MULCHES FOR ENHANCED, LOW-COST, LOW-MAINTENANCE LANDSCAPES Malcolm Beck, Garden-Ville Horticultural Products Jerry M. Parsons and Roland E. Roberts, Texas Agricultural Extension Service Introduction The quality of food we eat, water we drink and air we breathe -- in fact the well being of all plant and animal life -- is determined by the quality of our topsoil. The earth's crucial thin layer of ...

Are Mulches a Good Idea DANA O. PORTER, P.E. WVU Extension Service Agricultural Engineering Specialist As a result of restrictions on placing organic materials in landfills, recycling and disposal alternatives are being sought for yard wastes, paper wastes, newsprint, and other organic wastes. Yard wastes frequently are composted or recycled for mulch. Paper wastes and newsprint have been ...

Easy Gardening...Mulching B. Dean McCraw Extension Horticulturist Texas Agricultural Extension Service Mulching your garden shows you really care about your plants. A mulch is any substance spread on the ground to protect plant roots from heat, cold or drought or to keep fruit clean. Mulching is a long established horticultural practice. Farmers know that shallow cultivation of the soil's ...

Agricultural publication G06960 Revised July 31, 1998 Mulches Christopher J. Starbuck Department of Horticulture, University of Missouri-Columbia Mulches provide many benefits to plants. Benefits vary with the material used, the type of soil, the kind of plant and the cultural practices used. Mulches also may be used to make landscapes more attractive and usable and to reduce the amount of ...

Purdue University Consumer Horticulture Much Ado About Leaves Rosie Lerner, Purdue Consumer Horticulture Specialist Released September 3, 1998 Ah, the beauty of Mother Nature's palette coming to life in the fall color of our forest and landscape plants. For some, this marvel is overshadowed by the chores of raking and disposing of fall leaves. And, with the new ban forbidding disposal of yard ...

Beware of Sour Mulch Contact: Diane Relf, Extension Specialist, Environmental Horticulture Posted April 1997 The Plant Disease Clinic routinely receives specimens of plants that have been injured by nonliving or abiotic phenomena. These specimens are the most difficult to diagnose because no tangible structures of the cause of the problem (e.g., fungal spores, bacteria, nematodes) can be ...

Mulching for a Healthy Landscape Contact: Diane Relf, Extension Specialist, Environmental Horticulture, Virginia Tech Publication Number 426-724, Revised 2001 Table of Contents Introduction Selecting the best mulch for your needs How to mulch Organic mulches Inorganic mulches For as long as trees have grown in forests, leaves and needles have fallen to the ground and formed a natural protective ...

Organic Mulches Contact: Diane Relf, Extension Specialist, Environmental Horticulture Posted April 1997 Mulching is a practice adaptable to nearly all home gardens. To mulch is simply to cover the soil around plants with a protective material. Organic mulches add nutrients and humus to the soil as they decompose, improving its tilth and moisture-holding capacity. Most organic mulches should be ...