Mulching 101: What You Need To Know

While many people appreciate the clean lines and fresh aesthetics that a properly mulched garden bed creates, you might not know there are some big benefits to mulching your garden for the health of your plants, even in the colder months. 

Why Mulch?

There are many benefits to mulching that make it a beneficial practice for every landscaper to follow.

– By providing a buffer between the soil and the sun, mulch helps to regulate the soil temperature, both by keeping plant roots cooler in the heat and insulating them in frosty conditions.

– Mulch also prevents water from evaporating from the soil as quickly, keeping your plants hydrated.

– Young plants need light to fully germinate, so a thick layer of mulch around your established plants can help prevent weeds from growing through.

– As mulch breaks down over time, it adds nutrients to the soil and works to improve the soil structure of your garden bed.

Mulching your garden is a smart way to keep your plants healthy in the long run and ensure that the quality of your soil is constantly improving. With so many benefits, what do you have to lose?

Type of Mulch to Use

There is almost no limit to the types of mulch you can use in your garden. Here are some of our suggestions for experimenting with.

Aged Leaves: Leaves make a cheap, effective garden mulch, though be prepared to replace them more often than wood or bark as outdoor conditions make them harder to stay in place. Simply let a pile of leaves age for at least nine months before scattering the broken down material throughout your garden.

Cedar Mulch: Not only is cedar mulch good for the health of your soil, it also works as a natural repellent for insect pests, meaning your plants will benefit from better soil and fewer bugs. Also giving that fresh smell and clean look to your garden. You can buy cedar chips from most specialty gardening stores.

Seaweed: It may sound too weird to work, but many gardeners find that they have a lot of luck using seaweed in their garden. If you live near the water, you can gather your own and dry it out, or for the less beach-blessed of us, picking some up at a specialty gardening store is an option.

Best Practices for Mulching

To ensure that you have the best success with mulching, a few key steps should be followed.

Mulching can be done at any time of the year. Although it’s best not to mulch when soil temperatures are too cool, as layers of mulch will keep the soil at whatever temperature its applied at, at least for a while.

Before laying down mulch, prep the site by pulling out the weeds. Be sure to pull out all the roots or they will bounce right back and quickly turn your beautiful garden into a weedy mess. Adding a nitrogen rich fertilizer to your bed before laying on the mulch is also a good idea.

Next, simply scatter the mulch throughout the bed several inches thick, being mindful to leave about an inch of space at the base of each plant to prevent it from getting smothered. You can use a garden rake to make sure it is distributed evenly. Depending on the type of mulch you use, it should last between several months to several years before needing to be replaced. As the mulch gradually breaks down into the soil, you can add another layer to keep building it up.

Laying down mulch in your garden is an easy process, but it can have big benefits for the overall health of your soil. By working to suppress weeds and retain moisture, you’ll soon find that adding a layer of mulch to your flower beds makes gardening easier than ever.  

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Natural vs Synthetic Pesticides: What’s the REAL difference?

 

There’s no avoiding the fact we are all exposed to far more toxic chemicals than our bodies are equipped to handle. Whether these chemicals come from the natural world, or are created in a laboratory, is one factor that we can control. But what’s the difference? When it comes to fending off pesky bugs, does it matter whether you use natural or synthetic pesticides in your garden? As it turns out, it makes all the difference in the world in regards to your health and the health of the planet.

What are Natural and Synthetic Pesticides?

Natural pesticides are formed in nature. They exist in plants and animals as an evolutionary tactic to keep away predators. For example, the natural world knows to give brightly colored poison dart frogs plenty of space because of their deadly toxins.

In contrast, synthetic pesticides are made by humans in the lab. They haven’t evolved in the natural world and are typically designed to target a specific type of pest, rather than simply trying to keep them all away. This makes them more potent than natural pesticides and more likely to build up toxins in the environment.

The Dangers of Powerful Synthetic Pesticides

When used correctly, both natural and synthetic pesticides keep gardens productive and free from damaging insects. However, there are some real concerns with how all types of pesticides are used today.

While it would be easy to believe that all synthetic chemicals are bad and natural ones are good, the truth is more nuanced. Concentrated levels of any kind of pesticide in the ecosystem can spell trouble. For example, excess levels can enter the water system and impact the reproductive systems of fish and amphibians to alarming levels, and there’s little telling what the long term impacts on humans could be.  

“Natural” Isn’t Always Better- But it Usually Is

Many chemists will tell you that there is no difference between natural and synthetic pesticides, and that the effect they have means it makes no difference where they came from. Though too much of any pesticide can cause problems, the truth is that natural sources tend to be the best way to go for both the health of the environment and the health of your body.

