However, don’t buy your mulch! Make it yourself instead — you probably already have the ingredients you need on hand…
Tips for making natural mulch
When we talk about eco-friendly gardening, we don’t emphasize enough the benefits of mulching!
First, a quick reminder. Mulching helps to:
- protect against both heat and cold,
- protect certain beneficial organisms,
- limit the growth of weeds in your garden,
- create humus that absorbs water well,
- reduce soil temperature fluctuations, allowing microorganisms to stay active longer,
- prevent water evaporation from the soil to feed the plants. This leads to water savings.
- give the garden a neater appearance.
A natural mulch using green waste
To make mulch, you can safely reuse many green waste materials from the garden:
- lawn clippings,
- straw,
- compost older than three months,
- dead leaves (be sure to mix them so they don’t blow away),
- hazelnut, chestnut, or walnut shells,
- conifer needles,
- sand or gravel.
How to make natural mulch?
The nature of the mulch and its thickness will vary depending on the duration of the planting.
Whether you’re making long-lasting mulch or short-term mulch, always start by removing all unwanted plants from the garden, including the roots.
You will place these “wastes” on the mulch you are going to develop. Also, remember to level the soil before mulching so that the layer formed by the mulch is as uniform as possible.
Mulching: a few tips
There are two kinds of mulch:
A long-lasting mulch
A long-lasting mulch is characterized by slow decomposition and is perfectly suited for shrubs and roses.
To do this, you can use bark and pine needles, dry dead leaves, oak chips, crushed rock in rockeries (composed of large stones), and wood chip mulch.
You can also grind some materials with your lawn mower.
Make sure the mulch does not exceed a height of 10 cm (roughly 5 cm is best), cover the soil around shrubs well but do not bury the mulch in the soil, as that would disrupt plant growth. Also avoid turning the soil when spreading mulch.
A short-term mulch
Short-term mulches, about 2 cm thick on average, decompose quickly and are suitable for annual flowers and vegetables.
To make it, use dry lawn clippings, if possible dead leaves, hemp shreds… Then, with your mower, chop the pile into small pieces, easier to spread between plantings, preferably after rain. Simple, right?
Mulch: which mulch to choose?
Depending on the crops, you’ll choose one mulch or another. Here’s why.
Plants
For trees, shrubs, the vegetable garden, roses, and plant borders:
- hemp shreds: they blow away fairly easily but do not acidify the soil. They don’t feed the soil much, so they aren’t suitable for all plants.
- wood chips: conversely, they don’t blow away. You will need to monitor for fungi.
- hardwood bark: a fairly ideal mulch: it does not blow away, does not acidify the soil, and nourishes it. It should be paired with compost.
- pine bark: it does not blow away, but its decomposition acidifies the soil.
- flax shreds: they’re perfect for preventing slugs and do not acidify the soil. They do blow away fairly easily, and you’ll need to watch for seeds that might germinate.
Minerals
For rock gardens, small spaces, pots and containers:
- The river sand is excellent for succulents, which are very susceptible to rot.
- The clay balls are light, airy, inert, and porous.
- The pouzzolane is expensive but very stable, easy to maintain, and does not rot.
Synthetic
For hedges, crops or containers:
- The plant felts are permeable to water and fairly durable. Make sure to choose ones without chemical fibers.
