Using Your Resources: Finishing the Garden

Summer is peeking around the corner, and using the organic material you have on hand can set it up for success during the hot months ahead. Finishing your garden resourcefully helps to lower overall maintenance and cost, and it improves the health of your garden and flower beds.Your Spring Cleaning efforts paved the way for the final process of building a successful vegetable garden and outdoor space, so here are a few last tips:

1. Use your Mulch

2. Improve Curb Appeal & Function

3. Finishing Up

Use Your Mulch

Mulch is the unsung hero of the garden world. A little bit of this earthy material goes a long way towards helping your backyard ecosystem thrive. Mulch helps to create an insulating layer around your plants that protects them during extreme hot or cold. Using organic mulch is cost-effective and nutrient dense, and it’s usually made from the leaves, small branches, and bushes you have cleared from your land.

In addition to protecting plants, mulch helps maintain a consistent moisture level in the soil and inhibits difficult weeds from taking root. If weeds do come on, the depth and moisture of the mulch will make them easy to remove.

Wood chippers are portable and easily towed behind a truck that you can bring directly to the job, which saves effort and time. Clear debris piles quickly by processing material that once was waste and turn it into a tool for success. Make sure to chip branches and limbs, not grass clippings or small material than can clog up the chipper. 

Improve Curb Appeal & Function

Improve the look and feel of your garden space by using a mulcher or chipper to create coverage
for pathways. Woodchip-lined paths make it easier to walk between garden beds, create dimension and spatial structure, reduce weeds, and repel bugs. Using a chipper like the 3107C to chew through branches will produce plentiful chips of material that you can then use to cover large areas for functional and aesthetic appeal. 

Consider using up any trimmings from cedar trees on your property, as the wood is not only fragrant and rich in color but also repels insects with its natural essential oil. It will look (and smell) great on your property while working to keep moths, mosquitos, and rodents away.

Finishing Up

Careful preparations and planting are a wonderful start to building a healthy garden space. Finishing the work through mulching and strategic coverage helps to polish and finalize the form and function of your garden. Not only will it look finished, but your garden and landscaping will be situated to produce for months to come. Find great satisfaction in finishing your garden by using the right tools for the job and recycling the natural resources you already have on hand.

This post was originally published in May 2021, and has been refreshed and updated.