Mulch is a layer of a substance spread on the soil surface. The spreading of mulch is called mulching. This is done to conserve soil moisture, increase soil fertility, stop the growth of weeds, reduce erosion, or for the aesthetic qualities of mulch.
The most common organic materials used as mulch are peat, wood chips, wood shavings, bark, leaves, and straw. However, pebbles and cardboard are also sometimes used. For some vegetables or berry plants, a agro textile is used as mulch, with a hole cut for each plant.
Organic mulch, which is gradually added, needs to be continuously renewed. The mulch layer helps to retain moisture in the soil, collects dew, evens out temperature differences, and inhibits the germination and growth of unwanted plant seeds.
PEAT MULCH for the garden (vegetable garden) is a mulching product for nurturing plants in the garden and vegetable garden. Organic mulch contains substances that decompose very slowly and preserve soil moisture. Mulch reduces water evaporation from the soil by up to 40%, protects roots from seasonal temperature fluctuations, maintains a higher temperature in winter and a lower temperature in summer, ensures optimum air permeability, and keeps the soil loose. The shredded fibres and branches of peatland trees contain xylitol, an organic substance that inhibits weed growth, promotes root development and partially prevents the spread of fungus gnats.
Use: Carefully weed the plant areas and beds and evenly loosen the soil. Cover the ground with mulch 2-5 cm thick. Before applying the mulch, we recommend that fertiliser be applied to the plants. After 2-3 years, add 2-3 cm of mulch.
Composition: shredded peat siftings, shredded peat stumps, branches, pine bark.
DECORATIVE MULCH is an excellent decorative element to enhance your surroundings. Decorative mulch conserves moisture in the soil by retaining up to 50% of the water that without mulch would otherwise evaporate. It protects roots from seasonal temperature fluctuations by keeping the temperature higher in winter and lower in summer. By keeping out sunlight, it creates unfavourable conditions for growth of weeds. It protects the soil from erosion by preventing rain from washing away soil particles and by preventing wind from carrying soil particles away. It improves root respiration by keeping the soil looser.
Use: First, carefully weed the plant areas and beds and evenly loosen the soil. Cover the ground with mulch 2-5 cm thick. Before applying the mulch, we recommend that nitrogen fertiliser be applied once to plants such as rhododendrons. After 2-3 years, add 2-3 cm of mulch.
Made from: Shredded, screened and dyed coniferous wood (softwood) and deciduous (leafy) wood 0-30 mm
Effect: Prevents soil from drying out, wearing away and erosion, pH neutral
NATURAL PEAT – PEAT – IMPROVES SOIL STRUCTURE, RETAINS MOISTURE AND HEAT WELL, HAS A LONGLASTING EFFECT, AND IS FREE OF WEEDS AND PATHOGENS;
Helpful tips for mulching with peat:
- To avoid losing the more delicate and sensitive plants during the winter season, they need to be covered. There are many different types of covering: spruce branches, mulching with peat, setting potted plants into the ground in a ditch, etc. It is best to cover them when it is already freezing during both the day and the night. Plants covered when temperatures are still positive are less able to withstand the worst winter frosts, are more likely to die back, and suffer from fungal diseases. Covering your plants not only protects them from frost, but also from rabbits.
- Mulch is often used for early green vegetables (lettuce, radishes, onions) and cucumbers.
- A 3-4 cm layer of peat or compost must be applied to the vegetables sown before winter. This is most effective on sandy loam and loamy soils. In wet soils, mulching increases the moisture content and is therefore not suitable.
- In spring, a 1-1.5 cm layer of peat or compost will speed up the germination of seeds that do not ordinarily germinate for long periods. Once the vegetables have germinated, the peat or compost will mix with the soil when loosened, making it more fertile.
Rhododendrons: It is advisable to mulch rhododendrons to keep the soil moist, permeable and enriched with nutrients. Mulching is as important in the life of a rhododendron as watering or other care. Mulch retains moisture so that the plants receive useful organic matter, improves the air and water permeability of the soil, reduces the growth of weeds and protects the roots from winter frosts. Mulch lowers the surface temperature of the soil, which accelerates nutrient decomposition. In addition, the soil surface is full of organisms that cause a variety of plant diseases, which reproduce and grow in a moist, warm environment, so mulch can help to slow down the development of pathogens. Mulch is best applied with a coarsertextured peat. Coarser mulch particles are more permeable to oxygen and moisture. Dense, fine materials such as grass clippings and sawdust are not suitable for mulch, as they press hard on the surface roots of the rhododendron, and when the plant is starved of oxygen or moisture, it begins to die. If mulching with peat, it is better to blend it with pine bark, needles, oak leaves and conifer sawdust. The mulch layer should be no thicker than 10 cm, and even thinner if the mulch is made of finer materials. A thick layer of mulch makes it difficult for both moisture and nutrients to penetrate.
For planted fruit trees and bushes, special attention has to be paid in the first year. Transplanted garden perennials have most of their roots close to the surface, where they can freeze or be affected by the drying out of the top layers of soil. For this reason, autumn plantings are mulched or covered with peat before winter. In all cases, the mulch is applied after the ground has permanently frozen (to prevent mice from settling underneath it). The peat can be sprinkled up to the first branches. There should be about a bucket of peat per sapling. Mulch or mounds protect the roots from freezing in winter and from drying out in summer. In spring, mulch is applied as soon as the plants have been planted and watered. Mulch prevents the soil from drying out in the root zone.
Roses. The best mulch for roses is de-acidified peat (can also be used with complex fertiliser), good garden compost, shredded tree bark. The benefits of mulching are obvious: in dry weather it prevents rapid evaporation of moisture, in rainy weather it prevents water stagnation by absorbing it, it warms the soil, it reduces the growth of weeds, and it increases the amount of humus in the soil, which provides additional nutrition for the bushes. Mulching with de-acidified peat makes roses less susceptible to fungal diseases and helps beneficial micro-organisms to live and grow there. Before mulching, weeds should be removed, plenty of water should be applied and fertiliser should be added. In autumn, add about 2 cm of peat to the mulch layer (if it was decomposed manure, compost or decomposed leaves). This will prepare the rose bush for winter.
Raspberries:
Mulching under the bushes. October. A 1-m-wide strip under the bush is mulched with peat, sawdust or bark shavings 5-7 cm thick. Apply 15-20 t/ha. Mulch should be spread evenly.
The best mulch for daffodils is peat moss. In the first year, apply a 10 cm thick layer (1 cubic metre of peat
per 10 m2). In spring, some of this peat should be incorporated into furrows. The following year, a 5 cm layer of peat moss is sufficient. It is not advisable to cover daffodils with materials that must be removed in spring, such as leaves, spruce branches or straw. This work should be done early, otherwise the sprouts will be injured, although it is not always possible to get into the field early. Leaving the mulch in place helps the soil to retain moisture, reduce weed growth, increase organic matter and keep the soil temperature low and constant at the depth of the bulb.