What is mulch and what is its purpose? Mulching landscape beds offers several aesthetic and horticultural benefits. Fresh mulch brightens up landscape beds, providing a newly maintained and professional look. Plants benefit from mulch in a couple of different ways. First, mulch helps maintain moisture levels, which means less stress from inconsistent watering. By covering the soil with mulch, the soil temperatures are moderated, protecting plant roots from extremely cold or hot weather. Mulch also reduces weeds by depriving weed seeds of the light they require to germinate, or sprout. Lastly, the proper amount of mulch also keeps weed seeds from landing directly on the soil, further reducing the occurrence of weeds.

Now, notice the mention of ‘proper amount’ above. These benefits will only be fully present if the proper amount of mulch is maintained. The recommended depth is 3 inches. Mulch breaks down at different rates depending on water, exposure, etc., but a good rule of thumb is to plan on mulching at least once a year, although it may not be necessary to add a full 3 inches every year. Not sure how much you need? Let this simple calculator do the math for you! One cubic yard of mulch covers approximately 100 square feet at a depth of 3 inches.

To calculate your mulch needs, get the area in square feet, multiply by .25 (for 3 inches or a quarter of a foot), then divide by 27. (SQUARE FEET X .25) / 27 = CUBIC YARD

Choosing which kind of mulch to use is a matter of personal style and the qualities desired. For example, cedar mulch helps deter insects while hardwood mulch knits together well, helping reduce washing on sloped areas. We carry a variety of choices in both bags and in bulk. Our bags of mulch contain either 2 or 3 cubic feet (size is listed by product name on the inventory pages). What is bulk mulch? The term “bulk” means the mulch is sold as loose material, by the cubic yard. A truck or trailer is needed for bulk materials, or we can deliver to nearby areas.

Related Articles

How to Mulch Like a Pro
Mulch – Seasonal Tips
Seasonal Tips – Leaves + Mulch

Still have questions? Give us a call or email us for additional details!

Visit us:
15601 Cantrell Road Little Rock, AR 72223

Call us:
501.868.4666

Email:
info@thegoodearthgarden.com

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Not sure how much you need? Let’s figure it out!

Mulch Calculator

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Photo by Sara Reeves

1.    Spring is a great time to plant all the things! Trees, shrubs, sod, perennials, veggies, herbs and annuals…all of it! The soil temperatures are warm, which encourages root development.

2.    Look at the area before planting to learn how many hours of sun the area gets and whether it is afternoon or morning sun.  This determines whether to shop for sun or shade plants.

3.    Think about your goals; are you looking for evergreen plants… or ones that bloom… or ideally both?  This will help us guide you to the right plants for your landscape!

4.    Bring pictures of your landscape in to The Good Earth so we can best evaluate your space and provide accurate advice and recommendations.

5.    A few landscape design tips would be…

• a. Create focal points near your front entrance.
• b.  For visual interest, vary the colors and textures of landscape plants.
• c. Have pockets of annual  and perennial color.  A few large areas of color stand out better than many small areas.
• d.  Plant in odd numbered groups like 3, 5, 7, etc.
• e.  Avoid the runway effect created by putting plants in straight rows (unless you have a formal landscape).

6.    Soil preparation is the most overlooked part of landscaping.  Arkansas soils are not great; mixing in compost can make all the difference.  In annual and perennial areas, add a good potting soil blend to lighten the soil.  The Good Earth brand potting soil is a great choice; it contains pH balancers, Actino Root protection, perlite and even a light fertilizer charge.

7.    Plant with Good Earth brand Jump Start for best root development.  This contains mycorrhizea with can increase the amount of water and nutrients the plants can uptake by up to 1000 times! Here is a link to a blog post with more in depth information about how Jump Start works!

8.    For best blooming on annuals, apply a water soluble fertilizer such as BR-61.  Seriously, it’s  like a steroid for your plants!

9.    Apply pre-emerge such as  in your landscape beds before mulching.  This will keep weed seeds from germinating and really cut down on summer work.  Hi Yield Turf and Ornamental Weed and Grass Stopper is a great pre-emerge for landscape beds.

10.    Apply mulch; it helps the soil retain moisture and reduces the occurrence of weeds.  Be sure that the mulch is at least three inches deep.

11.    Have a watering plan in place. If you have a sprinkler system, run through the zones and make sure all the heads are working and reach your plant materials. If you are going to be hand watering, make sure you have a good water hose and some Dramm watering tools (we use and love them!)

