Home » Blog » 10 Reasons to Mulch! 10 Reasons to Mulch! April 30, 2016 Controls, Education, Green, Landscape, Plants, Van Putte Gardens, Vegetables Bark mulch is an inexpensive and garden-healthy preventative solution for a lot of garden issues, and is particularly useful for new vegetable plantings. Mulching a garden doesn’t require a whole lot of know-how — just spread 1-3 inches deep around your plants, making sure not to mulch up the trunk of trees & perennials (they don’t like extra mulch around the base of their trunk or stems). Depending on the size of your garden, you may want to purchase in bags or in bulk. Bags can be easier to move around from place to place, or we can deliver bulk right to your driveway at a great cost savings. Read on for… Ten Reasons our Green Thumbs love mulch! Provides an excellent source of organic compost that offers nutrients for your plantings Insulates the soil around new transplants from fluctuating spring temperatures Prevents soil erosion from water runoff during heavy downpours Retains moisture during the dry heat of the summer, which means less watering Suppresses weed seed germination and weed growth which can rob water and nutrients from landscape plants Beautifies the landscape, giving beds a manicured look Encourages earthworms to move in for improved soil structure and nutrient recycling Protects trees and shrubs from being damaged by lawn mowers and string trimmers Prevents garden soil from splashing onto plants. Plants with mud splashed on them look unsightly Bark mulch will decompose over time, thus adding valuable nutrients back into the soil. In essence, mulching is time-released composting! One Other Note: Watch out for poor-quality mulch made from pallets, construction debris, pallets, telephone poles, or ground up wood chips (often green/not aged). This wood mulch can attract termites, foster the growth of property-damaging artillery fungus and harm plantings if it’s not aged long enough. Look for bags that say obviously that they are 100% hardwood or cedar wood. (Van Putte Gardens’ Premium Shredded Hardwood, Black, Brown and Red bulk mulches are 100% hardwood.)