Mulch is a great ground cover for your landscape beds, as it enhances their beauty and provides numerous benefits for your plants. However, it's crucial to install it at the proper thickness, which is 2-3 inches. This is because it's thick enough to keep your plants and beds healthy without smothering them. Similarly, you'll want to leave about an inch around the base of your plants to avoid restricting the flow of resources to the roots and creating conducive conditions for diseases and pests. To keep the mulch fresh and at its best, you should replenish it once a year, with the most popular times being in the spring or fall in Michigan.

Mulch Should Be About 2-3 Inches Thick

Green shrubs and a small tree in a mulch bed in Macomb, MI.

When installing mulch in your landscape beds, it's important to ensure it's at the proper thickness, which is 2-3 inches. When it's too thin, it won't provide all its intended benefits, such as retaining moisture, regulating soil temperature, controlling erosion, and suppressing weeds. On the other hand, when it's too thick, it can smother your plants, preventing them from accessing much-needed resources. So, keeping it at 2-3 inches will ensure it provides optimal benefits without causing harm to your plants.

Leave About an Inch Around the Base of Your Plants When Installing Mulch

Another thing to remember when installing mulch is to leave about an inch around the base of your plants. When it's too close to them, it can smother them, preventing them from accessing the resources they need to stay healthy and thrive. Not only that, but it can also trap moisture and create an ideal environment for diseases and pests. So, by leaving about an inch around the base of your plants, you can avoid these issues and ensure they reap the most benefits from the mulch.

Mulch releases nutrients into the soil as it breaks down, serving as a natural fertilizer for your plants.

When and how often should you refresh the mulch in your landscape beds?

To keep the mulch in your landscape beds fresh and at its best, you'll want to replenish it once a year. After all, it's an organic material that breaks down over time, so it'll need to be refreshed to continue providing the intended benefits for your plants. The most popular times to do this are in the spring or fall.

Replenishing mulch in the spring will help prepare your landscape beds for the new growing season and keep them looking great. Meanwhile, doing it in the fall will protect your plants from the impending winter temperatures and help them survive dormancy. Either way, you can't go wrong with refreshing the mulch in your landscape beds in the spring or fall!

Call us today to schedule our mulch installation service!

If you want to refine your landscape's appearance while keeping your plants healthy with mulch, you've come to the right place! At Big Lakes Lawncare, we offer a mulch installation service, where our team will exercise precision when installing it, spreading it evenly by hand across your beds at the proper thickness, which is 2-3 inches. That way, it serves its intended functional purposes without smothering your vegetation. You can also choose from our different types of mulches to achieve your desired aesthetic! With us, you can trust that we'll go above and beyond to exceed your expectations so you're 100% satisfied with the results!

Our mulch installation service is available to residential and commercial property owners, as well as HOAs, in Macomb, Shelby, Chesterfield, MI, and throughout the surrounding areas. Call us today at (586) 200-0855 to schedule this service!