Gardening can be pretty high maintenance, but one TikToker shared her favorite gardening hack to cut down on your to-do list. Apparently, it all comes down to mulching.
In a popular TikTok video, Jessica McCollum (@fromdreamtoseed) revealed the benefits of adding mulch to your garden.
The scoop
@fromdreamtoseed Do you mulch your garden? Mulching with organic material has so many benefits! Less weeds, moisture retention, soil temperature control, and it can improve your soil as it slowly breaks down. What's your favorite mulch? #gardening #gardentips #organicgardening #mulching #mulchyourplants #easygardening ♬ Summer day - TimTaj
By adding a top layer of organic material to your garden beds, pots, or grow bags, you will unlock a range of benefits.
"As a gardener, one of the best things I ever started doing was mulching," McCollum says. "You want less weeds in your garden? Mulch. You want to water less? Mulch. You want healthier plants? You got it."
McCollum advises spreading readily available organic materials over your garden. You can use wood chips, straw, leaves, dry grass, pine needles, or compost.
However, some of these materials have their limitations. McCollum warns against using straw or grass treated with herbicide, as they can impede plants' growth. She also cautions against using leaves from diseased trees, as there is a chance it could spread to your garden.
You should also avoid using leaves from black walnut trees because they produce juglone, a chemical that is toxic to many plants.
How it's helping
Mulching offers a myriad of advantages for your garden and the environment. This lazy gardener's hack can cut down on all those hours spent pulling weeds and watering plants.
To invade, weed seeds need light at the surface of the soil to germinate. Because mulch is a barrier between the soil and the sun, weeds will struggle to germinate and grow in your garden.
Mulching can help reduce watering because it retains moisture. It also keeps roots cool, which reduces plants' stress due to heat and bolsters their natural defenses against pests and diseases.
What everyone's saying
Fellow TikTokers shared McCollum's enthusiasm for mulching in the comment section.
"Mulch is the best lazy gardening hack," one TikToker said.
Another user wrote, "I mulch everything!"
"I've always wanted to use pine needles as we have an abundance of them," a TikToker added. "Running to get the rake and wheelbarrow!"
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