Starting a Garden – Which Is Best, Rocks or Mulch?
If you have recently moved into a house with its own grounds, you may be trying to find out if you have any gardening talent. You might have never attempted to cultivate plants or develop a garden, but this is the perfect opportunity for you to progress. Still, at the moment, you may only have bare earth and not much else, but you want your garden to both look good and be productive at the same time. What type of compromise could you reach when it comes to landscaping?
Choices Ahead
If you plan to raise certain plants or some vegetables for consumption, you do need to ensure that they receive as much nutrition as possible throughout the year. However, you will also want to admire your garden from afar and reduce the number of weeds as much as you can. In this case, you may be wondering whether to add a mulch product or introduce some decorative rocks, but which is the best?
Organic Mulch
If you talk with your landscaping supplier, they'll be able to provide you with a variety of different organic mulch products, like bark or woodchips. These will certainly look good if you introduce them properly, but they can also accelerate the growth rate of your plants as well. As they decompose slowly, they will introduce nutrients to the soil and help your plans to prosper. They will act as a barrier too, so they'll prevent evaporation in the summer, and this will leave more moisture down below for the roots. Organic mulch can also help to reduce the surface temperature of the soil when the sun is at its highest to create optimum growing conditions.
Decorative Rocks
Rocks will look good but do not have as many benefits as organic mulch. They won't provide any nutrients to the soil below, of course, but they will probably last much longer. Also, you won't need to replace them since they won't decompose, and they may be able to prevent the formation of weeds. However, they can absorb radiation from the sun, and this may raise the temperature of the soil. In this case, you may have to water your plants more frequently in the summertime than you might otherwise.
Best of Both Worlds
Perhaps you can compromise and introduce rocks in one part of the garden and organic mulch in the other. Talk with your landscaping supplier, and they will be able to advise you accordingly.
For more information about landscape supplies, reach out to a local supplier.