Why Is Mulch Important?
Every homeowner who has the pleasure of having a lawn attached to their residence wants nothing more than to see it green, lush, and happy, the perfect hangout spot on a sunny or windy day. Unfortunately, maintaining that lush, green state of a home lawn takes a little something more than just occasionally watering and feeding it.
You will find many techniques that promise to help you improve the growth of your lawn, but one of the most important ones is mulching.
What Is Mulch Mowing?
Also referred to as lawn mower mulching, grass mulching, or mulch mowing, this technique refers to using grass clippings to facilitate the growth of your lawn greenery. This means that the next time you mow your lawn, instead of emptying out the catcher into the bin, you need to carefully bag those grass clippings to incorporate into the soil later on after you have recut or grind them down to an even finer mulch.
You can either add them manually after mowing or you can simply remove the catcher altogether and allow the clippings to be left behind as you mow the lawn.
What Are The Benefits of Using Mulch?
The benefits of mulching are so vast and so efficient, that you will end up regretting not having picked up this masterful habit earlier for the sake of your lawn. Here are some reasons why mulching will prove to be so important for your lawn:
Nutritious Feed
To begin with, mulch makes for a great, organic, and recycled feed for your lawn. Everything that you grass needs for its growth is present in the grass clippings from your mower. As the mulch is broken down by microbes, nutrients like potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorus are released into the soil, allowing the greenery to blossom.
Soil Formation
As the grass clippings in your mulch decompose, they turn into humus as the nutrients are removed and consumed by the living organisms in the ecosystem. This product that is left behind becomes part of the soil substance in your lawn bed, facilitating the storage and transfer of essential nutrients.
Heat Protection
The addition of mulch to your lawn protects the bed from direct exposure to the heat and light during particularly sunny and dry days. This cover helps the soil retain its water and moisture, letting your soil keep cool in the hotter seasons.
Thatch Prevention
Over time, some of the grass, plants, and other living material in your lawn dies and the buildup starts to accumulate on the lawn in the form of thatch. To make sure it does not inhibit the growth of the grass and limit access to nutrition, you have to dethatch your lawn on the regular. Mulching on the regular, however, reduces thatch buildup as it degrades at a faster rate and promotes colonies of decomposers that organically remove the accumulating dead material.
Cost Savings
Mulching is a great way to keep your lawn well fed and green without having to invest in store bought add-ons and artificial nutrition sources. It is an environmentally friendly solution that has only benefits to offer.