When it comes to quality chipping or mulching projects, planning to ensure long-term value is key. Natural mulch – that dense mat of slowly decaying leaves, branches, seeds, and needles that has existed among our Tennessee forests for 460 million years and counting – is a key component of the natural nutrient recycling process. As long as smart planning is involved, the benefits, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness provided by mulching and chipping projects can greatly enhance any landscaping project.
The specific cosmetic quality of a well-manicured landscape that we’ve grown accustomed to causes us to continuously mow our lawns and get rid of the clippings; rake leaves, bag them, and discard them; pick up fallen sticks and branches and move them off-site; and even grind and remove stumps of trees. All of these processes help to maintain an immaculate landscape, but they also break the natural nutrient recycling process. Though fertilizer is often used as a replacement, mulch made from plant materials can provide a more natural replacement for the removed nutrients. Furthermore, mulch has a wide variety of additional important benefits that could positively impact the beauty and vitality of your lawn, beds, gardens, and property.
Mulch can often be more aesthetically appealing than raw soil, or even grass. It can be used to shape your beds, add emphasis to your trees, create an appealing color contrast between lawn and garden, outline and soften your paths and walkways, and more. In addition to beautifying any landscape and improving soil conditions, mulching has the added benefit of saving you money. As mulch decays and breaks down over time, it adds much needed nutrients back into the soil, thus reducing or eliminating the need for (and therefore the cost of) additional fertilizer.
How to Plan Mulching
Plan on Chipping or Creating Mulch Onsite to Gain Ultimate Value for Your Mulching Project
When planning for long-term value, ensure that you create mulch onsite whenever possible. Wood chippers can turn unwanted trees, saplings, and shrubs into wood chip mulch. This practice eliminates the costs associated with the removal of this wood and the purchasing of mulch. Planning ahead and turning your old trees, leaves, and debris into life-giving fertilizer is a fantastic way to take advantage of amazing resources that already exist on your property. This natural mulch is an ideal sustainable and affordable alternative to bringing in synthetic fertilizers. Your landscaping will thank you for the nourishing nutrients and moisture-retaining layers natural mulch provides.
Here at The Parke Company, we boast experience and expertise in the mulching of brush, stumps, landscape debris, and fallen trees with our superior chipping and grinding services. We can help you achieve your specific landscaping vision while using all of the resources at hand, transforming unwanted trees and debris into something beautiful and beneficial.
Plan on Mulching Over Areas Susceptible to Weeds
Mulch reduces weeds by placing a lightproof barrier between the sun and the top of the soil. Without sunlight, the weed seeds that have found their way into your mulch will be much less likely to germinate or to take root if they do germinate. With proper planning, you can use mulch as a decorative nutrient provider, as well as a weed control by placing it in areas susceptible to unwanted weeds. Using mulch to prevent weeds minimizes weeding costs.
Reduce Maintenance While Conserving Moisture
Mulch maintains soil temperature and improves moisture retention, thus reducing watering requirements. Mulch is an excellent way to reduce maintenance while conserving moisture. The barrier mulch creates improves the soil’s capacity to absorb rainwater, particularly during periods of torrential downpours. Soil left exposed to the sun typically dries and hardens, forming a thick and solid top layer that is less permeable. Mulch reduces this hardening effect. Furthermore, the mulch itself is absorbent and can deflect and retain strong rains, delaying the time that it takes to hit the soil, thus increasing absorption. Planning your mulching project with this benefit in mind is a great way to lower your water and energy bill.
Plan Your Mulching Projects Seasonally
Mulch acts like a blanket over your soil that helps to regulate soil temperature and provides your plant and tree roots with a more consistent environment. With proper planning and preparedness, you can take advantage of the benefits of mulch throughout the seasons. During the winter months, mulch helps the soil retain heat. Plan ahead and mulch during the winter in order to insulate your soil and prevent damage from dry winter winds. If you’ve planned ahead and stored leaves from your fall leaf pick up, now is the time to break them out and use them as winter mulch. Ultimately, you can use a variety of loose insulating material as winter mulch – from pine needles, to straw, to shredded bark – while keeping in mind that you will need to remove it in the spring. In warmer seasons, mulch detracts from direct exposure to the sun and keeps the soil cooler. Spring mulching is done to suppress weeds, retain moisture, and warm the soil.
Let The Parke Company Help Plan You Next Chipping or Mulching Project
Locally owned and operated, The Parke Company provides community-centered, high quality, and affordable tree and landscaping services to municipalities, businesses, and private residences in the greater Nashville area. Our certified team of Nashville arborists and landscaping professionals has a reputation for being clean, consistent, and professional, and for being leaders in their industries.
The Parke Company prides itself on its ability to incorporate mulch into your landscape. We offer numerous traditional types of mulch as well as creative alternatives like pine needle mulch. We plan ahead to ensure mulching can provide a tidy, well-manicured look while simultaneously controlling weeds, reducing soil erosion, and enriching your soil. We stand behind our work and pride ourselves on our ability to respond quickly, provide efficient and cost-effective services, and meet your needs every step of the way.
To inquire further about The Parke Company’s top-notch lawn services please feel free to give us a call (615-350-6033) or contact us online today to see how The Parke Company difference can work for you.