How to Mulch Your Yard and Garden

By
David Beaulieu
David Beaulieu
David Beaulieu

David Beaulieu is a landscaping expert and plant photographer, with 20 years of experience.

Learn more about The Spruce's Editorial Process
Updated on 07/07/22
Reviewed by
Barbara Gillette
Barbara Gillette
Reviewed by Barbara Gillette
Barbara Gillette is a Master Gardener, herbalist, beekeeper, and journalist. She has 30 years of experience propagating and growing fruits, vegetables, herbs, and ornamentals.
Learn more about The Spruce's Review Board
Shredded bark placed around planted flowers as mulch in garden

The Spruce / Colleen & Shannon Graham

Project Overview
  • Working Time: 2 - 3 hrs
  • Total Time: 2 - 3 hrs
  • Skill Level: Beginner

Mulch is the garden product that will give flower beds, trees and shrubs and even some high traffic areas a nice finished look. It also serves several practical purposes and can do a lot more than simply beautify your landscape. It suppresses weeds, moderates temperatures, and retains moisture in the soil. It can even be used along with newspaper or plastic to smother unwanted grass and create new garden beds. With organic mulches, additional benefits are realized when they decompose. They improve soil structure by loosening clay and compacted soils. This improves drainage which helps to release and retain nutrients in the soil which improves the overall health of your plants.

Mulch will function in different ways depending on which part of the yard you're using it in. Its use in a backyard vegetable garden will differ from how it might be used in a flower bed in the front yard. Here we'll learn what types of mulch are available and how they work best in different areas of the yard.

Types of Mulch

There are organic and inorganic mulches. Examples include bark, shredded leaves, pine straw, straw, hay, stone and gravel, and black plastic.

Fun Fact

Although sometimes used interchangeably, "straw" and "hay" aren't the same, even though these two dried agricultural products start out as the same type of grass plant. They become distinct at harvest time. Plants cut down in the field and baled with seed heads intact are defined as hay. When seed heads are removed and the stalks are baled separately, those are defined as straw bales.

The 8 Best Mulches of 2023

Before Getting Started

Learn about the different types of mulch that are available and the best use for each type. Develop a clear idea of how you want the mulch to work in your specific garden areas.

In the North, bark is popular for highly visible areas. Bark is generally available as a shredded mulch or in small or large chunks. It is also sold in several different colors. It adds a finished look to landscaping without detracting from the aesthetic experience. In the South, pine straw is popular, partly because it's widely available. Although we all enjoy an orderly, weed free vegetable garden, mulch serves a different purpose when it comes to edible plants.

Where you plan to use the mulch will help you determine the best type to choose. If you need your landscape to be low-maintenance in order to cut down on time spent weeding, or you need to enrich a clay or nutrient deficient soil, a mulch's ability to release nutrients as it decomposes takes on added importance. In this instance organic mulch is the correct type to choose.

What Are Organic vs. Inorganic Mulches?

When the word "organic" is used to describe a type of mulch, this indicates the material decomposes and adds nutrients to the soil over time. "Inorganic" mulches such as plastic and stone are a permanent addition to the landscape that will not break down over time. Bark and straw are both organic, but the straw decomposes faster, adding nutrients to the soil quickly. You may not want that in a shrub bed (because it means replacing the mulch more often), but it may be perfect for a vegetable bed you plan to til under after the growing season.

You can buy bark mulches by the bag at garden centers, home improvement stores, and even some grocery store chains. Straw bales are sometimes available at garden centers and stores that cater to farmers such as local feed and farm supply outlets.

Tip

Straw stalks are hollow, making them a good insulator. Take advantage of this to keep your soil cooler in summer and warmer in winter. Because seed heads have been removed from straw, you won't have the seeds of unwanted plants sprouting up in your garden (unlike with hay).

Featured Video

What You'll Need

Equipment / Tools

  • 1 Steel garden rake
  • 1 Pair of work gloves
  • 1 Back brace
  • 1 Shovel
  • 1 Wheelbarrow or wagon
  • 1 Pair of scissors

Materials

  • 13 Bags of pine bark (for tree, shrub, and flower beds)
  • 5 Straw bales (for vegetable beds)

Instructions

Materials and tools to apply mulch around yard or garden

The Spruce / Colleen & Shannon Graham

How to Mulch Tree, Shrub, or Flower Beds

To mulch ornamental beds (trees, shrubs, or flowers), select a mulch that you find visually appealing and also fills practical needs like weed suppression. For many, the answer is bark, which is what we'll use here. There are different types which generally include hardwood, pine bark and cedar. Our sample project uses pine which is fairly cost effective.

