

Not convinced? Here are three of our favorite lesser-known benefits of mulch for the ongoing health and maintenance of your yard.

Temperature Control

Even in Florida, the winter temperatures can sometimes dip as low as 41 °F, which can cause troubles with our heat-loving plants and trees. Depending on where you live, you might experience sudden cold snaps where the temperature plummets quickly enough to literally kill off your plants.

Proper usage of mulch can help to mitigate this problem by helping your soil maintain a more consistent temperature. With bare soil, your plant’s roots will heat up quickly during the day before losing a large amount of heat at night. Mulch helps to keep that temperature level nice and stable the whole season through.

Regulating Moisture

Florida is a very moist state, with daily rainfalls making for lush breeding grounds for all of our favorite plants and trees. That isn’t to say they can’t use all of the help they can get, however. Florida breeds can be somewhat thirsty, and your best shot at keeping them looking their best throughout the year is to help with a little mulch.

Reduce any moisture loss from evaporation, enrich the nutrients in your soil, and encourage growth with extensive mulching. Especially if you live in any of the more built-up urban environments in Florida, this can go a long way toward mitigating poor soil quality.

Increasing Plant Fertility

For many backyard tree owners, organic mulch is the way forward, as it slowly decomposes, adding nutrients to the soil in an organic fashion. Something like a wood bark, sawdust, or wood chip option falls into this category and can work wonders. In these cases, the mulch’s carbon-to-nitrogen ratio is used to gauge the best mulch for use in your area. This is a tough ratio to figure out on your own, so it’s recommended you touch base with local landscaping or tree companies to find out more.

As a final word: plastic mulches tend to last longer but will not add any nutrients to the soil as they work.