Weeding can be easy with properly applied surface mulch. Mulches prevent the germination of most weed seeds, keep the soil cooler and reduce water needs by as much as 30 to 50 percent.

Natural mulches are very popular, effective and readily available. Examples include, many sizes of wood chips, shredded wood and bark, fall leaves and leaf compost, pine needles and clean hay or straw. Clean means relatively free of weed seeds. Usually it's best not to rake up grass clippings to use as mulch. It's far better to leave them on the lawn where they can recycle their nutrients back to the grass plants as they decompose.

Wood chips and shredded wood or brush are often available from cities at no cost other than to pick them up. These materials make excellent mulching material around more permanent plantings such as trees, shrubs or perennial flowerbeds. Composts and hay or straw mulches are better used in annual flowerbeds or vegetable gardens where they can easily be worked into the soil at the end of the season.

Apply and maintain mulches of wood chips or wood/brush shredding to a depth of 3 to 4 inches. Additional material will need to be reapplied as this material settles and decomposes. Do not apply these mulches up against the trunks of trees or shrubs, as this will often encourage stem disease problems. Leave a few inches of space between tree trunks or the stems of shrubs.

In many instances you will need to apply some additional nitrogen fertilizer when you use woody mulches. This will compensate for the nitrogen that's used by soil microbes as they slowly break down the mulch. As the wood decomposes fully, these nutrients will be released to the soil where plant roots can absorb them.

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