HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2010-05-06, Page 22PAGE 22. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 6, 2010.
Cliff’s
1136 Bruce Road 86, Lucknow
Phone: 519-528-3913
Toll Free: 1-800-449-CLIF
www.cliffsplumbing.com
Plumbing & Heating
O/B Cliff Mann Mechanical Ltd.
Save up to
$5000
in
Government
Rebates
For All
Your Building Needs
• Residential • Agricultural • Commercial
New Construction, Renovations and Sales
FF rr ee ee EE ss tt ii mm aa tt ee ss
Lucknow 519-528-3720
Toll Free 1-877-832-8548 Fax 519-528-2879
Serving the area for over 30 years
* Replacement Windows and Doors
* Maintenance-free Decking and Railing
* Steel Tile Roofing * Sunrooms
* Clearance Prices on Windows & Doors
Distributors for
North Star Windows,
Gentek Siding, MDL Doors,
Andex Metal Products,
Steel Tile Metal Roofing
Systems
9 Rattenbury St. E., Clinton, ON N0M 1L0
Ph.: 519-482-9924
Res.: 519-524-9260
1-888-235-9260
2009 proved to be a
very good year of recovery in
financial markets.
See Lawrence for a free consultation.
WALTON Now open Sundays 11 am - 5 pm 519-887-8429
Your local Seed Station
Seed Potatoes
• Red Chieftan • Kennebec • Superior • Yukon Gold
Onions
• Multipliers • Dutch Sets • Spanish
Bulk Seed
• Peaches & Cream Corn • Homestead Peas
• Yellow & Green Beans
Many varieties of packaged seed
Plus
soil, manure, grass seed and garden tools
Monday - Friday 6:30 am - 8 pm; Saturday, 8 am - 8 pm;
home & garden 2010Mulching serves cosmetic, practical purposesFew and far between are thehomeowners who have the time to
cultivate a green thumb. Be it
obligations at the office, full
schedules with the family or, most
likely, a little bit of both, many times
homeowners are understandably
quick to trust their landscaping to a
local professional.
But in the harsh economy of the
day, it can’t hurt for homeowners to
have a little landscape knowledge of
their own. In that case, should the
purse strings need to be tightened a
little bit, homeowners won’t watch
their lawns wither under the harsh
summer heat.
One of the best tricks of the
landscaping trade is to utilize mulch
around plants, trees and shrubs. Both
aesthetically appealing and
beneficial to soil, mulch helps to
reduce weeds, conserve soil
moisture and keep soil strong
throughout the often trying
temperatures of summer. For
homeowners hoping to get the most
out of their mulch this season, the
following factors should be
considered before beginning a
mulching project.
• Appearance: Many homeowners
want to make their lawn as
aesthetically appealing as possible.
A good looking lawn can increase
property value and instill a sense of
pride for all who live at a home.
Mulch comes in a variety of
appearances. Color and tidiness are
two sticking points for many
homeowners. Typically, no one
wants the mulch to be the talk of
guests and neighbors, instead the
plants, trees and shrubs the mulch
surrounds should garner the bulk of
the attention. Dark-colored mulches
tend to instill a relaxing feel to
gardens, while brighter colored
mulches might work better in
vegetable gardens. Don’t be afraid to
seek advice from the sales
representatives where you’re buying
your mulch as to which mulch goesbest with each area. Mulch does not
have to be uniform throughout the
property to provide maximum
aesthetic appeal.
• Benefits to the soil: Arguably the
biggest advantage to using mulch is
its positive impact on soil. However,
according to the Union of Concerned
Scientists, a nonprofit group
dedicated to working for a healthy
environment, different mulches
serve the soil in different ways.
While all organic mulches fertilize
the soil as they decay, they do so at
different speeds.
If improving the soil is a priority
when mulching, rapidly decaying or
nitrogen rich mulch is most
beneficial. Rapidly decaying
mulches include shredded leaves and
grass clippings and are typically
recommended for annuals. Slowly
decaying mulches, such as bark or
straw, are generally considered most
beneficial to trees and shrubs.
• Application: For some
homeowners, finding the time to get
outside and lay mulch can prove
very difficult. In such cases, easyapplication is probably paramount.
At this point, it’s probably best to
consult a professional as to which
mulch is not only the easiest to
apply, but also the easiest to
maintain, as anyone who doesn’t
have much time to mulch probably
doesn’t have much time to maintain
it either.
• Protection: How well mulch
insulates is also an important factor
to consider. For example, during the
summer months mulch should work
to keep heat out, while it should do
the exact opposite in the winter.
Once the weather has taken a turn
for the warmer in the spring,
consider mulching a summer garden
with hay, wood shavings or even
compost. These mulches will
insulate the garden from summer
heat. In the winter time, pine needles
or straw are effective at trapping heat
once the ground has frozen. Other
mulches, including bark and stone,
are essentially the multi-taskers of
mulch, working to insulate in both
summer and winter.
Munch, munch, mulch
Mulch helps protect plants, prevent weeds, and
encourages good soil, which helps flowers grow.(Aislinn
Bremner photo)