Mulching Season Begins

Mulching Season Begins
By Alan Cray

Excluding a few of the more southern towns and cities, the start of winter in 2012 was largely snow free. Whether this is fortunate or not depends on your point of view, since the torrential downpours of rain resulted in major flooding throughout the UK, particularly damaging in Yorkshire, Cornwall and Devon. Over 8,000 houses have been damaged or evacuated after the second wettest year in UK history, and a little more snow would probably have been welcome.

Temperatures tend to drop for January and February, and whether the country finds snow days replacing flood evacuations or not, a good degree of frost and chill is certain. As the colder period approaches, it's time for avid gardeners to get their compost, bark, stones and foliage gathered up in preparation for the mulching season.

There are plenty of reasons to get mulching, though most are targeted towards the early spring or autumn. In the mid to late winter mulching can still provide a valuable service to any garden, so preparing for the season ahead is important.

Firstly, and this possibility is often overlooked, mulching serves excellently as an insulant for winter plants. Rather than keeping them warm, the aim is to keep them from thawing in the first place. Whereas a rock mulch placed before the winter absorbs the heat of the sun to extend the growing system, laying out a thick mulch in the middle of it serves to deter growth. For delicate perennials, Azaleas are often cited, keeping them warm may seem intuitive. Instead wait for the first heavy frost to hit and mulch over the frozen earth. By keeping the ground frozen for longer plants will remain dormant even for lengthy mid-winter thaws. Leaving dormancy and having shoots killed off by a sudden frost can be the final blow for delicate plants, so it's best to keep them cool throughout the entire winter.

It's also worth beginning a mulch programme of weed prevention, even if it's early in the season yet. Perennial weeds such as nettles, docks and dandelions have deep roots, and will usually survive the winter hidden under the ground unseen. Seeing them pop back up unannounced and uninvited in the spring is needlessly frustrating, so taking measures to stunt their growth is advisable. Laying out a thick layer of mulch over your flower and vegetable beds will cut access to sunlight, and limit water flow. Cover everything except the plants you wish to keep, and any weeds will probably die before they have a chance to grow in spring. In cases where there aren't any plants you wish to protect then pinning down a black plastic cover will kill everything present in good time, allowing you to plant fresh and weed free in advance of spring. Most of the time a basic stone or organic mulch will effectively cut back on weed growth.

Whether keeping the cold in or the weeds down, there's plenty of mulching ahead for gardeners hoping to make the most from winter.

GardenCentreOnline.co.uk provides a wide range of plant protection and other products. Alan Cray used the knowledge from the company's years of providing goods such as these to help build upon the quality of his article.

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