Wood chips are a multipurpose item in gardening. Here are several benefits you can get just from incorporating them into your garden.
– They can be used as fertilizer because they biodegrade. When woodchip rot they produce a rich and fertile soil below it.
– They retain water so that when used near root systems, they provided a prolonged source of nutrition. This is useful in any garden but particularly soil that has sand in it or heavy dark clay. It will prevent the water from percolating away quickly and leaving your plants starved for nutrition.
– They look great when used as mulch in planting beds. Let’s face it, any landscaper worth his/her salt will opt for a mulch cover on top of the planting bed. Mulch comes in light and dark shades of brown. This will allow you to color coordinate with the rest of your setting be it the plants, the yard and whatever’s in it, or your house.
– They control soil erosion. If you live on a sloped land lot, you will need some sort of erosion control. Various ways people deal with erosion are light vegetation ( grass), retaining walls and geotextile fabrics. One example of mulch being useful is beneath a tree that blocks the sun from the grass around it, or in an area with several tall trees and the soil around it does not see enough sun. This is a great place to use mulch. It will prevent the soil from eroding and fertilize the soil within a couple of years.
– When spread out to a 4-6 inch depth they minimize weed growth. When used in your planting bed you’ll notice that when properly used, the beds with mulch have little or no weeds.
Since many cities are encouraging the use of recycled goods, Recycled or reclaimed woodchips can be found in most gardening stores.
Happy Gardening –
Aaron Ohan