Like Mary Poppins’ magical medicine which adjusts its taste to please the individual carrying it, mulch offers benefits according to the plant’s profile. For annuals, planted to last 1 season, a layer of mulch keeps down weeds and cools the ground. Perennial plants — including many flowering favorites in addition to shrubs and trees — last at least a few years from the garden and obtain far more advantages from mulch. A natural, impartial mulch such as cedar chips keeps the cold from chilling perennials’ origins in the winter and leads nutrients to the soil as it decomposes gradually. Reasonably priced and simple to employ, chipped cedar is also a present to your perennials that keeps giving.
Apply a layer of cedar mulch to the root zones of plants that are perennial, or cover the dirt throughout the flower bed. Use 3- to 5-inch layers; this is going to settle to some level of 2 to 4 inches. For container plants, use 2 ins for quart pots and 2.5 ins for gallon containers.
Apply 4 to 5 inches of mulch around the base of shrubs or trees. Boost the amounts slightly if you select large-size cedar chips. Cover the whole root area of the tree or tree, typically the region directly under the plant’s canopy.
Move the mulch away from the foundation of perennial plants, including the trunks of trees. Keep the mulch about 3 inches from flowering plants and about 6 inches away from a tree trunk. Mulch mounded against the plant can cause basal decay.
Examine the mulch layer every year. When it is reduced by about 2 inches, replenish it. Put new cedar chips right on top the existing layer, but maintain the whole quantity of mulch in the guidelines.