Springtime marks the beginning of the garden season. As tulips begin to bloom and trees get their leaves, many homeowners are thinking about how to get their gardens ready for the summer season. Laying mulch on garden beds is one of the most traditional spring-time care tips for your garden.
Mulch is described as a type of material applied above soil. It is usually made up of a bunch of organic matter such as grass clippings, leaves, bark, woodchips, wool, kitchen scraps etc. There are also synthetic mulches that can be applied. Plastic or rubber ground cover can be used to reduce weed growth and keep moisture from evaporating.
Mulch helps to keep the soil moist for longer, fertilize the soil and its plants, as well as reduce weed growth. In the springtime, mulch helps to retain soil heat during the night which stimulates springtime growth for plants.
Springtime isn’t the only season when gardeners apply mulch. Some do apply mulch in the fall as well. Fall mulching is different, however, because it is supposed to be used to protect soil, prevent erosion during the winter and provide a barrier between harsh winter climates and the soil and plant below. Spring mulch is not nearly as thick as fall mulch. Fall mulch can also contain more source material such as larger wood chips or whole leaves.
The concept of fall mulching is also that it will degrade over the winter, acting as a beginning fertilizer for soil come the spring.
So the sun is shining and it’s time to get that mulch on your gardens. For homeowners, this process can be back-breaking, taking hours to complete. Trying to rush through it can cause injury. Taking your time makes the project seem endless.
There is a better way.
Many homeowners don’t think of machines or landscape equipment as being available to them for rent. That isn’t true. There are many machines on DOZR that are available for rent by homeowners specifically to help make tasks like moving mulch easier.
Walk-behind skid steers are an affordable and user-friendly machine that can make your garden project easier than ever.
The front of it has a small bucket so you can lift and move more mulch than you ever could with a shovel. The machine does the work for you so you remove the risk of injury.
When operating a walk-behind skid steer, you should protect any surfaces that can’t be easily repaired such as driveways, walkways or sidewalks.
If you need a small machine such as a walk-behind skid steer for moving mulch, DOZR offers a weekend warrior rental where the machine is delivered on Friday and automatically picked up on Monday morning. The entire weekend is charged for only one day – or 8 hours – of use. This way, homeowners can spread out the work and take their time over the course of the weekend to get the project done.
Work smarter not harder this summer and get professional results on a DIY project by using the best machine for the job. If you’d like to learn more about renting a walk-behind skid steer, give the DOZR team a call. We’d be happy to answer any of your questions.