Blanket mulches are similar to how they sound. These mulches are made from sheets of material and may be made out of plastic or organic materials. Blanket mulches are primarily used to form a weed barrier by being unrolled and spread over a garden bed. Knowing more about blanket mulches will help you know how they fit into your garden.
Plastic Blanket Mulches
Traditional blanket mulches are rolls of plastic sheeting designed for use in garden beds. These mulches form a powerful weed barrier that holds moisture in your garden. This plastic sheeting is best used if you landscape primarily with shrubs.
If you don't landscape primarily with shrubs there are many different types of weed barriers based on what you need the barrier to accomplish. Some of these barriers are photodegradable so they break down when exposed to sunlight. Some are perforated to allow roots to breathe and other barriers aren't breathable at all. Let the type of plants you grow be your guide for the best barrier.
Green Options For Blanket Mulches
There are a couple options for barrier mulches that you may have around your home. These options are biodegradable, so you may have to apply them more frequently than regular blanket mulches.
Old cotton sheets you have laying about make for a perfect barrier. Apply them as you would the traditional plastic mulches. Cotton sheets are more breathable than the traditional plastic mulches, so you may want a layer of leaves on top to hold in moisture if your plants require it.
Newspaper is also an alternative to plastic mulches. It's biodegradable and a powerful weed barrier if you apply multiple layers. Ideally you want the barrier of newspaper to be about 5 – 10 sheets thick. Over time as the newspaper breaks down it becomes part of your garden. You can apply a thin layer of decorative mulch to conceal the newspaper.
Getting Blanket Mulches Installed
If you're interested in a barrier mulch you should speak to your local landscaper. While manually installing your own weed barrier isn't difficult, choosing the right type of barrier can be. Your landscaper will be able to ensure that the blanket mulches works with your plants. They will be also able to speak with you about decorative options to go over the blanket mulch. Making the wrong choices about weed barrier can lead to your plants not getting enough of what they need and could lead to a dead landscape.
Contact a company like A Greener Season Landscaping for more information.
Share31 December 2017
Hello, I’m Donna. Welcome. I am excited to share my passion for landscaping with you all. I regularly change the layout of my garden, depending on the plants I want to grow each year. I keep my garden beds full of flowers and edible plants to have a variety of vegetation to enjoy. I would like to use this site to cover all of those varieties and talk about the growing techniques and supplies that work best for each option. I invite you to visit daily to learn the information you need to help your garden grow. Thanks for visiting my site.