Congratulations, you’re garden has finally been planted. Now you can sit back, relax, and wait for your crops to grow, right? Hey, not so fast! Another important part of the gardening process is mulching.
Of course, mulching will add an extra step to your gardening time, but the benefits make it worth it. When mulching I tend to use about three inches of mulch around my plants. I don’t put the mulch against the plant, I tend to mulch up to a few inches around the plants.

Mulching: Adding mulch to the flowers (I had no idea my daughter was taking my picture.)
As someone who’s gardened with and without I can definitely see the results of adding it to your gardening routine.

Gardening: Peach Blossoms
I’ve decided to include some of the benefits of mulching below.
Benefits of Mulching
- Consistent moisture for your plants.
I use about three inches of mulch around my plants, I’ve found that adding mulch reduces evaporation and retains moisture. - Weed reduction
Weeds can rob your plants of nutrients and water. Some weeds can take over a garden fairly quickly. Mulch can help smoother the weed seedlings before they have a chance to take control. - Mulch breaks down, over time they add nutrients to the soil.
- Mulch keeps your soil from drying.
Have you ever seen a heavy downpour and watched the rain run off hard packed/baked soil? Definitely something you don’t want, when you are wanting your plants to grow! Mulch helps prevent this since the ground isn’t exposed to the elements. Adding mulch keeps the soil brittle, enabling water and air to reach it. - Mulching helps plants roots maintain an even temperature

Gardening: Vine loaded with grapes
You can have a great garden without mulching, I’ve definitely noticed an improvement when I started adding mulching to my gardening routine.
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Aw, what a nice pic of you gardening!
Thanks, next time I’ll get her to snap a photo when I’m actually looking at the camera. She gets a kick taking photos when I have no clue that she’s doing it, silly girl!
Great blog! What sort of mulch are you using here? I am mulching this year for the first time ever. I am using straw because it is what I have available to use. I only have less than of an inch of it down and I’m wondering now if I should make it thicker…
Hello Emily Thanks for stopping by.
I get mulch from a variety of sources; neighbors and Home Depot. I like the brands EarthGro and Scotts Nature Scape, they are both 100% natural mulches.
I use straw too, I mainly use it around the strawberries.
I have mulch around the 3″ mark, since it discourages weed growth. I had it less at one time, but I found out that adding more was a more effective. Additionally, I noticed lots more moisture under the thicker beds of mulch, and more worms too. Worms help your garden since they aerate the soil. 🙂