As it turns out, there are many natural pesticides in the world that are simply healthier to be around than synthetic ones. They are less likely to build up in the environment, and natural biological systems like decomposition tend to do a better job of breaking them down. As an added benefit, natural-based pesticides won’t cause insects to develop resistance as fast as synthetic ones, meaning that they will be effective for far longer.

Top Natural Insecticides You Can Count On

When looked at from a case by case basis, some pesticides are simply better for your body to be exposed to than others. The three natural pesticides below have been thoroughly tested by scientists and have been found to be some of the best possible forms that you can use to keep insects in check while also keeping both your body and the environment as healthy as possible.

Neem Oil: As an oil that is extracted from the nut of the neem tree, neem oil has long been used in traditional medicine. It makes an effective pesticide because it stops insects from eating crops and has extremely low levels of toxicity to mammals, making it safe for you to use.

Cedar Oil: Cedar oil comes from distilling oil from the wood and needles of the cedar tree. It has a wide range of benefits, including the ability to keep insects out of your garden. To use this oil, you can simply buy a cedar-oil based insecticide and spray small amounts where you are having problems. Cedar oil is toxic to many insects and the pungent odor of the oil is usually enough to keep bugs away.

Tobacco: Though it’s bad for your lungs, tobacco actually has a lot of benefits when it comes to stopping pests. Simply mix it into your soil and you’ll kill root damaging worms, fungus gnats, centipedes and more. So long as you stay away from the substance yourself, it can do wonders for the health of your plants!

Choosing the right kind of pesticide can be a tricky issue. Though some pesticides are worse for the environment than others, your smartest option is to stick with all natural pesticides that have been proven through extensive testing to be safe to use for both you and the environment.

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5 Stellar Ways You Can Use Cedar Oil Naturally

Our modern lives are already dangerously filled with the harsh chemicals contained in household products, so why expose yourself to more? Instead of reaching for  chemical products the next time you have a problem, try an all natural essential oil like cedar oil, instead.

Cedar oil is filled with beneficial properties that make it useful in a large number of ways. Whether you are struggling with insect pests, hair loss or general moodiness, aches and pains, cedar oil might be the perfect all natural solution to your problems.

Where Does Cedar Oil Come From?
Cedar oil comes from the cedar wood tree, a species in the pine family that grows in high elevations. The oil is extracted out from small pieces of wood or needles through a distillation process created by steam. The resulting oil contains beta-cedrene, cedrol, widdrol and other ingredients that have significant health benefits.

Top Uses For Cedar Oil

Though there are dozens of uses for cedar oil, the five with big potential for changing your life are listed below.

1. Keeping Your Head Healthy

Cedar oil can increase your scalp circulation and stimulate your hair follicles, which results in increased hair growth and slower hair loss. Adding a few drops of an essential oil like lavender to cedar oil and using the mixture as a scalp massage is a proven way to stop your hair loss problems before they get out of control.

Cedar oil can also be used to treat a dry, flaky scalp. Simply mix a few drops of oil in with coconut oil to make an anti-fungal scalp treatment. By letting the treatment sit on your scalp for thirty minutes before washing it out, you’ll be treating your scalp fungus right at the source.

2. Naturally Treat Your Wounds

Cedar oil is safe enough to be applied to wounds, and its chemical properties make it useful for fighting off toxins in the body while giving your immune system a break. Simply create an oil rub with cedar oil and coconut oil and dab the mixture on your injuries or infections for soothing relief.

3. Change Your Mental Mindset

The comforting, woodsy scent of cedar oil adds a warming tone to other essential oils, meaning that if you blend them you can lower the sharpness in other scents, making them easier to handle. It also helps you to relax and de-stress. Keeping a vial of cedar oil in your bedroom or purse makes it simple to pull out and give yourself an aromatherapy break whenever you need it.

4. Reduce Inflammation

Early tests have shown that cedar oil has tremendous potential for reducing inflammation caused by arthritis. To get these pain-relieving benefits for yourself, simply dilute cedar oil with another oil and massage the blend into the inflamed joint. You’ll soon feel the difference.

5. Insect Repellent

Perhaps most impressively, cedar oil is a natural insect repellent that has been used for thousands of years as an effective way to drive away mosquitoes, flies and other nasty insects. Simply use an organic insect repellent that has cedar oil as an active ingredient, and you’ll be able to keep disease-carrying insects at bay all day long.

The natural world is a treasure trove of beneficial healing products that are useful in more ways than we know. By learning to rely on natural alternatives like cedar oil, you will be keeping yourself safe from the damaging artificial chemicals contained in commercial products.

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