Mulch: The Key to Helping Your Plants Through Michigan Winters
Michigan winters can be hard on your landscaping. Excessive snow, cold temperatures, and salt from roads and sidewalks can damage plants and even kill them. It’s important to keep your HOA, commercial property, condo or apartment complex looking its best. Mulch can play an important part in helping your plants survive the winter.
The experts at the Michigan State University Extension Office recommend several strategies to protect landscape plants during the winter. Let’s look at the ways blown mulch can play a role.
Mulch and Soil Moisture
Mulch plays an important role in soil moisture. Having a 3-inch layer of mulch on your landscape beds keeps water from evaporating, so it stays in the soil where plants can use it. Experts have found that maintaining adequate soil moisture protects plants from damage in the winter because moist soils:
- Hold more heat than dry soils
- Are less subject to frost penetration than dry soils
- Promote root growth in the fall to support plants through the winter
If you have newly planted trees or shrubs, make sure to mulch them well after you plant them. In addition, consider adding an additional one to three inches of mulch throughout the winter. This protects the delicate root systems from frost injury. Blown mulch is perfect for a project like this because it can be placed carefully around your plants. It’s also easy to get a precise mulch depth when using a blown mulch installer, so you’ll get the mulch you need and no less.
If the thought of arranging for a mulch delivery and spreading mulch in the winter leaves you cold, contact us for help. Our mulch installers can install mulch quickly while you stay inside where it’s warm.
Planning Ahead for Snow Piles
Michigan receives feet of snow each winter, and all that snow has to go somewhere. As you create a plan to clear your sidewalks and parking lots, think about where that extra snow will go. If it ends up in your landscaping, all that snow will crush your plants and leave gaping holes in your beds. Even hardy shrubs will be killed by piles of excess snow.
With a little forethought, you can mulch these areas instead of planting shrubs or other greenery. Wood mulch will keep these areas looking great when there isn’t any snow. Plus, you won’t have any unsightly mud patches when the snow thaws in the spring. Wood mulch is more economical than rock and more permeable than cement, making it the perfect choice for snow storage areas.
Our partners harness mechanical power for fast mulch installation services with a small crew. Even if you determine you need mulch over several areas, the shorter timeline and lower labor costs will save you money over a manual installation project. Plus, you’ll get a complete quote ahead of time so you know exactly what you’ll be spending.
Protecting Plants from Salt
Salt on sidewalks and ramps is essential for keeping tenants and customers safe during the winter, but it can be terrible for plants. Excess salt from sidewalks and deicing chemicals from roadways kill even the hardiest of plants. While it is possible to protect plants and shrubs by covering them with burlap, this can be time-consuming and unsightly.
Wood mulch is a better choice for these areas. Mulched edges to sidewalks and driveways look professional year-round and won’t be damaged by salt in the winter. In fact, a mulched buffer can protect the rest of your lawn and landscape from salt. As the ground warms in the spring, wood mulched areas act as a filter to slow the spread of salt into other areas.
As you are planning your landscape mulch, contact us to get connected to a blown mulch professional. They can evaluate your site and recommend the right type of mulch for areas that receive a lot of salt.
The Blown Mulch Solution
No matter what challenges your landscaping faces in a Michigan winter, we can help. Our partners work with you to choose the right mulch for your site and budget. They install it quickly and precisely. You’ll have less to worry about, and your landscape will look great even after the harshest winter.
Categories: Blown Mulch, Michigan Mulch Installation | Tags: Blown Mulch, Michigan Mulch Installation, Mulch Benefits, Mulch Blowing, Mulch Types