6 Benefits for Mulching Your Baltimore County, MD Landscape

Important news for Baltimore County, MD homeowners: If you have flowerbeds and other landscaped areas, you need a fresh application of mulch.

Mulch is not the same as compost, although the two are related. Mulch provides nutrition and weed control, as well as a finished look to your Maryland property. Compost, on the other hand, is recycled organic material that works like fertilizer in your garden.

Why Mulch Your Gardens and Landscape?

Mulch for flowerbeds, gardens, and landscape provides a tidy look to your Baltimore County property. A 2” to 4” layer of mulch helps to control weeds from taking over your garden areas as well.

Why mulch in the spring? You want a fresh application of mulch to give your property a clean look with no weeds. A beautifully green lawn with mulched beds improves your curb appeal and makes you feel proud of your Dundalk, MD property.

You may also ask, “What mulch is best?”

There are two different kinds of mulch—organic mulch and inorganic mulch. At Ground Control, we provide organic mulch, which we think is the best. Examples of organic mulch include:

Bark mulch – Consists of recycled tree bark. For example, cedar mulch helps keep ticks and other insects away from your home and lawn.
Cocoa shells – Provides a deep, rich brown color as well as it smells good. However, you shouldn’t use cocoa shells if you have a cat or a dog that goes outside. Cocoa shells are toxic to dogs and cats.
Pine needles – Turns the soil more acidic, which is excellent when it’s spread under azaleas and hydrangeas. Since pine needle mulch can change the soil’s pH, you don’t want to use it with plants that prefer alkaline soil.
Wood chips – The least expensive mulch comes from recycled wood pallets.
Inorganic mulch – These mulches include recycled rubber, plastic and stone. While these types of mulches work at keeping weeds at bay, inorganic mulches don’t regulate soil temperature like organic mulches.

For example, rubber, stone and plastic generate a lot of heat during the summer. So, they may be more of a danger to your plants.

6 Benefits of Mulch

Mulch provides more than a finished look to your gardens and landscape. Indeed, a fresh layer of mulch offers the following benefits:

Mulch kills weeds: If you want to stop weeds from popping up in your flowerbeds or landscape, you need to mulch these areas. At Ground Control Lawn Care, our mulch includes weed control to kill any weeds that germinate.
Mulch keeps moisture in the soil longer: Mulch keeps plant roots moist longer compared to using stone or no mulch at all. So, when there is a week without rain, your landscaped areas will still have moisture in the root system where it’s needed most.
Mulch provides temperature control: Mulch protects plants from temperature extremes. For example, mulch protects plants from frost heave in late winter and early spring. Conversely, mulch protects plants during the summer from excess heat.
Organic mulch provides added nutrition to the soil: As organic mulch breaks down, it gives extra nutrition to the soil to keep plants healthy.
Organic mulch under trees using a tree ring: At Ground Control Lawn Care, we mulch using tree rings, and we won’t apply mulch up against the trunk. Your landscape trees benefit just like your other plants do with a fresh layer of mulch.

Mulched tree rings also prevent soil compaction and protect your trees from lawn mower damage.

Learn more: Spring Yard Cleanup for Your Baltimore County, MD Lawn and Landscape.

Your flowerbeds and other landscaped areas need a fresh application of mulch at least once a year: Ideally, you should put down two layers per season. At the very least, a new layer of mulch in the spring will do wonders.

How Ground Control Lawn Care Keeps Your Baltimore County, MD Property Looking Its Best

At Ground Control Lawn Care, we provide you with the best mulch near you. We expertly layer mulch around your trees in your landscaped areas and in your flowerbeds.

We’re having a Mulch Madness sale! Buy four yards of mulch that we install on your property, and you get the fifth yard free. You can’t beat that deal! Call us today for your mulch installation at (443) 520-5646 or fill out our contact form.

At Ground Control Lawn Care, we serve the following Baltimore County, MD cities: Bowleys Quarters, Carney, Essex, Lutherville-Timonium, Middle River, Overlea, Parkville, Perry Hall, Rosedale, and White Marsh.

Sources:

ArborDay.org, “Tree Care Tips and Techniques.”

DenGarden.com, “What is Mulch & Why Do You Need It.”

HoosierHomemade.com, “How to Choose and Apply Mulch to Your Flower Beds.”