Straw for Your Strawberry Plants! Reasons to Apply Straw Mulch to Your Garden This Season
As weeds compete with your strawberry plants, you could apply organic mulch to defend them by boosting water retention and adding fertility. Straw is one of the organic mulching materials made from rye, wheat, barley and oats after harvesting. Straw mulch is sold in bale-blocks, and it's usually more effective than hay mulch. The cost of straw mulch is much favourable when these cereal plants are being harvested. Find out why straw mulch is what your strawberry garden has been waiting for.
More Soil Nutrients
Organic mulches enrich the soil more than the rock-based ones, making the plants healthier. Soil contains water, air, soil particles and air spaces that allow water and air penetration. Dense, compacted soil causes problems that the fertiliser can't fix. However, organic mulch such as straw mulch causes the soil to form crumb-like granules and enhance pore structure that improves aeration, water infiltration and water retention.
Straw mulch adds organic matter to the soil after decomposing and also becomes food for garden microorganisms such as earthworms. Once these microorganisms ingest, grind and digest the soil, the fertility, drainage and aeration of the garden are enhanced. The earthworms decompose plant residues into critters or forms that the strawberry plants can absorb.
Optimal Soil Temperature
Plants are like humans; extreme temperatures stress them. During extreme cold or heat, the delicate tissues of the plants get damaged. While the plants' delicate root hairs get burned during the hot season, the frost damages the plants' base in the cold season. However, straw mulch helps regulate the soil temperatures and prevent the damage that extreme temperatures cause. The plants also need organic mulch during the normal weather conditions to keep the roots and crown healthy. Straw mulch has insulation properties that ensure soil temperatures don't fluctuate, helping the plants to use the available growth resources and stay healthier.
Improved Water Absorption
Uncovered ground is prone to topsoil erosion that natural elements such as wind and rain usually cause. If you haven't mulched the garden, drought and heat could also kill the microorganisms that improve soil structure. Moreover, the soil could easily shed the available water. Straw mulch improves water absorption by softening rainfall.
Do you now understand why you need to buy straw mulch and have it delivered to your garden? Ask the supplier about the delivery time and if you have to be at home to accept the mulch. Confirm if the driver will deliver the mulch off the pavement, so they don't crush your asphalt driveway or damage your property in other ways. Ask about the delivery cost to know how much you would spend to have the straw mulch on your garden.
Reach out to a mulch delivery service today for more information.