12.   Ok, you have all the information you need to get going on your landscape project!  Except one more thing; The Good Earth is ALL stocked up with plants right now and not only is it a great time to plant, it’s a great time to shop our wonderful selection of healthy trees, shrubs, and perennials.  As of right now, mid-March 2023, annuals are rolling in slowly as temperatures warm up.  A great way to stay in the know about what we have in stock is to follow us on social media!

13.   No, really, this is the last thing… if you haven’t ever planted a plant or haven’t had the best success, knowing HOW to plant a plant is crucial to success.  Here is a blog post with a video tutorial, featuring a step by step demonstration.

The post Top 10 Spring Landscaping Tips for Arkansas…plus a few more! appeared first on The Good Earth Garden Center.

We have some other Arkansas fruit growing posts too; check out the following:

How to Grow Blackberries in Arkansas

Fruit Trees in Arkansas

Planting blueberry shrubs

Start by picking a sunny location; it can be in a garden, a raised bed or somewhere in your landscape.  These fruits will do best planted in a mounded area at least a couple of inches (or up to a foot) high, and a couple of feet wide.  Next, consider the soil.  Blueberries prefer well drained, acidic soils with a pH in the 4.8 to 5.4 range.  Arkansas soils tend to be acidic although it’s a good idea to get your soil tested.  We can help with that; ask us about our Good Earth SoilKits!

Prepare the soil by adding some peat moss and Good Earth potting soil.  The finished soil should be about 65% original soil to 35% amendments.  If you need to acidify your soils, consider adding coffee grounds as this will both add organic matter and increase the acidity.

Blueberry varieties

Choose your variety of blueberry; both the southern highbush and rabbiteye types are good in Southern Arkansas, and Northern highbush varieties are good in Northern Arkansas.  All three types can be grown successfully in Central Arkansas.  Here are several varieties within each type:

Northern Highbush- Bluecrop, Duke, Elliot

Southern Highbush- Ozarkblue, Summit, Legacy

Rabbiteye- Climax, Premier, Tifblue

We typically carry Rabbiteye blueberries here at Good Earth.  Plant multiple varieties of the same type to increase fruit set and berry size. Figure on planting about 2 plants for each person in your family and double that if you plan on growing them for baking or freezing.

Growing tips

After planting, add five to six inches of pine bark or pine needle mulch.  This will help the soil retain moisture and reduce the weed growth (sawdust would also work well).  Add an inch of mulch material each year.  Blueberries need irrigation here in Arkansas in order to be successful so water well at planting and water throughout the year as needed.  Prune off the large flower buds at the tips of the shoots the first and second seasons, especially on smaller plants.  This will allow a larger, better producing plant to develop.

After the second growing season, remove some of the canes and reduce excess flower buds.  In addition, cut back any canes that are much taller than the overall height of the blueberry.  Too many blooms can result in a weaker plant and small fruit so remove weak or twiggy growth.  After the fifth year, begin removing some of the old canes.  Ideally older blueberry plants will have equal parts of one-, two-, three-, four-, and five-year old canes.

Feeding blueberries

Blueberries can be planted both in the Spring and Fall.  Fertilize the plants only after new growth has began with our organic Espoma Holly-Tone Fertilizer and then after 6 weeks, start applying Ammonium Sulfate unless otherwise directed by your soil sample results. Avoid applying fertilizer to the crown or stems of the blueberry.

Now, all you have to do is collect blueberry recipes!

The post How to Grow Blueberries in Arkansas! appeared first on The Good Earth Garden Center.

To Begin, Document problem areas

We have been getting many reports about small twigs on lawns; these can be caused by wind, or squirrels but they may also be victims of twig girdlers.  These insects feed on the tender bark near branch ends and mate before laying eggs and girdling twigs (see image above for a visual of twig girdler symptoms).  Twigs are girdled because the larvae cannot overwinter in living twigs so the branches are girdled and either remain on the tree or fall off.  Cleaning up and destroying those that fall is a good control method; it removes the larvae that would become adults and repeat the process next year.  Another great reason to do a fall clean up of landscape areas.  Removing dead landscape material reduces insect eggs and fungus spores that could emerge next year.

Now is the time to take some notes on problem areas.  If those azaleas always have lacebugs, note it.  If the gardenias were covered in whiteflies all season, put it on paper.  With gardening and landscaping, half the battle is planning and prevention, so taking stock this time of year will give you a some helpful reminders of what you need to do next spring, when the bright, exciting newness of annuals blocking out the realities of late summer!

This is also a good time to take notes on possible transplanting.  Stand back and take a good look at what you have going on and what worked and didn’t work in it’s current location so that once it goes dormant and loses it’s leaves, you will remember the transplanting plan.  On perennials, mark them so that when they go dormant, you know right where to dig.

