5 Ingenious Uses for Extra Mulch
If your lawn or garden is suffering from poor growing conditions, mulch may be a wonderful addition. The best part is that mulch is inexpensive and easily accessible for purchase at most local garden centers and hardware shops, among other places.
What happens if you’ve mulched your whole yard but still have some mulch left over after you’ve finished? However, throwing anything away is never a smart idea, particularly when it is something that you have paid for and hence should not be wasted.
You could be wondering what to do with excess mulch if you don’t know what to do with it. Here are a handful of recommendations for what you can do with it.
1.Make a donation
After mulching your yard, there’s a good probability that some mulch will remain after you’ve completed your project. Instead of just tossing it out, consider giving it to a neighboring organization.
While not everyone devotes the same amount of time and effort to their yards, there may be others on the block who would benefit from your efforts.
Keep an eye out for neighbors who have gardens, tree lawns, or other places that may benefit from mulching. Offer to let the neighbors take what they need or even to transport it to the house of an older neighbor if that is what they want. They will be delighted by the gesture, even if they are required to spread it on their own.
Aside from that, there’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of being able to reuse something that might otherwise end up in the garbage. It is pleasurable in a variety of different ways.
2. Make use of it in other situations.
Keep in mind that if you’ve completed mulching your yard and have any leftover, you shouldn’t immediately dispose of it. As an alternative, consider other sections of the yard that may be able to be reused or that would benefit from a new layer of mulch.
Take, for example, the space around your mailbox. If you’re seeking to give your mailbox area a facelift, all it takes is a little load of mulch to do the trick. Even with only the mulch, it may give the region a new-looking manicured appearance, which is ideal.
Plant some flowers in the area as well if you want to be really creative with the design of the room. If you’re looking to make a mailbox area more aesthetically attractive, nothing beats injecting it with a little bit of color and life.
The mulch will help to promote and foster the growth of those blooms, as well as to provide a new look to the landscape.
3. Make a Mulch Path through the garden
However, although the front yard may be the focus point for most houses, the rear yard should not be overlooked in the process. Take a handful of the extra mulch and move it to the rear yard after you have completed mulching the front area of the house.
If there are any raised-bed gardening, you may experiment with putting a layer of three to four inches on top of the soil. The benefit of doing so is that it will not only assist to define the space between each of the garden boxes, but it will also enable you to see more clearly when you are approaching your gardens.
That well defined boundary and walkway may help to create a more organized overall appearance in your yard. It may provide a crispness and structure to the whole environment that cannot be replicated, especially in yards with well defined lines.
4.You may use it as a killing mulch.
Whether you like it or not, there are certain plants in a garden that may become a bit out of hand. Invasive plants such as these may take over other plants in the garden, wreaking havoc on everything you’ve worked so hard to build.
You may find that mulch is the hidden weapon you have been seeking for. Whether it’s flowing bamboo, ivy, or unattractive weeds, a layer of additional mulch will assist to get rid of those troublesome guests once and for all.
Simply trim the plant down as far as you can and bury it beneath any residual mulch that you have on hand. Even the most aggressive invasive plants should be able to be smothered by a foot (or more) of additional mulch (such as weeds).
5.Put it aside for next year.
Landscaping and gardening entail a continual sense of responsibility for their upkeep. The frequency with which such care is provided is dependent on the plant as well as a variety of other variables.
Because of this, there’s a considerable probability that you’ll want more mulch around the same time next year. Hence, why not try to rescue it?
Mulch may be stored in a variety of ways, allowing you to have some on hand for whenever you need it. All you need is a couple tarps and a secure location where you can keep everything out of the way.
Simply ensure that the mulch is placed as evenly as possible over the first tarp. This is done in order to avoid any possible mold development that may occur in these confined locations.
Once you’ve completed this, you can secure the second tarp over the top to serve as a roof.
With appropriate storage, you’ll be able to take up just where you left off the next season. Even if you see thin, white threads infiltrating the mulch later on, it is most likely a fungal spore known as mycelia.
No need to be concerned since mycelia is beneficial to plants in this case.
The plain reality of the issue is that having too much, as opposed to having too little, is a positive thing. Preparing ahead of time with the appropriate quantity of mulch for a given location will guarantee maximum covering as well as healthier, more consistent development in those places.
If you don’t have the bag that it arrived in, there are a variety of options for storing it. If you do, you may just poke small holes in the bag to allow appropriate ventilation and reuse it for up to a month after that.
Having a little extra mulch on hand is by no means a bad thing. It is entirely up to you whether you want to give it away, use it to keep rambunctious plants in line, or just hang onto it for a rainy day in the future.
You’ll be better prepared the next time you have mulch leftover from a large job since you’ll know what to do with it.
