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 and required less care that ...

Many folks are now improving new and established gardens with mulch, but be wary of where you get it. It is possible to spread insects like the coconut rhinoceros beetle, sugarcane borer and fire ants ...

Some summer days -- okay, honestly, most summer days -- seem just too hot to do anything in the garden and landscape. But a couple of tasks will pay off in the long run with better landscape ...

One of the most commonly asked questions in gardening is ‘what’s the difference between mulch and compost?’ Both are usually brown and soil-like, both help nurture plant growth – so how come they are ...

Let’s first start with soil. It's the loose stuff on the surface of the ground that covers over half of the earth’s land surface. It’s made up of minerals, organic matter, broken rock particles, many ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Everybody loves a freebie: bobblehead doll giveaways at White Sox games, the candy jar on a co-worker’s desk, buy-one-get-one-free shoe sales. At this time of year, gardeners get a freebie that really ...