If you want a green thumb, using mulch, fertilizer, and compost can be your trick. Whether you want a lush lawn or a thriving garden, using these three ingredients will ensure you can enjoy (or eat) the fruits of your labor in your yard or garden. Let’s look at how to mulch and the difference between compost and fertilizer. Here’s your complete guide.

Mulch is material such as wood chips or pebbles that you add to the top of the soil as ground cover. Mulching is the process of spreading the material over the ground, which promotes healthy soil and plant growth. It should always stay on top of the soil and not be mixed in, because mulch uses up the nitrogen in your soil.

Here are some benefits to mulching:

1. Moisture retention: Mulch inhibits water evaporation, so your soil stays moist for your plants and allows you to save on water.
2. Healthy soil: As organic mulch biodegrades, it fortifies your soil with nutrients that your plants need and earthworms love. Earthworms add nutrients and oxygen to soil, as well as improving water drainage.
3. Limited erosion: Mulch helps prevent soil erosion during heavy rain.
4. Less weed growth: Mulch blocks sunlight, which inhibits weed growth.
5. Insulation: Mulch keeps soil cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
6. Curb appeal: Mulch creates a finished, uniform look in a flower bed or garden.

What’s the difference between organic and inorganic mulch?

Organic mulch, such as straw, wood chips, or shredded bark breaks down over time and feeds your soil. This means that you do have to reapply organic mulch annually. It's worth noting that aged wood chips are also a good choice, because new wood chips can leach nitrogen from the soil as they break down. Some varieties of bark or wood mulch have dyes, or color preservatives, which can leach into your soil, so be aware of what you are selecting for your yard or garden.

Inorganic mulch, such as rocks or rubber are low maintenance and do not have to be reapplied; however, pebbles or rocks heat up in the warmer seasons and may burn roots.

How should you apply mulch?

It’s important to mulch correctly. Don’t pile it around the base of the plant or tree in a “mulch volcano”, as this invites rot. Instead, move mulch away from the base of the plant, and make a saucer shape around the plant, with only a light dusting at the actual base of the plant. This will catch water for the plant. For trees, expose a wide base of the trunk, and mulch around the tree.

How much mulch should you apply?

For perennials, the depth of mulch should be one to two inches, and for trees and shrubs apply two to three inches. (Over mulching can suffocate a plant and prevent water from reaching the roots.) Spring is the ideal season to mulch trees and shrubs. If you have perennials in your garden, allow the plants to bloom before mulching. To know just how much mulch you need, reference our mulch calculator.

While mulch covers your soil, fertilizer actually feeds it. Plants use the nutrients in healthy soil, enhanced by fertilizer, to feed themselves. You might be familiar with using fertilizer and with the numbers displayed on the packaging. What do those numbers mean? Let’s review.

N-P-K refers to the percentage of three key nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (K).

Each of these plays a major role in the health of the soil in your yard and your garden.

• Nitrogen is necessary for chlorophyll production which promotes healthy leaves. Higher nitrogen fertilizers are used for grasses or plants with profuse foliage and little to no flowers. Yellow leaves on a plant can be an indicator of nitrogen depletion in soil.
• Phosphorus is required for a plant to grow roots, bloom, and produce fruit. Plants need this in the spring especially.
• Potassium provides support for a plant’s general health and vitality. It helps plants become resistant to disease and to better absorb water and nutrients. It's beneficial for plants especially in cold weather and dry climates. Note: A good fertilizer will have small amounts of other additives such as micronutrients, organic matter, calcium, iron, or magnesium. 

What type of fertilizer should you use?

Don't guess! You can order a soil test to determine the pH of the soil in your yard or garden, and also to determine if your soil has any nutrient deficiencies. You can do a home test or send your soil off for testing to your local ag extension office. You can also research the needs of the plants you have or want to plant. Remember, leafy plants need nitrogen while flowering and fruit producers need phosphorus. You can buy fertilizer for specific plants such as flowers, bulbs, fruits, cacti, and lawns or trees.

Fertilizer comes in a few forms: quick-release liquids, slow-release granules or spikes, and powder. Read the package for any fertilizer before you purchase to determine if it's what you need. Balanced fertilizer has an equal percentage of all three nutrients (NPK). Incomplete fertilizer might have more of one nutrient, which you need if your soil is deficient in one nutrient. Organic fertilizer is another option, which is sourced from plants, animals or minerals, and usually has many other nutrients to promote overall health of your soil.

Some organic fertilizer can be used such as ash or banana water, but do you research on your specific plant needs before using household wastes.

When should you use fertilizer?

Regularly applying fertilizer according to the needs of your soil and specific plants promotes the healthiest lawn or garden. At least once per year is ideal. Don’t overdo it, and don't apply the fertilizer on the foliage either! Too much fertilizer can burn the leaves and roots of your plants or lawn and run off into streams, causing algae blooms. It can even kill your plants. It’s recommended that you apply fertilizer after watering your plants or after a rain and not when the plants are in direct sunlight.

For more information about fertilizer read What Fertilizer to Use for a Beautiful Yard.

Compost, or “black gold”, is nutrient-rich soil which is made from the breakdown of organic material. Composting is the process of recycling “green” and “brown” organic materials as they decompose. You can make your own compost or buy it. Here are some of the basics of composting.

Green materials are nitrogen-rich and allow the organisms necessary for decomposition to grow. These include:

• Fruits and vegetables (cooked or raw)
• Coffee grounds
• Eggs shells
• Grass or plant clippings

Brown materials are carbon-rich materials that speed up the decomposition and allow for air circulation. Here are a few:

• Dry leaves
• Wood or twigs
• Sawdust
• Cardboard

Materials you should not add to your compost pile include:

• Greasy foods (fats and oils)
• Animal meat
• Animal bones
• Plastic of any kind
• Styrofoam
• Pet waste

How do you compost on a small scale?

You can compost on a small scale indoors. We have many products to help get you started. The main ingredients you need to compost are greens (nitrogen), browns (carbon), air and water.

Here are some basic steps to get you started:

1. Purchase your container. You can use a closed bin.
2. Pick a shady spot indoors.
3. Add thin layers of greens and browns with a brown layer on the top of your pile - ideally two to four parts of brown material for one part of green material. Once your pile has a few layers of greens and browns, leave it alone for four days to allow decomposition to start. Keep the items you add smaller in size.
4. Aerate or turn your pile as often as you can to provide oxygen. The more you turn your pile, the faster it will decompose as the organisms which break down your pile need air and water.
5. Keep your pile moist. If you have too much brown material, your pile will look dry, and if you have too much green, your pile might look like brown sludge. You can add green or brown when necessary to balance. You can add a splash of water, but if you have plenty of greens, which have plenty of moisture, you won’t need water.
6. Test your pile for readiness. Compost piles take four to six months to be ready.  When your pile looks like black soil, which keeps its form when squeezed in your hand, it is ready for spreading on your lawn or garden.

Composting is organic and there is not a risk of damage to your lawn or garden like there is if you over fertilize. Synthetic fertilizers can quickly address nutrient deficiencies in your soil, yet they can also be harmful to the environment if there is run-off. Composting provides NPK nutrients along with other vital supplements for the long-term health of your soil and plants. It’s also good for the environment because it reduces waste and therefore methane gases. Food waste and garden scraps make up to 28% of our national waste.

Whether you are growing a beautiful garden full of veggies or just want to keep your flower beds in shape—we have what you need for a blooming yard. You can use all three of these secret weapons—mulch, compost and fertilizer. McCoy’s has just what you need to keep your thumbs green. Shop in-store or online!