Beautiful landscaping relies heavily on one thing: Mulch. There are lots of benefits to mulch, including its stellar appearance! While it may seem like it’s a simple thing to DIY, there are a lot of mistakes that you can make when trying to install your own mulch for landscaping.
Don’t worry, we’ll talk you through all of those mistakes — and, we’ll even walk you through how to do it right.
If it seems like a tedious task (because it is a tedious task) we’ll tell you all about our convenient blow-in mulch service that can take care of it in half the time while you sip lemonade on the porch.
Benefits of Blow In Mulch
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Curb Appeal
- Mulch adds rich color and beautiful contrast to your garden.
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Soil Health
- Mulch improves the health of your soil as it breaks down. Insects and microbes consume mulch over time and add the by-products back to the soil as organic matter.
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Weather Protection
- Mulch insulates plants and protects them from more extreme temperatures like hot sun and cool winters. Mulch can extend the life of plants planted later in spring or fall that will be subjected to temperature changes.
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Moisture Conservation
- Mulch slows water absorption and maintains moisture so that you don’t have to water as often.
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Weed Prevention
- Mulch prevents weeds from growing by blocking the sun. Make sure to spread your mulch thick enough so that the weeds cannot break through.
Mulching Mistakes to Avoid
The first common mistake is using too much mulch. It’s easy to do and it could cost you all of your landscaping. More than a few inches will not only make your landscaping soggy and prime for plant disease, it will suffocate your plants.
On the flip side, not enough mulch can also mean trouble! Mulch helps keep weeds at bay. If it’s not spread thick enough, weeds will have no problem pushing through. If you’d rather not spend your summer pulling weeds, make sure you have the right amount of mulch!
Make sure not to go too long without replacing your mulch. Mulch should be replaced at least once a year in the spring. We recommend doing it in the spring and fall if you want to have the best-looking yard in the neighborhood all year ‘round.
All mulch is NOT created equal, so don’t buy the wrong kind! Yes, there are cheap or even free mulches, but they aren’t going to do the job right. Free mulch sometimes even contains pesticides, bugs, or weed seeds! Don’t introduce harmful things into your yard. Go with mulch that you can trust.
People have all kinds of creative, great ideas when it comes to saving money on landscaping. Skipping mulch is NOT one of them. Trust us. Mulch not only looks beautiful, but it also does a lot of hard work for your plants! Mulch retains moisture so that you don’t have to water as much, saving your time, and saving water. It also prevents weed growth by blocking weeds from the sun they need to ruin your garden. Mulch protects plant roots from the weather — which, in Michigan — is extremely important.
Make sure you avoid all of these mistakes by having the professionals take care of your yard. Superior is happy to get the job done right.
Mulching: How to DIY
Now that you know what NOT to do, let’s talk about what you should do! Mulch seems like an easy task you can knock right out and still get to your afternoon plans, but if you do rush through it, you’re going to be spending all summer paying for it.
We’ll give you a few tips to make sure your mulch looks and works its best throughout the year.
- Clear the area.
Spend the time to pick up look twigs, stones, and leaves from your yard. Pull all the weeds by hand, or use a weed killer. - Pick a delivery site.
If you’ve opted to DIY (instead of using our convenient blow-in service), you’ll have to decide where to have your mulch delivered. Make sure to pick a place that the truck can get to without ruining your lawn, or off-roading. - Edge.
Using a square shovel, insert the blade between the garden bed and the grass or pavement to create a clean line between them. Create a trench 2 inches deep and 3-4 inches wide between grass and a garden bed, and 2 inches deeper than the edge of the concrete between concrete and a garden bed. If your garden bed is large, use a mini-tiller or rent a bed edger from your local hardware store. You can also use a leaf blower to clean up the displaced dirt. - Spread the mulch.
Use a pitchfork to pick-up the mulch. Drop the mulch into a large wheelbarrow. Push the wheelbarrow to your installation site and drop the mulch in small piles throughout the site. Spread the mulch with a rake until it’s evenly 2-4 inches deep across the full garden bed. Make sure not to cover tree trunks or plant stems as this will cause plant disease and attract insects. - Clean the area.
Use a leaf blower to quickly blow any displaced dirt or mulch. You can also use it to smooth out the mulch on top.
Blow-In Mulch Service
Superior’s mulch blowers make installing mulch a breeze! If you want the most convenient and beautiful installation experience, blow-in mulch service is the way to go.
How does it work?
Superior’s fleet of Express Blower® trucks gives us the ability to install thousands of cubic yards of material each day. We focus on efficiency, precision, and attention to detail at each site. Save huge amounts of time by teaming up with Superior!
Why use blow-in mulch service?
Blow-In mulch service saves time and effort. Installing mulch the “old-fashioned” way is physically demanding, takes hours, and yields less professional results.
What are the benefits of mulch blowing?
- Speed
Using a blow-in mulch service saves tons of time! That means your landscaping will be ready to show off before you know it. - Cost
Blow-In Mulch service is comparative in cost to other methods of installation but saves so much time and energy. - Quality Finish
Our method of installation ensures even distribution at the right depth. This is difficult to achieve when DIYing. - Less physically demanding
DIY mulch installation can be very hard on backs because it involves repetitive heavy lifting. This can cause permanent back problems if done incorrectly. - Accessibility
If your yard has small, steep, or tough to reach areas, our blower trucks can reach them no problem.
Save time and effort, and get the best-looking landscaping around! Call the experts at Superior Groundcover.
