Getting The Right Mulch For Your Garden
April 15th, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed
People new to gardening often overlook the importance of selecting the right mulch for their garden. Some factors are quite obvious, while others have not been thought of. Below are several factors that you need to keep in mind when you hit the garden store for mulch:
1. Choose a mulch that does not promote the depletion of nitrogen. Nitrogen is a very important (and essential) nutrient
that needs to be in your soil. However, this nutrient can be scarce depending on the type of mulch used.
A good example would be using finely chopped mulch, like sawdust. There are microorganisms that are responsible for decomposing this sawdust while at the same time they seriously deplete it of nitrogen that is needed for your plants. In time, if your perennials and other flowers are living in this type of mulch, the lack of nitrogen will cause them to become “chlorotic”, or yellow in color, which is the result of a nutrition deficiency.
Should the rest of your garden start the same chlorotic signs then it is time to consider that you have a nitrogen depletion problem. A good way to fix this is to add approximately 2 pounds of complete fertilizer spread out for every 100 ft. Spread the fertilizer all around your soil and then lay down your mulch. If you are not facing a nutritional deficiency in your garden then you can also use this technique as a preventative measure against nitrogen depletion.
2. Another factor to consider when buying mulch is its flammability. This is one of those situations that most gardeners rarely consider. However, many fires are started in garden areas due to smokers flicking their cigarettes when they are done. This is especially true if you have created a garden area around an office building or some other public area.
Dropped cigarettes and lit matches can easily set off mulches that are organic. Even if your garden is created in your backyard and is totally personal, you still may want to consider flammability as a possible hazard in case anybody does come over and has a cigarette or two. Fire dangers include hay, pine needles, recycled mulches, and straw.
3. Last but not least, be careful when using organic mulches in areas that are poorly drained and gather up moisture easily. These low-lying wet areas may collect gallons of water which can produce toxic chemicals due to the decomposition that is occurring. These chemicals are a danger to your perennials and other flowers because of its toxicity. If the garden area you are considering is already prone to this type of water build up, then adding mulch is not a good idea and will only slow down the soil’s process of drying out.
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Choosing a Good Lawn Care Fertilizer
April 3rd, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed
When it comes to picking a lawn care fertilizer, there are many things that you should keep in mind. There are many different kinds of fertilizer, and there are many different ways to go about applying the fertilizer. There are many different chemical fertilizers that you can pick up which will allow you to rid your garden or grass of bugs, and other nuisances, through the use of chemicals. A lawn care fertilizer that has chemicals is often very good at ridding the garden of bugs, and this will mean that your fruits and veggies can grow to the size that you think they should be.
The lawn care fertilizer that contains chemicals will allow you to get rid of any pest problems that you have, and you won’t have to worry about them coming back.
However, with a chemical lawn care fertilizer, remember that you are also putting the chemicals into your garden, and into the food that you are making. Even if the lawn care fertilizer with chemicals is made to work on food, and even if it is purported to be safe for food, you never quite know what kinds of chemicals are going to do what kind of damage to you.
Non-Chemical Fertilizers
There are also lawn care fertilizers that do not contain chemicals. It is important that you know that these fertilizers exist, because often it is better for the environment to not use the chemicals. You can use other kinds of fertilizer, and you will be getting the same results if you don’t use chemicals. However, you need to be sure that you are reading the directions, and use the fertilizer that works best for you, even if you aren’t using chemicals.
No matter what kinds of lawn care fertilizers you are using, it is important that you know that by using fertilizers as it is directed, you are going to be able to see better results when it comes to the things in your garden and lawn that you are growing. If you want to have a lawn that is successful, you are going to be able to use many different types of fertilizers to achieve these results. No matter what kinds of lawn care fertilizers you are going to be using, you will benefit from the good qualities of the lawn and things in your garden that you will be getting from using a good lawn care fertilizer.
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