For the sake of transparency, I hate mulching my backyard. Mulch makes my backyard look lovely and helps my crops survive the boiling temperatures of summer time, however it’s such a ache. I’m at all times on the lookout for methods to make gardening easier and simpler, so I used to be excited once I realized about this plant pot mulching hack.
The advantages of utilizing mulch are spectacular. Mulch retains treasured moisture within the soil even on the most well liked days of summer time, thus lowering the quantity of water it’s good to apply. Mulching helps suppress weeds too.
Saving cash, conserving water, and making beds look tidy are all honorable objectives, however I nonetheless have to tug myself kicking and screaming to mulch my backyard yearly. The plant pot mulching hack is certain to assist ease the mulching course of for me and, hopefully, you too!
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What’s the Plant Pot Mulching Hack?
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This hack is sort of easy and makes use of a standard merchandise all of us gardeners have laying round: the standard plastic plant pot. I’ve a number of stacks of nursery pots in all completely different sizes in my shed and I at all times say I’m going to discover a approach do one thing with the previous plant pots, however nonetheless they sit. This hack places these plastic pots to good use, even when only for a short while.
A difficulty that arises each spring and summer time is how finest to mulch round newly planted seedlings with out burying them, snapping them off, or stomping them. I’ve crushed extra seedlings with mulch than I might care to confess. Typically they bounce again and different instances they don’t make it.
All this hack requires is so that you can take all these little nursery pots and place them the wrong way up over your new seedlings after which unfold mulch round them. The pots shield the fragile seedlings beneath. The mulch seems to be neater, the crops don’t get buried, and there may be much less threat of by accident stomping on any seedlings as you go about spreading mulch in your beds.
Does the Plant Pot Mulching Hack Work?
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This hack works! It makes mulching faster, cleaner, simpler, and crops are properly protected. That is additionally a good way to reuse plastic plant pots which can be simply laying round. Giving your plastic pots one other life is an efficient factor for you and for the surroundings.
Utilizing eco-friendly mulch like pine bark mulch from Dwelling Depot is one other approach to assist the surroundings whereas maintaining your backyard lovely. Pine bark mulch is a byproduct of the lumber trade so it helps give new life to a product that may be trashed in any other case.
Suggestions for Success
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There are some things which can be good to do earlier than you get began utilizing this new gardening hack.
The primary is that it’s best to make sure the plastic pots are free from pests or plant ailments earlier than you pop them over your newly planted seedlings. For those who aren’t positive of the situation of the pots, you possibly can clear used pots with some soapy water, and a swipe of 70% isopropyl alcohol on a rag will assist to kill something left behind.
Additionally it is necessary to ensure the pots are large enough to cowl seedlings with out crushing them. We don’t need to crush the crops whereas attempting to save lots of them from being crushed!
Aside from these little issues to concentrate on, it is a easy and efficient method to make mulching simpler, cleaner, and shield your crops. Give it a strive!