The best mulches available for your perfect garden

Mulching can make the difference between a healthy, easy-care garden and a scraggly, high-maintenance one. Here's how different mulches can help your garden grow.

Organic mullches are often in your yard already, but they break down quickly and need to be replenished more often. Here are some organic mulches that you can use:

• Grass clippings: Natural-looking and free, but break down quickly and can mat in rainy weather.
• Shredded bark or bark nuggets: Break down slowly and can be expensive. Use aged bark only. New bark robs nitrogen from the soil, so it's unsuitable for use around annuals.
• Straw: Inexpensive and good for winter mulch, but contains seeds that can turn into weeds. Not suitable for ornamental beds.
• Compost: Excellent way to feed the soil. Inexpensive, if made at home or purchased by the truckload. Must be replenished two or more times during growing season.
• Autumn leaves: Free, but prone to blowing away. Good for winter mulch if chopped. To collect chopped leaves quickly, mow over whole leaves with the gathering bag attached.
• Cocoa hulls: Break down slowly. Very attractive but can be expensive, and they tend to blow away or erode quickly because of their weight.

Some mulches can last more than a single season, which can save you money and time. Here are some common multi-season mulches:

• Pine needles: Can last up to four years. During a drought, however, they can be a fire hazard.
• Gravel: Dark-coloured gravel absorbs sunlight and warms the ground while light-coloured gravel reflects sunlight, making the ground cooler. Apply to a depth of about five centimetres (two inches) for best weed control.
• Sawdust: Inexpensive, but may deplete soil nitrogen. Buy carefully, though, as some sawdust contains plastics and other debris that you wouldn't want in your garden.
• Wood chips: Break down slowly. Be sure to use aged chips only since new wood chips rob nitrogen from the soil.

• Use winter mulch to protect perennials and permanent plantings from temperature extremes and heaving after the ground is frozen.
• To mulch garden beds in the winter, wait until the ground has frozen. Then scatter a loose, airy mulch several centimetres (inches) thick.
• Autumn leaves, pine needles and straw make ideal winter mulches.
• Don't use grass clippings or whole leaves — they can mat and suffocate plants.

• In spring, gently push or rake back mulch from perennial plants once they start to show signs of new growth.
• During the growing season, mulch conserves moisture and suppresses weeds.
• To mulch during the growing season, wait until the soil has warmed, usually a couple of weeks after the last frost.
• If you're growing vegetables or annuals, wait until the plants are a few inches high, so they will not be covered or shaded by the mulch. Spread the mulch 2.5 to eight centimetres (one to three inches) thick.

Different mulches are better for different kinds of plants and gardens. But with the right mulch, you could have the garden you've always envisioned.