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Why You Should Avoid Using Too Much Mulch
In Your Garden At All Costs
By CHRISTY RAE AMMONS
Adding mulch to your
garden can help with soil temperature, moisture retention, keeping plant roots healthy, and guarding against weeds. However, too much mulch can be harmful.
Two or three inches of mulch is sufficient. If a layer of mulch becomes thicker than that amount, less oxygen is available in the soil, which will suffocate your plants’ roots.
The roots of your plants may also grow into the mulch in an effort to get more oxygen, but if the mulch becomes dry, the roots will as well.
A few inches of mulch will help soil retain water for your plants, but more than that will keep water from getting past the thick layer of mulch and reaching the plants’ roots.
Water may also get trapped underneath the thick layer of mulch and become unable to dry. This will leave a garden and plants susceptible
to fungal infections.