Upgrading the office garden

4 Reasons To Choose Sugar Cane Mulch For Your Garden

by Amber Larson

Adding mulch to your garden can provide everything from added nutrients to superior water retention, and there are several types of mulch to suit a wide range of needs. Choosing the right one is important, and many gardeners find that sugar cane mulch makes the most sense.

Made from dried sugar cane leaves and tops, it's available throughout Australia and offers a wide range of benefits. Here are just four.

1. Breaks Down Fast

Some types of mulch will break down faster than others, and sugar cane mulch is one of the fastest to decompose. This often sounds like a drawback to new gardeners, but it's actually a huge advantage. Since sugar cane mulch breaks down so fast, it delivers nutrients and organic material to the soil below very quickly. This provides a boost to soil organisms and helps plants thrive. Better yet, those nutrients will stay in the soil for a long time to provide ongoing nourishment.

2. Provides Excellent Temperature Control

Extreme temperatures can be a huge problem for gardens, but sugar cane mulch is particularly good at providing a barrier. Since it is quite dense, it essentially forms an insulating blanket over the soil and root structures. Hotter temperatures that would otherwise increase evaporation and affect the quality of your soil won't be such an issue. When temperatures fall, your sugar cane mulch will continue to protect your plants by retaining the warmth in your soil.

3. Helps Prevent Soil Erosion

If you live in a part of the country that is prone to storms or strong winds, you'll already appreciate how vulnerable plants and flowers can be to such weather. Heavy rain and winds can wash or blow away the thin layer of topsoil that your garden needs to thrive. Again, this is where the relatively dense coverage provided by sugar cane mulch provides an advantage. That protective layer is porous enough to allow water to penetrate, but it also binds to the soil to help prevent it from being washed or blown away.

4. Good For The Environment

Most gardeners understand the importance of choosing products that won't damage the environment, which is probably another reason sugar cane mulch remains popular. It is a completely natural by-product of the sugar industry. Renewable and sustainable, it's also very safe to use in your own garden. Unlike most inorganic mulches, it's also entirely biodegradable. As such, sugar cane mulch should make sense if you want to keep things eco-friendly.

Speak to a mulch delivery service to learn more.

Share