Got Mulch?

Are you looking to refresh your mulch in your flower beds? Or even putting mulch down for the first time?

The benefits of using mulch for your garden makes it worth all the effort!

1. Inhibits weed germination and growth
2. Holds in soil moisture to protect plants from drying out and dying.
3. Helps to keep plant roots cooler in summer
4. Helps to keep plant roots warmer as the seasons change
5. As the mulch breaks down, it adds nutrition to your soil

The 1st step in putting down mulch is measuring how much mulch you need. All you need to find is the area of the space you are trying to cover. For example, for a rectangular flower bed that measures 12’ x 9’ your total area would be 12*9=108 square feet. When doing these calculations, ignore any flowers or trees in the area. Do not deduct the area of trees, plants, bushes, from your calculation.

If your area is a circle you need to find the ½ of the distance across the middle of the circle. This is the radius of the circle (See yellow line on picture below). Once you find the radius of the circle, multiply that number by itself, then by pi (or 3.14) to find your total area. For example, if your radius is 10’, you would multiply 10*10=100 then multiply your answer by pi, 100*3.14= 314 square feet.

Now that you know the area you are trying to cover, we can figure out how much mulch you need. You simply need to take your area and divide by one of the following numbers based on how deep you would like your mulch. So based on our prior example with the rectangle (area of 108 square feet) if we wanted a depth of 3” we would do 108 ÷ 108 = 1 yard needed.

• 1” Coverage: Area ÷ 324 = Yards Needed
• 2” Coverage: Area ÷ 162 = Yards Needed
• 3” Coverage: Area ÷ 108 = Yards Needed
• 4” Coverage: Area ÷ 81 = Yards Needed
• 6” Coverage: Area ÷ 54 = Yards Needed

Now that we know how many yards, we need it’s time to pick what kind of mulch you need. If you’re in southeast Michigan and need mulch, The Rock Shoppe has got you covered. We can deliver right to your driveway, or you can come down to our 12-acre store in Plymouth pickup whatever you need.

The Rock Shoppe offers:

• Hardwood Shredded
• Hardwood Chips
• Dyed mulch (Red, Black, Brown, Gold)
• Cedar Shredded Premium
• Cocoa Shell
• Pine Bark Nuggets
• Red Pine Bark Nuggets
• Pine Needle Straw
• Playground Fines

Once you have purchased the mulch and are ready to lay it down there are some helpful tips to know. The first piece of advice is to lay your mulch as thick as possible. The thicker the better when it comes to mulch. 3 inches is the minimum depth you want when laying new mulch. Now it is important to note that when refreshing existing mulch, it is perfectly fine to put down less than 3 inches.

Another tip is to not use landscaping fabric or weed barrier under the mulch. Weed fabric is not necessary under mulch because mulch is a natural weed inhibitor. Mulch eventually decays into dirt anyways which will be sitting on top of the weed barrier and defeats the purpose of the fabric.

Now that you have the amount of mulch you need and some installation tips you are ready to spread it out. Spreading mulch is as easy as it sounds just throw it down and spready evenly across the areas you want to cover. If you have any questions or need any help, look at the rest of our website or give us a call at the Rock Shoppe: (734)-455-5560