The lawn is going dormant but there are still important lawn chores!  Kill existing weeds by applying a post emerge such as Weed Out, apply pre-emerge to prevent new weeds from emerging, apply winterizer, and treat for grubs one last time, if you haven’t done so this fall.  Last but not least, we are seeing brown patch show up in lawns right now (mid-October).  With soil temperatures still warm, it would be good to treat with a systemic fungicide this fall and follow up next spring with another  These chores will insure that your lawn is healthier next year!

Pruning tips

If those perennials are looking more like weeds than garden plants, consider trimming them back.  For example, when the hosta leaves are turn yellow…you might as well trim off those leaves!  Other perennials with foliage going dormant can be trimmed off too.

Don’t get too carried away on the pruning; be careful not to prune shrubs that bloom off old growth.  This includes Encore azaleas, which should be pruned after the spring blooming, and most hydrangeas, which should be pruned after the blooming ends in the summer.

It’s time to shop!

Fall is the BEST time of year for planting trees and shrubs.  Use Good Earth brand Jump Start at planting…this product will help your plants absorb up to 1,000 times more nutrients and water.  Mulching will help the soil retail moisture and it will also reduce weeds!

Annual color should be fertilized, mulched and watered in well.  Encourage blooming by fertilizing with Ferti-Lome Premium Bedding Plant Food, which has a high phosphate number reflected by the middle number on the package.  Supplement with water soluable, high phosphate fertilizer, such as BR-61, during the fall, winter and early spring.  Plants are growing when temperatures are above 45 degrees for a few days.  Removing spent blooms throughout the season will promote blooms.  Treat the planted areas with a pre-emerge every 60 to 90 days for weed control of winter weeds.  Applying at least 3 inches of mulch will also discourage weed growth.

These are a few things to consider this time of year, but there are many more, so stop by Good Earth Garden Center for more information and great gardening tips from the experts!

The post Whip that landscape back into shape! appeared first on The Good Earth Garden Center.

Soil Preparation

First of all, the most overlooked aspect of a successful planting is soil preparation.  Break up the soil in the planting area and mixed in Good Earth brand potting soil.  This potting soil contains all kinds of goodies that topsoil or even organic compost do not such as sphagnum moss, perlite, Actino Root Protection, and pH balancers all of which provide the plant roots with an excellent environment for growth.  We also added sand; it’s another great addition to your planting areas, as central Arkansas soils tend to be heavy and drain poorly. My soil happens to be very acidic so I added agricultural lime also. Adding these materials loosened the soil, created better air flow, and provided additional drainage.

Seasonal Color choices

Next, it was time to consider the plant materials themselves. Before you head to the store, do some research!  Start by learning how much sun your areas get and at what time of day they get it.  For best visual impact, plant a few larger areas of color as opposed to many small ones.  Take into account the style of your home; more formal landscapes will look better with fewer plant varieties where as more casual landscapes can accommodate a larger variety of colors and textures.  We used to suggest thumbing through magazines and books for ideas but now there is Pinterest, an online network that gives users the opportunity to find what they like and pin it to a specific board such as ‘Combination Planters’, one of The Good Earth’s most popular boards.

*The planting shown was installed in the fall.  The orange flowers and pansies and the purple are violas.  Violas have smaller flowers but the blooms tend to stand more upright than pansy blooms; however pansy blooms are larger.  Hybrids of both include Panolas and the Nature series of pansies, which offer the best characteristics of both; bigger blooms and durability.  Additional fall plant materials are ornamental cabbage, ornamental kale, swiss chard and one of our favorites, ornamental mustard!

For spring color, the options are numerous!  The Proven Winner series of annuals has been selected for hardiness and greatest visual impact.  And it’s not all about the flowers!  Coleus and other foliage plants offer vibrant colors.  For instant color, consider planting hanging baskets.  Depending on how your landscape is arranged, adding groupings of planters in your annual color areas, filling with a combination of plants, and surrounding them with a solid mass of low growing annual color can provide height and additional visual impact.

Feed Your Plants

Regardless of the actual plants you choose, do not forget this special ingredient when planting…Good Earth brand Jump Start!  This product contains mycorrhizae, which can increase water and nutrient uptake by up to 1000 times!  For this to be effective, add the granules into the root zone at planting.  To get maximum blooms throughout the season, apply BR-61, a water soluble fertilizer that is the equivalent of steroids for your plants!  Seriously, you will never use anything else once you start using BR-61.  At planting, use Ferti-Lome Premium Bedding Plant Food for slow release fertilizer, which is helpful during cooler months when applying water soluble fertilizers such as BR-61 is easy to forget.

