Mulch or Compost for your Vegetable Garden?
If you’re an avid gardener, then you know nutrient deficiency in soil limits plant growth and crop yield. Using mulch or compost improves crop growth, but is using one better than the other? McCarty Mulch and Stone can help you decide which organic materials harvest the most crops for your gardening needs.
Mulch or Compost For My Vegetables?
Garden compost: composed of fine materials and controls soil temperatures.
Adding nutrients to soil is a must, and compost is a super food for plants. Although worms and other creatures burrow through the soil to mix it, nutrients in compost release slowly as it decomposes into organic matter.
Where can you get compost? Gather old newspaper shreddings and grass clippings to make homemade compost, or save time and visit your local landscape retailer for rich organic garden compost. For example, horse and cow manure mixed with straw and sawdust aged over months when blended correctly can add organic matter to the most clay-packed soils. The mixture enhances growth to produce beautiful flowers and robust vegetation.
Garden mulch: a smokescreen for your soil.
Layers of mulch retain moisture, protect crops from weeds and gives your home curb appeal. Mulch can contain a bark, recycled wood, pine needles or stone depending on your preferences and the condition of your yard’s soil.
Mulch releases a low percentage of nutrients; its main purpose is to suppress weed growth and retain water in the soil. Put a fresh layer of mulch on your soil, but avoid covering plant stems and branches. If you do, then bugs and diseases will use the covered area as a habitat. Therefore, leave a few inches of space around the plants. Without mulch, weeds can spiral out of control making it difficult for you to remove without mangling plant stems.
How To Decide
It may come down to preference. Compost is natural and provides more nutrients than mulch but generally is not as aesthetically pleasing. And if you want aesthetics, mulch is multichromatic and creates an attractive look. Both retain water, prevent disease and control temperatures in the soil as well as:
- Reduce foliage and fruit disease
- Control pests
- Reduce Weeds
- Retain Moisture
- Preserve environmental quality for decades
Whatever your preference, we’ll help you decide on the best mulch or compost materials that meet your gardening needs. You deserve the best quality and we guarantee you’ll be satisfied when you leave. Give us a call today!
