Cultivating a healthy, beautiful yard requires a lot of hard work. However, using the right strategies can help transform your garden from bland to vibrant in no time flat. One of the most important factors in a healthy yard or garden is mulch. Think of mulch as your plants’ best friend, and learn why this garden must-have could transform your yard.

What Is Mulch and Why Is It Important?

Mulch can be made of a variety of different materials. Mulch is used to help your soil retain moisture, regulate soil temperature, and suppress the growth of weeds. Mulch is also a desirable addition to front and backyards because of its aesthetic appeal. It can be applied to the surface of the soil around trees, within garden beds, and throughout flower beds. Some homeowners even use mulch to create paths throughout their yard or garden.

Mulch plays a variety of roles within a healthy garden:

• Weed Control: Mulch helps trap down weeds, preventing them from springing up in any garden spaces. Why? Mulch serves as an umbrella of sorts; weeds can’t reach the sunlight they need for growth.
• Stops Soil Erosion in Its Tracks: When it rains, the excess water can wash away your soil. Mulch helps reduce the amount of soil that erodes. How? Mulch reduces the force at which rain hits the ground, decreasing the impact and keeping soil packed and in place.
• Retains Moisture: Mulch can help reduce evaporation and retain moisture. This can help your plants get the water they need even on the hottest of days and prevents you from wasting water.
• Maintains Soil Nutrients: Mulch helps ensure rain and wet conditions don’t strip the soil of nutrients. If you use an organic mulch, the soil can soak up even further nutrients as the organic components decompose.
• A Breeding Ground for Earthworms: Mulch helps attract earthworms. Why do you want these creatures to wriggle their way into your soil? They help improve the structure of the soil and cycle nutrients through, making for a fertile area for all types of plants.
• It Looks Great: Mulch makes for an attractive addition to any yard. It’s easy to maintain and serves as a clean-looking filler for empty spaces in your garden.

Traditional Mulch Alternatives

Traditional mulch looks great and provides a host of benefits, but certain store-bought options can actually result in some serious consequences for your yard. Many homeowners mix mulch with wood chips to combat bacteria growth; unfortunately, this can bring excess chemicals into your yard and create a huge mess. Green mulch alternatives are becoming the norm, and you can find plenty of ways to reduce lawn waste with the following options:

• Living Mulch: Instead of wasting your money on wood chips, practice your green thumb and grow your own living mulch. A ground cover helps deter weeds while helping the soil retain its moisture. It can also soak up excess water from rain to prevent the growth of bacteria and fungus.
• Compost: If you aren’t already composting, now is the time to start. All you need is a barrel. Throw in food scraps like banana peels and vegetable remnants, coffee grounds, and lawn clippings to make for nutrient-rich compost that you can reapply every six weeks.
• Weeds: Are you constantly pulling up weeds from your garden? Turn these pesky nuisances into something beneficial. Remove blossoms or seeds from the weeds you gather and combine all of them to create a green, natural mulch. One gardener’s trash is another gardener’s treasure, right?
• Leaves: Instead of raking up all of those leaves and throwing them in the trash, turn them into mulch. Save them, bag them up, and shred the leaves to turn them into a colorful, nutrient-rich mulch you can spread across your garden.

Many of us are in pursuit of a hands-off garden that still looks professionally sculpted. Some of these alternative mulch types are considered low maintenance; a one-time investment in these types can give your garden the functional facelift it needs. One weekend of work and done? A gardener’s dream. Pair your favorite alternative mulch with low maintenance plants and you’ve got a dream garden with minimal work.

Mulch can help your garden plants thrive and transform your front and backyards into dream oases. Keep these tips in mind and use mulch to your advantage.