• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Harlequins Gardens

Harlequins Gardens

Boulder's specialist in well-adapted plants

Harlequin’s Gardens reopens March 4, 2021

Gift Certificates can be purchased and mailed
year-round, even when we are closed!

FacebookPinterestInstagram
  • Home
  • About
    • About Us
    • Staff
    • Display Gardens
    • Why the Name “Harlequin’s” Gardens?
    • Sustainability
    • Policy on Pesticides Including Neonicotinoids
    • Careers
  • What We Offer
    • Products
    • Plants
    • Beekeeping Supplies
    • Gift Certificates
    • Membership
  • Plants
    • Annuals
    • Bulbs
    • Fruits
    • Groundcovers
    • Herbs
    • Natives
    • Perennials
      • Plants for Pollinators List
    • Roses
    • Vegetables
      • Tomato Starts
      • Pepper Starts
      • Other Vegetable Starts
      • Fall Vegetable Starts
      • Garlic
    • Xeriscape
  • Resources
    • Mikl’s Articles
    • Recipes
    • Newsletter
    • Links
  • Garden Tours
    • Virtual Garden Tours
    • Submit Your Garden!
  • Events
  • Classes
  • Blog
  • Wholesale
    • Who Qualifies
    • Availability
  • Contact
Home | Blog | Mikl's Articles | Mulching the Garden

Mulching the Garden

MULCHING THE GARDEN

Benefits of Mulching:

1) prevents evaporation; holds moisture

2) reduces weeding; makes weeding easier

3) reduces fungal diseases; prevents splashing of spores onto bottom leaves

4) feeds the soil; as mulch decomposes, worms take nutrients into the soil

5) supports worms and beneficial bacteria, fungi including mycorrhizae

6) keeps dirt off strawberries etc and reduces food decay

7) insulates the soil from both cold and heat: good for roots & microorganisms

9) reduces soil compaction; improves water and fertilizer penetration into soil

10) reduces wind and water erosion

11) reduces/prevents some insect problems (like potato bug)

12) adds a unifying appearance and a finished look

13) increases productivity of crops and health of perennials and shrubs

Some disadvantages of Mulching:

1) supports slugs

2) can keep soil too cool in early and late season

3) can keep soil too wet in a wet season/climate

4) deep (4″+) can reduce air to soil

5) compost and peat moss can be hydrophobic, preventing water penetration

6) leaves that are not shredded can act like shingles reducing water penetration

7) combustible-fire danger if dry

Materials used for Mulch:

leaves, bark, woodchips, coffee grounds, compost, grass clippings (dry), hay, straw, pine needles, gravel, sqeegee, paper, weeds without seeds, coffee hulls, rocks, old boards, any organic matter without seeds, sawdust-composted, low plants like groundcovers, cover crops

Some considerations:

  • cedar and redwood repel microorganisms so are not good for feeding the soil
  • green grass clippings and other green material can heat up and burn seedlings
  • coffee grounds and pine needles are acidic
  • cottonwood and aspen leaves are alkaline
  • wood chips used for mulch on a veggie garden have to be raked off, not dug in at the end of the season, because they will take nitrogen from the soil
  • fabric weed barriers are a mulch, but prevent worms from aerating soil and         taking nutrients into soil, and pores will plug up preventing air & water
  • cover crops can add nutrients and feed symbiotic fungi in winter

sidebar

Blog Sidebar

Join Our Email List!

Join our Email List to receive empowering gardening tips, ecological insights and to keep up on happenings at Harlequin’s—such as flash sales and “just in” plants.

We do not ship plants!

Our plants are for sale ONLY at our Boulder location. We DO NOT ship plants. Come visit us!

Hours by Season

Harlequin’s Gardens is closed for
the season until early March 2021.

Due to COVID 19 we require
All Customers to Wear a Mask
and practice Social Distancing

 

 

Footer

Contact Us

303-939-9403 (Retail)
staff@nullharlequinsgardens.com

4795 North 26th St
Boulder, CO 80301

Join Our Email List!

Join our Email List to receive empowering gardening tips, ecological insights and to keep up on happenings at Harlequin’s—such as flash sales and “just in” plants.

Map

Please Note

We accept Cash and Checks AND Credit Cards. (now accepting Visa, Mastercard, American Express & Discover cards)

The plants we grow are organically grown. All the plants we sell are free of bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides.