Finding Decorative Mulch For Your Garden

Decorative mulch usually involves natural mulch with an interesting color or mulch that is artificially colored. Good quality colored mulch is made from scrap wood chips. These make use of organic dyes that are not harmful to your plants even if they seep into the soil. Decorative mulch can also be made from leaves, though the color naturally changes as the leaves eventually begin to break down.

Colored or dyed mulch usually come in red, black or in different shades of wood. There isn’t really a need to color mulch, but stores that sell this kind of mulch say that dyed mulch is more attractive to buyers. They are often used in landscaping to improve soil quality. However, they are also for decorative purposes because they can outline spaces in gardens are very pleasing to the eye.

When applying this kind of mulch, be sure to ask if the dye used will not easily wash off. If it doesn’t, it will take a longer time to fade therefore you wouldn’t have to replace it often. Also, dyes that easily wash off can bleed into other parts of your garden. This can leave grass looking unsightly and dirty, for example. Though it rarely happens, the dye can also seep into your plants. Though this has an interesting effect and some gardeners do attempt to do this to make plants look better, many landscape artists don’t like it. It changes the whole look of the landscaping, where choosing plants and color schemes were planned out beforehand. However, the best thing about using decorative mulch is that they are made from scrap wood. This makes it good for the environment because it reduces waste. If they were not used for mulch, most of the wood simply gets thrown in the dump.

When using decorative mulch, it is best to occasionally mix it up. This would make it last longer and prevent the growth of fungus, which would then compact the mulch. Mold can also harm your plants and as they develop, they can even compact the soil underneath the mulch. Having too much mold can also lessen the mulch’s water retaining capacity, not to mention, make the mulch look unsightly.But all in all, decorative mulch is good for your garden. All you have to do maintain it is make sure it’s shaken up and gets aerated.