Mulching Your Garden During the Autumn Season
Mulching Your Garden During the Autumn Season
When it comes to garden maintenance this fall, mulching should definitely be on your to-do list. Doing this is a great way to get your garden and landscaping ready for the upcoming winter season, and ensures that your yard looks good during dormant months.
Not sure where to get started? Here’s our guide on mulching your garden during the autumn season.
How to Mulch in the Fall
To ensure that your landscaping is prepared for the next few seasons, there are a few steps to take when it comes to mulching.
1. Preparing Your Garden Beds for Mulching
You will want to start the mulching process once all of your plants, flowers, and vegetables growing in your garden beds have been harvested or have died. However, before actually mulching the areas, you will need to prep the beds.
First, remove any and all debris from plants. You can either compost this or throw it away. Weeds will also need to be removed as well, otherwise, you will have to deal with them in the spring.
Next, rototill your soil if needed.
Lastly, if you are using recycled leaves as mulch, make sure to shred them first.
2. Mulching Your Garden Beds
Ideally, you will want to choose a seedless mulch for your garden beds, otherwise, you will end up a multitude of weeds when the spring season arrives. Consider choosing either recycled leaves, grass clippings, sawdust, pine needles, or other organic choices for the best results.
You will also want to apply a cup of fertilizer rich with nitrogen for every cubic foot of mulch.
For areas that still have plants growing in the beds, lay down about a fourth of an inch of paper or another weed barrier, and then cover that area with about 8 inches of wood chip mulch. Doing this will ensure that no weeds grow around those plants.
Why Should You Mulch in the Fall?
So, now that you know what to do, you may be wondering what all of the benefits are.
- Mulching in the fall means that you have one less chore to take care of when springtime rolls back around.
- Doing this ensures that your landscaping is cleared of all debris and is better protected from any bad weather that comes your way.
- If you wait until spring to handle this task, you may have a lot more weeds and debris to deal with.
Contacting a Professional for Mulching in the Fall
If you are still not sure how to handle mulching your garden beds this autumn season, consider contacting a local, trusted professional to help you out. For those of you in the San Francisco Bay Area, Homescape Now can help you with all of your autumn landscaping needs!
Give us a call today for further assistance.
