"Mulch" is anything with which you blanket the ground, be it straw, black plastic, pebbles, even the marbles I once saw blanketing a portion of ground in a contemporary California landscape.

Rule out pebbles, marbles or black plastic for this. As far as a tree or shrub is concerned, organic materials are obviously the best mulch. And besides their benefits for plants and the soil ...

I stood in a Jeromesville store buying a pack of gum a few years ago and saw a friend who reads my column. He asked me about what happens to the black plastic you put over gardens in the spring.

Should I try plastic mulch in my vegetable garden to keep out weeds? I read the color red is better for tomatoes and blue [is better] for squash and cucumbers. Research on colored mulch is ...

A mulch is a material, usually organic but sometimes inorganic, ... Black plastic used in the vegetable garden during winter and early spring helps to warm the soil by absorbing the sun's heat.

Black plastic used in the vegetable garden during winter and early spring helps to warm the soil by absorbing the heat of the sun. This keeps winter vegetables growing vigorously and allows for ...

White plastic mulch surrounds newly planted tomato plants in a midtown vegetable garden. BILL SEVIER/for the Tulsa World. ... Most gardeners use either the white opaque or black plastics.

Black plastic mulch excludes light and thus robs the weeds of the sun’s energy they need to survive. Another benefit is that it warms the soil while spring temperatures are still cool and when ...

I’ve settled on run of the mill black plastic. This year I’m experimenting with agricultural paper mulch. It’s been around for some time -- maybe you’ve tried it.