It's winter in Florida, and while your friends up north shovel snow, our crews are putting down mulch. It's a great time of year to put down a fresh coat of your favorite color of the stuff. This blog goes over the benefits.

Mulch matters
We'll start with the most obvious—it looks great. New mulch gives homes that charming curb appeal without doing major renovations. If you pick the right kind, it even smells great.

Another reason is weed control. Those stringy green eyesores have difficulty popping up through shavings and bark nuggets. The mulch also blocks the sun from getting to those buggers.

Mulch doesn't only look good on top of your soil; it's good for what's underneath. When wood and organic mulch breaks down, it becomes food for the microbes and insects that live in the dirt; that little circle of life makes your soil more fertile and a better home for your trees and plants.

Besides your dirt, mulch is good for your water or for your water bill to be more precise. Ground cover conserves moisture, which means your landscape requires less water. It also keeps that water in the ground longer by slowing evaporation.

You can also think of mulch as a thermostat. When it's hot out, the shavings keep the soil cool, and when it's cold, and there can still be a few freezing days this late in the winter, the mulch traps in the heat. Just a little bit of warmth can save a tropical plant on a frigid night, and if you plan on putting in new greenery this time of year, mulch is a must.

Common ground cover questions
There are near as many mulches on the market as there are reasons to put some down before the calendar hits April. When it comes to picking one out, take a couple of things into consideration. One, where is it going? Shredded bark holds well on uneven landscapes. Pine bark chips last longer but don't put them on slopes or areas where water drains. The small chips may float away like little boats after a big storm.

The next question is how much do you need. A day you planned on mulching the yard can quickly transform into a whole afternoon of driving to and from the store, picking up bags, and making your trunk or, even worse, your backseat a messy place.

A good rule of thumb is one cubic yard of mulch covers 324 square feet of landscape. That's for one inch of mulch. Most brands sell mulch in 2 cubic feet bags. This mulch calculator helps take some of the work and math out of the process.

If you want to take all the work out, call us. We are mulch pros with the expertise and connections in the green industry to make this your best mulching experience. Our pros will do all the measuring, then deliver and install the mulch of your choice. .