Portsmouth In Bloom: An odd sounding word for a vital gardening process – it’s time to mulch

I’m sure if I’d ventured further, I would have been confronted by a similar scene in many of our city’s parks, gardens and open public spaces.

You could be forgiven for thinking that this action of spreading a layer of organic material over bare soil is, well, simply that. However, it has a special name in the world of gardening… mulching. It’s thought this word itself derives from the Old English ‘melsc’, meaning soft.

On the face it, mulching is a slightly odd sounding word, but it provides many benefits to our gardens. Depending on what you cover the ground with, mulches can improve plant growth by delivering nutrients, form a barrier to prevent weeds germinating and help to insulate the roots of plants from winter cold.

As we head into summer, mulches really prove their worth. They prevent the roots of plants from suffering during times of extreme heat and help to trap moisture in the soil, reducing evap-oration by up to 50 per cent during windy or sunny weather. This is good news for gardeners as means less frequent watering.

From a purely cosmetic point of view, mulching beds and borders will elevate your garden to the next level by giving it a smart, professional and uniform appearance. The material will also hide uneven edges around lawns, disguise gaps in displays and provide a dark foil that will set off plants perfectly.

There’s no need for veg growers to feel left out. Mulching bare soil on vegetable patches and allotment plots will deliver all the same benefits as already mentioned. As a bonus, they’ll prevent the fruit of strawberries, squashes, pumpkins and courgettes touching the soil, keeping them clean, dry and reducing rotting.

So, what should you use to mulch your garden? Well-rotted manure, garden compost, leafmould and composted bark are all suitable, with most of these available to buy ready bagged in garden centres and DIY stores. Don’t be tempted to use multi-purpose compost as this has been designed for containers.

There’s also several proprietary, branded products available to gardeners, such as Magic Mulch, made from left over plants used in the renewable energy sector, and Coco Chip, created from ground up coconut husks. Last year, I mulched my beds with Strulch, a product containing mineralised wheat straw.

Before mulching, clear the site of weeds (which compete with ornamental plants for moisture and nutrients) and water the soil if it’s on the dry side. Spread a 10cm layer of your chosen material over the ground and rake to leave a level finish – wear gloves when handling mulches to guard against splinters and pathogens.

Avoid piling the material on top of low growing plants and leave a good gap around the stems of trees, shrubs and perennials. If the stuff encounters bark or the exterior of plants, it can lead to it softening and then rotting, making the specimen more vulnerable to diseases.