When mulching is done with aesthetics foremost in mind, spring is a popular season to mulch, whether to mulch a bed for the first time or to replenish an existing layer. When an existing layer of mulch has decomposed to the point that it's hard to know where the soil leaves off and the mulch begins, it's time to bring in a fresh load.

  1. Prepare the Bed

    Tidy up plants before applying mulch. This means pruning dead, damaged, and diseased branches from trees and shrubs; similarly sub-par plant material on perennials and annuals can often be "pinched" off. Rake the soil evenly and remove any rocks.

    Garden bed soil prepared with rake around planted shrub

    The Spruce / Colleen & Shannon Graham

  2. Transport Mulch

    Large bags of mulch can be heavy, especially when wet. You'll find it much easier on your arms, back and legs, it you move the bags of mulch to the area you intend to put it using a wagon or wheelbarrow. It also helps to wear a back support for lifting.

    Shredded bark mulch transported in container with shovel

    The Spruce / Colleen & Shannon Graham

  3. Apply Mulch Onto the Bed

    There are a couple of ways to actually get the mulch into the flower bed or around your trees and shrubs. One way is to open the bags and dump them into your wagon or wheelbarrow, then spread several shovelfuls in strategic spots around the area to be treated. If you have good upper body strength you can open each bag and dump mounds of mulch in several places.

    Warning

    Keep mulch a few inches away from plants. This facilitates airflow, which helps prevent diseases. Pests are also more likely to attack a tree, etc. that has mulch jammed right up against its base. This is often called "volcano" mulching. If you've created a volcano around your tree, be sure to leave a 6-inch crater around the base of the trunk.

    Shredded bark mulch spread around shrub with shovel

    The Spruce / Colleen & Shannon Graham

  4. Apply Remaining Mulch and Even It Out

    Repeat as many times as it takes to use all of the bags. When all of the mulch is in the bed, you can spread it evenly with a rake or with your gloved hands.

    Shredded bark mulch evenly spread around garden bed with rake

    The Spruce / Colleen & Shannon Graham

  5. Double-Check Depth

    Plan for enough product to give you a mulch layer about 3 inches deep. If you can see bare soil poking through you need to add more. Weeds will invade beds with too shallow a mulch layer, spoiling your hard work.

    Warning

    In spring, remove mulch that's been covering perennial roots during winter so you don't smother them. Once they've put on new growth, you can carefully reapply mulch.

    Garden spade placed within mulch to check depth

    The Spruce / Colleen & Shannon Graham

How to Mulch Vegetable Beds

For the vegetable garden, you want to use mulches that suppress weeds and organic mulches that loosen the soil and make it more friable. Black plastic mulch is a good option for keeping weeds down but will need to be removed at the end of the growing season. Alternately, straw will break down over time and can be tilled under in the fall. Straw also is a cost-effective choice for the vegetable bed.

Here we're mulching the bed in spring prior to planting. Later, transplants can easily be installed in the bed.

  1. Prepare the Bed

    With a steel garden rake, even out the soil surface, removing rocks.

    Garden rake evening soil in vegetable garden bed

    The Spruce / Colleen & Shannon Graham

  2. Transport Mulch

    Straw bales are large, heavy and unwieldy to maneuver. If you plan to use straw as mulch, try to find a partner to help you move the bales to the garden. A wagon or wheelbarrow is a handy piece of equipment for moving the bales. Straw is also messy and the stiff stalks can give a good poke. It's a good idea to wear gloves and eye protection to avoid the dust when breaking down the bales.

    Straw bale grabbed with string and gloves for transport

    The Spruce / Colleen & Shannon Graham

  3. Spread Mulch

    Once the baling string or wire is cut and removed, the straw will usually relax and self-divide in "flakes." These are tightly packed sections of the bale that are much easier to handle and spread. Hold a flake of straw in one hand and use the other the pull handfuls of stalks free to broadcast throughout the bed. The deeper you layer the straw, the better this mulch will work to suppress unwanted weeds.

    Straw spread across vegetable bed while wearing garden gloves

    The Spruce / Colleen & Shannon Graham

  4. Part Straw to Install Transplants

    Straw is easy to move so when you are ready to plant, simply pull it back out of the way of your planting spot. You can replace it once your transplant is in the ground but be sure to avoid piling straw mulch too close to the base of the plant.

    Straw surrounding freshly planted vegetable plant with soil and garden spade

    The Spruce / Colleen & Shannon Graham