Think of all the times you've gone to your hardware store and spent anywhere from $20 to $150 on mulch.
It is important, after all - it keeps the weeds down, helps your watering, and keeps pests away from digging into your plants.
What you didn't think about is that you can get as much mulch as you want - for free.
Everyone likes free things.
Some of you mow your lawns weekly, like I do.
You want it to look nice, so you bag it right away and either store it for compost (yes, you should turn your grass into compost) or get rid of it.
An easy method of mulching is just to leave the grass where it lies.
Don't bag it every single time.
You will be amazed at how much better your lawn will grow.
Less weeds, less water evaporation - that means greener grass.
Now, you've gone a few weeks without bagging.
That is usually how I do it, about 3 weeks without the bag, 3 with, so on and so forth.
You look over to your garden and see it is being invaded with weeds.
Time to go to work.
I know it's a pain, but you need to pull all those weeds.
Then simply take your next bag of mowed grass and lay it in your garden, around your plant's stems, in your walking paths - everywhere.
This will stop the weeds from coming out because it suffocates them.
What it also does is provides a natural compost effect.
The grass will turn brown eventually.
You can add more grass as you go along if you want.
Come fall time, you pull your plants out when they are done producing and just leave the dead grass there.
Next spring, if it hasn't done it itself already, just till whatever dead grass is left into the soil and let it become compost.
After you've used grass for mulch, you start to wonder what else you can use.
Have any trees in your yard? Perfect.
Rake up the leaves in the spring and fall.
Usually, I pile them up, then run a lawn mower over them and bag it, but you don't have to.
Leaves make perfect mulch.
Over time, they will turn into compost and you will have to add more if this happens in the middle of your growing season.
Dead tree limbs and twigs can be great mulch too.
That is what you buy in stores is tree limbs, so why not make it at home? You can save as much as you want to get a big batch and find someone with a wood chipper.
If you have to, you can almost always rent one from your hardware store.
Mulching is an essential protective layer that you need to think about when you are planning your garden.
Take it from me, I've had experience with not mulching and having to weed my garden literally every day.
You know what that means - a very bad back.
You don't have to spend any money to get mulch.
Then, over time, you won't have to spend any money to make compost either, because your mulch will turn into it!