homes.cjonline.com | The Topeka Capital-Journal | Saturday, May 6, 2017 | 9
Brooks: Mulch not always best choice Continued from 2
burr compost are longerlasting organic mulches that help unify the look of the landscape. Colored mulch is becoming popular, but remember, the plants are the stars of the garden so the mulch shouldn’t be distracting. Inorganic mulches are another choice, including black plastic, rock, shredded rubber tires and landscape fabrics. Rock and shredded tires tend to get too hot in the summer and may damage roots and stems of plants. Tires also smell in the heat of the summer and leave black smudges on shoes
and hands when it’s hot. Rock also needs landscape fabric under it to prevent weed growth. Landscape fabric requires some cover, such as a wood mulch, for it to look nice and last a reasonably long time. Other considerations: n Drip irrigation and soaker hoses should be placed under the mulch. It is the plant that needs watered, not the mulch. n Most mulches retard soil warming, so they shouldn’t be applied too early in the spring in vegetable and annual flower gardens because these plants need warm soil to germinate and grow. n Black plastic mulch
helps warm the soil in the spring, which is good, but may later bake the soil if other mulch isn’t timely placed over it. However, black plastic is a good choice under a garden path, because weeds won’t grow under it. Mulch isn’t always the best choice for gardeners. Mulch prevents self-seeding plants from seeding next year’s crop, because the seeds don’t contact the soil. Ground covers such as sedum, vinca, ajuga or ivy will accomplish many of the same advantages as mulch. So there you have it — to mulch or not to mulch — you decide.
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