There are many reasons to mulch, the most important being moisture retention in the soil. Mulching can save up to 60% of watering needs in the garden. Mulching also suppresses weeds in your garden beds(and which gardener doesn’t love that?), and keeps the soil temperature constant - like a blanket for your plants root systems. Last of all it breaks down to provide organic matter for the soil.

 

Inorganic mulches such as pebbles and the ugly scoria(red volcanic mars rock he he) wont break down but will still prevent evaporation and keep weeds at bay. Mulching is really the icing on the cake when it comes to finishing off garden beds or freshening up a space also. Although mulching is great for plants, it’s important to keep any woodchip or organic material away from stems or the trunks of trees. As mulch and organic matter retain moisture, keeping it in contact with stems or bark can cause fungal problems, encourage insect attack or at worse, rot.

 

Keep mulch three fingers width away from stems or trunks. Its fine to be a bit haphazard when applying then simply go back around each plant and finesse.

 

 

 

If your citrus is looking a bit washed out or yellow its probably time for a feed. In fact they like to be fed around four times a year. Citrus are greedy plants, and feed like insatiable teenage boys. But unlike the boys that will probably take whatever they’re given, citrus like to mix it up a bit when it comes to meals. So this means alternating your fertiliser regime, for example once with dynamic lifter, the next time with a slow release citrus food. I like Organic Life too. And yes these products are a bit on the nose but this usually disappears after a day or two.

 

When feeding, scrape away mulch then put down the fertiliser then re-cover and water well. Citrus have shallow feeding roots so they appreciate a good layer of mulch over the top to prevent them drying out. I really like sugar cane mulch or even tea tree and they both break down quite well to add organic matter to the soil, rather than those larger woodchips. Treat potted citrus the same way and remember that more watering will mean juicier fruit and a healthier plant in general. Water every other day and water deeply. Oh and don’t grow grass up to the trunk of your fruit tree, it’ll just compete for water and nutrients, always clear a circle around the plant to mulch.

 

 

Weeds are the bain of every gardeners existence, and excluding the handful of people who actually find weeding cathartic, most of us would prefer to nip them in the bud before they become a problem.

 

It’s important to know there are different control methods for different weeds as they all have different growth patterns, food storage and even root systems, so it’s better to approach them individually and get rid of them right the first time (or second and third time for some nasties).

 

Any soil left exposed (without mulch) is a breeding ground for weeds. Many seeds are dispersed by wind or birds/animals, (including us), so it’s best to either plant out a bed fully or mulch any areas of bare earth, and it’s important to get rid of weeds before they have a chance to flower and set seed which could mean hundreds of weed seedlings popping up close by.

 

Try a butter knife to get weeds out from between cracks and if you don’t want to use a glyphosate based poison like round up, trying pouring boiling water over them or even handfulls of salt.