Mulch

Mulch provides good weed control, soil moisture retention and can keep plant roots insulated.  Plus, it keeps landscape beds looking fresh!

Don’t forget!

Please note that this process shouldn’t be done once and then forgotten; amend the soil with every seasonal color change out.  Add Good Earth brand Jump Start with every planting, including shrub, tree, perennial and annual plantings.  Always have fertilizer on hand and don’t skip the mulch!  Be aware during the process; for example, I noticed a ton of grubs in my soil, so I now know that treating the soil for grubs is going to be part of my maintenance routine.  We hope this helps get you going and inspires you to create some amazing spaces!

The post How to Create the Most Stunning Seasonal Color Display in the Neighborhood! appeared first on The Good Earth Garden Center.

1.  Check your drainage.  Dig a hole in the ground about a foot deep, fill it with water, and see how fast it drains. Ideally, the water should drain in five minutes or less.  If it takes more than that…eek…that’s poorly drained soil.  Years of planting and maintaining landscapes have taught us that we have many such landscapes.  In extreme cases, water has sat in freshly dug holes for 10 minutes with no movement at all!  We have learned that digging deeper than the rootball, adding a few inches of gravel and packing it down, creates a small french drain under the rootball and can allow the plant to live and roots to become established.  Once the roots are established, they will lessen soil compaction and increase drainage.  For already established plants, dig a hole nearby about the same size as the rootball of existing plants and perform the same test.  Unless you are dealing with aquatic plants, roots cannot survive in water, so the rootball gradually shrinks while the top part keeps growing.  Eventually the shrunken root system isn’t able to support the upper growth, and the plant that looked fine last month turns brown and takes it’s last breath.  After the soil drainage is known and addressed, what’s next?

2.  Water longer and less often. Less frequent, deep waterings are better for establishing roots than shallow, shorter waterings.  If the soil is compacted, cycle and soak by watering for 10 minutes, then another 10 minutes, then 20 minutes, allowing 30 minutes between sessions to increase absorption.  Find out how much water is getting down into the root zone of plants by using a moisture meter.  Moisture meters cost ten dollars and can save you hundreds of dollars… and your entire landscape!  How long to water? Every landscape has its’ own issues; shade, sun, the aforementioned drainage considerations, and plant health.  The main thing is watch your landscape to see how long it takes to dry out between waterings and adjust the time and days of watering appropriately.  Avoid watering between 5:30 am and 6 pm; not only are these the hours of peak usage, but you can also lose up to 30% of your water due to evaporation by watering in the heat of the day!

3.  Mulch. This will help the soil, and plant roots, retain moisture in the root zone area. Mulching also reduces weeds which are superb water thieves.

4.  Check your system.  Like everything else, technology has made great strides in the efficiency of sprinkler systems, including the improvement of rain sensors and the creation of smart systems.  Renovating your system to include these features is a perfect way to water smarter.  Also, make sure sprinkler heads cover just landscape areas, not driveways and try not to water during windy times.  Look for leaks and breaks in the system and address issues quickly.

5.  Watch for problems.  Stress is accumulated in plants, so water issues paired with pest problems this year will mean more highly stressed plants next year.  So water smarter and watch for issues regarding not only water but disease and insects too.

6.  Plant smart.  Using native plants that are drought tolerant helps reduce the amount of water your landscape will need.  Regardless of what you are planting, use Good Earth brand Jump Start at planting.  It’s sort of like a root stimulator although it works by creating colonies of mycorrhizae, which can increase the plants’ uptake of water and nutrients by up to 1,000 times!

The post How to Water Smarter! appeared first on The Good Earth Garden Center.

PRUNE
•    Prune ornamental grasses, summer blooming spiraeas, and crape myrtles mid-February.  Groundcovers such as liriope and evergreen ferns such as Autumn ferns can be cut back now before new growth begins.  Also, clean up any evergreen perennials before new growth shoots up.

•    Don’t forget to prune your fruits, including blueberries, grape vines, and fruit trees.

•    Roses need pruning this month too.  Prune your Knock-Out and Hybrid Tea roses this month, but wait until after blooming to prune your climbing roses.  Also wait to prune any other roses that only bloom in the Spring until after they bloom.

•    Prune boxwoods, hollies and other evergreen shrubs in March or early April.

•    Not everything needs a pruning now!  Wait to prune Spring flowering plants like azaleas, gardenias, hydrangeas and forsythia until after blooming.

