Back when I was a professional gardener, I had clients who insisted on having me lay down landscape fabric then putting bark on top of it to discourage weeds. I hated this practice and tried to talk ...

Compost can be used for mulch. A few years ago, a gardening friend suggested I place a layer of compost in my flower beds before mulching with my usual shredded bark mulch. As my garden seemed happy ...

Compost and mulch. Both are great soil conditioners, but how do they differ? Each serves as a time-release fertilizer and insulator. When augmented with livestock and poultry manure, nutrient-rich ...

Compost and mulch are essential parts of successful gardening in the San Antonio area. Compost is decomposing organic material that increases drainage, water-holding capability and nutrient efficiency ...

A rose by any other name may still be a rose, but mulches need defining. There are 17 different materials considered on the University of California’s Statewide Integrated Pest Management website, and ...

Leaving your grass clippings in place will also be greatly beneficial if you’re treating your lawn with a fertilizer or a product like a herbicide. Chemicals are usually absorbed by the grass and will ...

While compost and mulch may seem interchangeable, they have distinctly different uses in sustainable landscaping. Photo courtesy San Diego County Water Authority Seventh in a series republished with ...

Fall is a favorite time of year for many Texas gardeners. Cooler temperatures are a welcomed relief from the dog days of summer. Leaves of deciduous trees turn color and fall to the ground, covering ...

In California, says UC Berkeley soils scientist Steve Andrews, brown is the new green, and that requires changing not only how we think about our landscapes, but how we tend them as well. Andrews, ...

It’s mid-August, which means that between harvesting and processing, gardeners also need to be thinking about the transition to fall. That includes two important steps: top dressing with compost and ...