Time To Add That Fall Mulch!

Mulch is not just for springtime planting and landscape projects. With colder months ahead, mulch should also be added in the fall to protect your plants from harsher weather.  Mulch will insulate the roots of your trees and plants to give them extra protection from the winter cold. However, there are correct ways and times to add mulch to your landscaping in the fall. 

When To Add Fall Mulch

The trick to adding mulch in the fall is not to add it too early. You don’t want to over-insulate the roots of your plants before temperatures begin to drop. The extra insulation adds heat, promoting new growth which is not necessarily good late in the season. Too much new growth can leave your plants vulnerable to stress once the colder weather hits. 

The best time to add mulch for the winter is in the late fall, after the first frost. Once it begins to reach those colder temperatures at night, it is safe to add an extra layer of protection. The first frost should be your indication it’s time to head to your local landscape supply store and purchase your mulch for fall. 

Where To Place Mulch

For the fall, mulch should be added around trees to protect the roots. In addition, you can use mulch over planting areas, like flower beds, where you have bulbs planted or perennial flowers that will come back in the spring. 

How Much Mulch To Add

For winter protection, a layer of three to four inches of mulch is usually adequate. Reduce the depth near the stems of plants or trunks of trees, increasing the depth as you spread the mulch over the extending root areas. Once spring arrives, you should remove this layer of mulch to allow healthy growth.

Posted on behalf of Find Local Landscape Supply

The Most Effective Mulching Varieties

Mulch improves the health of your garden by keeping moisture in the soil and protecting fragile roots from exposure.  It blocks weeds, keeps topsoil from drying out in the heat, and will break down in the winter months to provide even richer soil the next season.

Mulch is sold in bulk at your local landscape supply center.  Depending on the type of mulch you need, you may be able to make your own mulch.  For larger quantities or specific types of mulch, the landscape supply center will have what you need.

Grass clippings are an excellent natural mulch.  You should use the clippings from the first three to four times the lawn is mowed in the springtime for the healthiest mix.  However, if you have applied weed killers or other chemicals to your lawn, don’t use your grass clippings for mulch. You can also use shredded leaves as mulch.  Use a lawn mower or clipper to make them.  These are not a good choice if you live in a windy climate.

Compost is another great and natural option for your garden beds.  You can create your own if you have the time and inclination or buy it at a nursery or gardening center.  It works great to re-introduce fresh organic material to your topsoil over time.  Your landscape supply center will also carry pine bark, hardwood bark, cypress, and dyed mulches you can use to achieve the look you want.

Avoid the use of hay or straws for mulching.  Both have seeds that can create quite the weed epidemic in your landscape.

Fall Mulching

With winter rapidly approaching, now is a good time to help protect your landscaping shrubs and plants from winter weather by adding mulch.  In the spring and summer, mulch helps retain moisture, control weeds, and prevent erosion.  In the winter, mulch insulates the soil and helps protect roots from freeze damage. 

Mulching in the fall will help keep the ground temperatures more even.  The ground will be slower to freeze and slower to thaw.  Particularly in the fall and spring, this freezing and thawing cycle can cause the soil to heave and expose roots to the freezing air.  Mulching now will help avoid this problem and protect roots from exposure.  Mulching will also keep the soil from freezing as deeply.  This encourages worms to stay active closer to the surface and allows plants and shrubs to continue to absorb moisture.

One thing to consider is that mulching in the fall will keep the soil from freezing longer which will delay when some plants go dormant.  If you have plants that may be adversely affected by delayed dormancy, wait to mulch until the soil has frozen for the season.  Then you can take advantage of fall mulching without harming these plants. 

Applying two to three inches of bark mulch, pine mulch, pine straw, or other organic mulches will do a good job of protecting your shrubs and plants from winter weather.  Too much mulch can be detrimental, and too little will not get the job done.   In the spring, your plants and shrubs will be healthy and ready for another season of enhancing the beauty of your home and landscape.