How Should You Lay Out Your Mulch?

Mulch can seem like an afterthought when you are planning out your next landscaping projects. Garden beds are shaped and the plants are picked often before mulch is considered.

Mulch isn’t only aesthetically pleasing, it also has many benefits for the plants in your garden when it is spread out properly. Mulch can be bug resistant, discourage weed growth, insulate your plants from temperature changes, reduce soil erosion, reduce soil moisture evaporation, and gradually decomposes adding organic material to your soil. To maximize those benefits it is important to lay out your mulch properly.

Planning Out Your Garden Beds

Before you start laying out your mulch, make sure you’ve taken the time to think through the composition of your garden. Not all mulch is created equal, different types of mulch are best for different jobs. Ask yourself these questions:

• Is your area prone to flooding?
• Do you have problems with bugs?
• Are you trying to grow fruit or vegetables?
• Will there be heavy traffic through your garden bed?
• Do you have pets that will spend time in your garden?

We’ve written a comprehensive blog on the topic of picking the best mulch for the right job. Check out our mulch recommendations.

If you’re worried about your pets, know which types of mulch are safe for your dogs and cats.

Our Best Recommendation for Spreading Mulch

Once you’ve chosen the right mulch for the job, you need to know how much mulch you’ll need and how to spread it properly. If your mulch is too thick, it could choke out your plants and trap too mulch moisture. At Gaston, we use a formula to guide how much mulch should be laid down in your garden:

3 Inches is the Standard Depth for Spreading Mulch

Lay down the proper depth and pick out the right amount of mulch for the job by using our mulch calculator available on our product pages.

How To Spread Mulch

Depending on what type of mulch product you’ve chosen, there are best practices for easily spreading it. Easily spread your mulch with these easy tips:

• If you have pine bark or chips, use a shovel to spread the mulch. Because it is a finer product a flat-bladed shovel makes the job of spreading mulch much easier.
• With shredded mulch use a pitchfork to toss the mulch. A pitchfork can help you spread shredded mulch evenly and consistently.

Choosing the right tool for the job is crucial to making the task easy. Make sure you pick the right tool for the job when it’s time to spread mulch in your garden.

Buy the Products You Need

At Gaston Mulch and Soil, we’re proud to offer premium mulch products in bulk amounts. Whether you need dyed mulch, pine bark, pine straw, chips, sawdust, or garden soil, we have the groundcover products you need to complete your project.

We’re proud to offer shipping throughout the United States and delivery throughout Florida. Contact us today!