How Wood Waste Can Elevate Your Yard

Working out in the yard is one of the most amazing pleasures associated with living in Colorado. 

From any backyard, you can glimpse snow dusted mountain peaks in the spring, or their purple sheen in the summer months. The weather is usually excellent and our climate zone leaves tons of options for exploring more species that you can grow and even allows at times for more southern species of plants if you’re willing to bring them inside for the winter and fall months. Yard work can be extremely rewarding and is a constant for folks that live in Colorado, and while getting to work with your hands in the warm sun with the birdies chirping is awesome, there’s always a question of what you’re going to do with your yard waste this time. A1 Organics is passionate about helping the Colorado community create a closed circle of yard refuse use that helps plants grow, while helping you get rid of the unwanted bits still left in your yard. If you’re looking to become more green while helping your yard thrive there’s a few ways you can do that, and at least a couple of those include utilizing wood waste to your advantage. 

Invest In Proper Mulch

You likely know what mulch is, but do you know what it’s main intended purpose is? It’s usually used to maintain moisture in the soil, which as a gardener or plant cultivator in Colorado, you’re familiar with how difficult that can be. Because we’re so arrid and our soil is either dusty or clay-like, holding moisture in around your plants, especially plants that you’re stretching the climate zone needs for, is very important. It also works as an extremely aesthetic solution to keeping weeds under control, and making your garden look neat and well-formed, even if it’s not. Additionally, they act like mini compost piles all over your yard and infuse the soil with valuable nutrients as they slowly decompose, making your plants stronger and your soil full of all the good things plants need. Obviously, this is mostly only true in regard to organic mulch, but acquiring organic mulch isn’t difficult when you’re familiar with the services of A1 Organics. 

Types of Organic Mulch Available In The Market

• Compost
• Grass Clippings
• Newspaper
• Shredded Leaves
• Shredded Wood Waste

The most important part about purchasing organic mulch is, without a doubt, knowing where that mulch comes from. Some mulch comes with active weed seeds in it because the manufacturer wasn’t picky enough about the sort of wood waste they accepted. That means when you lay down your mulch, it won’t do much in the way of keeping weeds down, as it’ll be seeding the area with weeds and cause extra work for you that you likely don’t want. 

When investing in mulch, it’s important to pick the right mulch to see the results that you’re seeking. Thus, knowing which kind of mulch to use in the situation you have is valuable knowledge, or else you’ll get entirely different results from what was actually intended. 

Compost Mulch

Compost as a mulch isn’t quite mulch in the traditional sense, but it can act as an excellent base layer to every garden you have. Using a STA certified compost from a commercial composter insures a weed free mulch, which you can accomplish by purchasing from a professional organic landscaping supply yard, or from avoiding putting weeds into your own compost pile, it’ll provide a boost of nutrients for all your plants. This is particularly important during the growing season and right after the winter months start to die off. If you’re looking to give your annuals a good start this year, wrap a little compost mulch at the base to provide slow-leak nutrients right when they’re at the weakest. It’ll help build a great foundation for your plant and will produce healthier plants as the season progresses. This compost mulch works well under decorative mulch as it adds a protective layer over the soil and aids in keeping moisture in for the root ball to draw from. 

Bark Mulch

Obviously, wood waste mulch is the most appealing in regard to aesthetics. It’s excellent when laid around perennials, as you won’t have to dig in the mulch much. This type of mulch has a sort of slow leak of nutrients into the soil. It certainly won’t provide any of your plants with an immediate boost at the beginning of the growing season. But it will keep moisture close, and slowly drip nutrients into the soil as it naturally and slowly decomposes. If you’re investing in colored mulch to accentuate certain areas of your yard, you’ll find that you’ll need to spread new colored mulch over the top of the old mulch at a rate of about every year. This is a good practice, as it makes it easier for the base layer to decompose gently underneath, while the top layer acts as the aesthetically pleasing part of the garden area. 

Grass Clipping Mulch

It’s important to use grass clippings first, as a base layer mulch under the decorative layer you’ll put on top. But it’s also pertinent to note that grass clipping mulches can get a bit stinky as well. Like adding anything to a compost pile, things will decompose at different rates and proteins tend to smell when they decompose. So if you’re thinking about using grass as a type of mulch, you’ll likely want it well away from where you, or your neighbors, like to sit out back. If you’re looking for something to do with those unwanted grass clippings, though, you’ll find room in your compost bin or ours if you’re finding excess grass clippings to be a major hassle to deal with. 

Straw and Hay Mulch

If you’re looking to mulch an area that’s mostly open soil, straw and hay provide an excellent option. They’re really great when used for veggie gardens, as they’re really good at holding back unwanted exterior interferrants from entering the soil. Straw will also last the entire growing season as it decomposes very slowly and works as a good home for lots of beneficial insects that can keep a garden’s potential pest problems under control with relative ease. The best part about it, by far, is that while it offers all this protection and practical usage throughout the growing season, at the end of the growing season you can always till it back into the soil to add nutrients and volume for next year which makes it even more recyclable and easy to maintain your vegging garden, just like compost.

Complete the Cycle

When you bring your wood refuse from tree branches and bushes to our facility, you’re aiding the entire community’s efforts to be greener. Together, we can create wholesome mulch types that are filled with those vital nutrients that help plants and encourage natural, strong growth. When you deposit your wood refuse, we turn it into aesthetic mulch that can be used in yards all over Colorado and can share the organic love throughout the whole state. When you bring us any of your yard waste, you’re actually helping contribute to the vegetation health of the state in many different ways. From our green compost piles to landscaping materials, and beyond. 

Help us bring the community together through the incredible power of green landscaping materials and good recycling habits. Start today by checking out what we accept currently for our compost piles and for our wood waste recycling options now.