FEED

•    Add fertilizer to your bulb plants as the flower stalks begin to emerge, with a complete fertilizer like Start-N-Gro.

•    Pansies and violas will be on the rebound as the days get warmer, so remember to fertilize to insure good blooming through the end of the season.

PREP AND PLANT

•    Prepare the soil in your landscape beds with soil amendments such as lime and organic material.

•    It’s time to plant cool season vegetable gardens with broccoli, lettuce, cabbage, onion, potato and spinach. Herbs parsley and cilantro also like these cooler temps.  Other edibles such as fruit trees and blueberries can be planted now too.

Your success is our success!  Visit thegoodearthgarden.lab5.matmon.com for the rest of the calendar, the blog, sign-up for the email newsletter, like us on Facebook and more!

The post Arkansas Gardening Tips for February! appeared first on The Good Earth Garden Center.

saiflower (CC0), Pixabay

Last month we talked about getting the soil ready for new annuals and perennials.  Well, now it’s time for the fun part…shopping!  Here are some tips to make sure you get the beautiful look you want:

1.  With Pinterest and other online crafty sites to visit, it’s easy to get creative!  But even if you aren’t confident about your ideas, no problem, just bring in some photos of your space and we will walk you through it.  And remember, there is no right or wrong, it is all about what works for YOU!

2.  Wondering about options?  Well, there are so many different varieties of violas, pansies, mums and asters, there is no limit to the possibilities!  As you start the planning process, mix it up by adding different textures into the annual planting areas.  Hardy ornamental grasses that bloom in the fall, such as muhly grass, and fall blooming perennials like Autumn Joy sedum add a different dimension to the landscape and accent annual planting well.  Heucheras, camellias and autumn ferns can give you Fall color that will come back year after year, either in your landscape or your containers!

3.  One thing that does matter is quality… because if you don’t start with good soil and plant materials, your plantings won’t last long!  For example, smaller pansies with a dark green color and a compact shape are better than a bigger plant with pale color.  Don’t cheap yourself out of a good color display!

4.  Don’t forget to fertilize, mulch and water your new plants in.  Encourage blooming by fertilizing with Ferti-Lome Premium Pansy Food, which has a high phosphate number reflected by the middle number on the package.  Supplement with water soluable, high phosphate fertilizer, such as BR-61, during the fall, winter and early spring.  Plants are growing when temperatures are above 45 degrees for a few days.  Treat the planted areas with a pre-emergent for weed control of winter weeds.  Applying at least 3 inches of mulch will also discourage weed growth and help the soil retain moisture. Water your plants regularly, and enjoy the blooms!

5.  Most importantly, enjoy this wonderful season!

The post Autumn Colors! appeared first on The Good Earth Garden Center.

Pruning is the first step to getting that landscape back on track.  Now is the time to prune back struggling and heat stressed perennials.  And it’s also a great time to fertilize perennials with a natural slow release fertilizer like cottonseed mill or Milorganite.  Shrubs and trees will also benefit from a slow release fertilizer application.

All that heavy summer watering has used up your last fertilizer application long ago, plus lawns that were stressed this year will have a more difficult time greening up next spring.  All of this makes adding nutrients back into the soil this fall very important.  Natural fertilizer like Milorganite or Bonide Lawn Winterizer are both good choices.  Be sure to pre-emerge with Good Earth Weed & Grass Preventer also to really set a good foundation for next year.

Now that the temperatures have cooled down and we should be getting some natural rainfall, sprinkler water times can be reduced.  Watch your landscape carefully to make sure you aren’t over or underwatering.

And thank goodness it’s time to get rid of those faltering summer annuals!  Bring on the pansies and mums!  Prep your color areas by removing the summer annuals (if you have any left!), and breaking up the existing soil.  The summer drought might have hardened areas that were pliable in the spring.  Breaking up the soil adds oxygen to the soil, increases water percolation, and increases nutrient levels of the soil, all of which will help the roots of your fall plantings grow and get established.  Next, it’s time to do some soil amending. For perennial and annual color areas, we suggest using what the professionals use; Good Earth Brand Professional Growing Mix!  Its’ mix of organic matter, perlite, pH adjusters and Actino root protection provide an optimum growing environment.  Now you are ready to shop, plant, fertilize and mulch!  More on that next month.

This is also an ideal time to evaluate your entire landscape; what survived, what needs to be transplanted and what needs to be re-planted.  Fall is perfect time to plant trees and shrubs so make a list and come visit The Good Earth Garden Center!

The post Take That Landscape From Blah to Beautiful! appeared first on The Good Earth Garden Center.