As we welcome springtime, we say hello to plants, flowers, and grass that go dormant in the winter. When the warmer months hit, ensuring you take care of all your landscaping needs is important. One way to promise a clean and healthy landscape is by treating the plants and flowers within your garden. When feeding your plants with soil, you’ll need to mulch to keep your garden healthy. Here are five benefits to mulching in the spring. 

What is Mulching?

Mulching is the practice of using natural garden waste as nutrients for your soil. Usually, gardeners will add a loose layer of shredded plant material; it helps save time, money, and effort within your landscaping and gardening process. 

There are several different types of mulch to choose from: grass clippings, compost, gravel, straw, shredded wood, cocoa bean shells, hazelnut shells, pine needles, mushroom compost, stone, and many others.

What’s the Difference Between Mulch and Soil? 

While plant roots grow deep in the soil, mulch is added as a top layer to the plant. While they share different properties and responsibilities, mulch helps enrich the soil. 

Improves the Soil

Wood mulches and ones made from organic materials will help the soil as it breaks down. Insects that live in the soil will consume the mulch over time, which later adds products back into the soil once these organisms die.  

Prevents Weeds

When soil is patted down on flowers or plants, it prevents any kind of weed from growing from the roots. You can add about three to four inches of mulch to help make sure there’s no open space for these weeds to build. However, if weeds somehow pop up during this process, the mulch will make it easier for you to spot and remove them. 

Acts as an Insulator 

If you’re worried about your plants or flowers getting too warm and drying out from the heat, mulch will help solve those anxieties. Mulch has properties that cause it to act as an insulator. This will help regulate the soil temperature so your plants will stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer.  

Retains Water 

Mulch can retain water, so you won’t have to water your garden as much. When you first add water to your soil, the mulch will start a slow moisture process. This will help you save time and money wasted on watering your garden every day. We recommend adding a drip irrigation system or soaker hose to help water your plants and flowers. 

Helps Prevent Erosion 

While water is necessary to help your garden grow, it can also cause your soil to wash away. Mulch will act as a defense mechanism against water and other elements of nature including rough weather like rain, snow, wind, and more.

As springtime approaches, it’s important to take care of your garden, so that you don’t face issues in the future. By mulching your garden, you can improve the soil, prevent weeds from growing, insulate your plants, retain water, and prevent erosion.

One of the most satisfying and rewarding moments is watching your garden grow new plants, vegetables, and more in the spring. It’s special to know that these organisms are healthy because of your hard work. However, there’s always a small window in regards to when you can garden or when it’s the right time. If you’re just starting in gardening or you have years of experience, here are some tips and tricks on producing vegetable gardens this spring. 

Which Vegetables Grow the Best in Spring?

When deciding on what vegetables you’d like to grow in the spring months, there are many options:

• Peas
• Spinach
• Lettuce
• Radishes
• Broccoli 
• Cauliflower
• Beets
• Swiss Chard
• Kohlrabi
• Cucumbers
• Carrots 
• Potatoes 

A lot of these vegetables are cold-tolerant which means you can start planting them earlier in the spring before it hits high temperatures. 

When is the Right Time to Plant?

Crops like peas and spinach can get right to planting in March when the soil is ready. Then radishes, beets, and carrots can follow suit a couple of weeks later. Make sure to look back to your seed packet when it’s time to plant to determine the seed spacing and depth. Draw furrows into the soil surface where you want to sow your vegetable seed, then drop those seeds into the furrow with appropriate spacing.

Also, early March is perfect for planting vegetable crops like broccoli and cauliflower indoors. 

Inspect Your Garden

Before you start any kind of planting outdoors, you must observe your garden and see if there is any damage from the winter.

Ask yourself these four questions:

• Is there cold, ice, or snow damage to the plants?
• Are there beds that need to be cleaned out?
• Have hardscaping elements rotted?
• Are there signs of animals?

If you answer yes to any or all of these questions, these issues need to be addressed first before planting your vegetables. By fixing any hardscaping issues and performing a spring cleanup, you will be all set to plant. 

Test Your Garden Soil 

When growing vegetables, you’ll need to make sure your soil is safe to use before adding it to plant roots. Test your soil every three to five years to see what nutrients or organic materials it needs; you can DIY test your soil or head to gardening stores and find a kit. Once you’ve tested your soil, talk with someone at your local garden center about what specific products you can use. It’s recommended that you top dress the soil with an inch or two of compost in early spring right as your bulbs are starting to grow. 

Gardening can be a fun process, but it can also bring some questions on the right way to go about it. To promise positive results when planting your vegetable gardens, make sure to follow these tips and tricks. They will promise you a healthy garden full of vegetables that will be ready to feast on come the spring and summer months. How will you prepare your garden for success?