When it comes to gardening, mulches are one of the friends of gardeners. The simple reason, mulching brings many benefits for your garden as well as your vegetable in your garden. For example, it will improve the soil around your plants and will save your time on watering and weeding your garden. In addition to that, you will have an attractive and tidy garden. Worry less about insects because this ground covering will also protect your plants from insect attacks.
Therefore, in the post today, let spend your time to find the best mulches you can use for your vegetable garden. Whether you are an expert or just a beginner, the information below will so useful for you. Some are organic mulches that you would naturally find from nature such as grass clippings, compost, leaf mold, pine needles, shredded bark, nutshells, straw hay, composted manure, peat moss, cocoa hulls, sawdust, and more. Others are inorganic mulches like fabric, landscape plastic, or newspaper. All of them are good for the growth of your plants. Keep reading to find the types of mulches that suit your garden.
#1 Pine Needles
Pine needles are famous and the best options for using mulch in many garden centers. But, this type of mulch is acidic so, you need to keep an eye on the pH level of your soil to ensure your plants will grow healthy.
#2 Grass Clippings
Grass clippings are efficient in weed control. This is also popular as a winter mulch. It decomposes fast to provide more doses of nitrogen in your growing plants.
#3 Fresh Sawdust
A thin layer of sawdust is good for keeping your soil moisture. This type of mulch is best for starting seeds.
#4 Hay and Straw
Hay and straw mulch decay pretty quickly. These types of mulch are light and clean. You can probably add a few inches more to keep the weeds down and retain their soil moisture.
#5 Leaves
Leaves are attractive and decompose fast. This type of mulch is famous for vegetable gardening.
#6 Manure
Domesticated animal manure must be well-rotted before applying it around your plants. Fresh manure has a distinct odor, and its urea content can burn young plants almost immediately. So, you need to know the right amount of manure your vegetable garden needs
#7 Bark
Shredded bark breaks down relatively slowly, so this is particularly effective in the sloped areas of your garden.
#8 Plastic
Other plants grow better with plastic mulch when done with their corresponding color. Red plastic mulch is good for tomatoes, eggplants, and strawberries. Dark green plastic mulch is best for melons. Silver-colored mulch is a good match with peppers. White plastic is best for warm areas.
#9 Landscape Fabric
Landscape Fabric doesn’t warm the soil as much as black-colored plastics. Landscape mulch is also permeable, so you can water your plants easily through it.
#10 Rug Strips
Rug strips look weird in your vegetable garden, but they can help you keep the weeds down too.
#11 Newspapers
Newspapers and other materials are a great idea. You can combine hay or sawdust to the shredded newspapers to prevent them from being blown away. This mulch is best for garden paths and around your new sets of strawberry plants.