Garden bark is now a widely used organic material for mulching the ground under plants. Due to such great popularity, manufacturers offer many types of garden bark. The price of bark is not high, which makes gardeners even more willing to use it in their gardens. Here is all about garden bark, its types and possible uses in the garden.
Garden bark
Garden barkis a by-material from wood processing. Thanks to this, the cost of obtaining it is really low, which in turn has an impact on the low price of garden bark.In our gardens, the most commonly used bark is pine or spruce, and therefore the bark of conifers.
Garden bark - use for mulching
The use of garden barkis mainly mulching. Soil mulching is the spreading of a thick layer of organic material (e.g. garden bark) or inorganic material over the ground. Mulching has several functions. First of all, it reduces temperature fluctuations, reduces the growth of weeds, and helps to maintain moisture in the soil.
The ideal thickness for a layer of garden bark mulch is 8-10 cm, but usually a 5 cm layer is maintained. As mulchgarden barkcan be laid in the garden all year round. It should be remembered that this is an organic material that decomposes, so at least once a year the amount of bark should be supplemented to keep at least a layer of 5 cm thick.It is also worth knowing that the garden bark of coniferous trees acidifies the soil therefore it is best suited for plants that like an acidic soil.
Garden bark - use to enrich the soil
Garden barkis not only a mulch material. Garden bark can also be used to improve the soil structure. The garden bark should then be mixed with the soil. However, it should be remembered that only composted bark is used for this purpose. Then it has the best properties and enriches the soil best.
You can now buycomposted garden barkin garden centers. Therefore, you should pay attention to what kind of garden bark you buy. The price of such composted garden bark should not differ from the price of ordinary pine bark.
However, it is a bad idea to mix soil with uncomposted garden bark. Such an ordinarygarden barkdecomposes much slower due to the low oxygen supply. In addition, decomposing, it will use up nitrogen in the soil, which will make the plants lack this element and will grow worse.
Types of garden bark
Currently we have differenttypes of garden barkAs previously mentioned, you can distinguish garden bark according to the type of tree it comes from, e.g. pine or spruce bark. The garden bark may also differ in fraction, i.e. size. We have coarse-ground bark, medium-ground or fine-ground bark. It all depends on where we want to apply the garden bark.
Coarsely ground garden barkis best suited where strong winds blow because the wind will not blow it due to its size. This bark looks good with large shrubs or trees. Spread under small plants, it will contrast too much with its large size. Coarsely ground bark also decomposes slowly.
Garden bark medium ground . This type of garden bark is the most universal and most often used.
Finely ground garden barkdue to its fine fraction it is easily blown away by the wind, therefore it is rarely used. For this reason, the price of finely ground bark is slightly lower. Since she is tiny, it looks best under small, delicate plants.
Color garden bark
In recent years, manufacturers of garden bark have introduced a novelty to the market, namely colored garden bark.Colorful garden barkit is primarilydecorative barkIt is available in various colors and is an interesting alternative for those who want to introduce more color on their discounts . The price of this garden bark is higher due to the more expensive production process (it must be artificially colored). It also does not have such high parameters improving the soil structure as ordinarygarden barkIts main task is to decorate garden beds.
Katarzyna Matuszak
