Mulch provides many benefits for the plants and soil: insulation, shade, moisture retention capacity, weed reduction, soil and buildings. But when mulch is the wrong time or in the wrong form, it can do more harm than good. Use the following guidelines for the maximum benefit from your efforts mulching. First, make the most of your garden, moisture and organic matter (including mulch) by planting rows wide - a width that you can reach easily, and not the width of a single plant. Wide row planting rights reduces the number of paths through your garden, and keeps more of the soil surface covered. This leads to less weed and better moisture retention capacity, so that your mulch can be applied if it is really necessary. ~ ~ Finished compost mulch ~ ~ There is no bad time to finished compost to the soil, but also for the maximum benefit out of this black gold is the best time is shortly after the spring shoots and seedlings become established and have their true leaves. Apply a layer of finished compost mulch. Often as a top dressing, this layer will deal with the topsoil quickly, but try to touch the compost from the plant stems anyway. How thick you layer the finished compost mulch depends on how much you have available and how far you have until the last page. Even a thin layer of advantage is that it provides nutrients gradually make their way down and gives some protection against weeds, extreme temperatures, heavy rain, and so on. ~ ~ Sometimes ~ ~ half-finished compost compost or compost, which is clearly fibrous never Mulching is good for plants, or for inclusion in the soil near the plants. Separate entrances partially compost from planting of at least two or three weeks. The best time to make this type of compost is in October or November in the soil, the ability to recover. Soil bacteria will break the material, but these organisms to use nitrogen to do their work. Finally, the microbes, the nitrogen and to make available to plants again, but in the meantime, the half-finished compost a consequence, the starving rather than feeding all plants. ~ ~ Hay and straw ~ ~ Apply a layer of straw or hay once over seedling stage. The timing also depends on the soil temperature. Since this is an insulating mulch layer, wait until the soil is warm, but the layer of mulch will insulate the wrong way, preventing the warming of the Earth. In addition to the straw or hay, which an insulating layer and helps retain moisture, the mulch is a nice resting place for melons and squash. Straw is carbonaceous than hay, and break slowly. Hay often has a moisture content, and stop faster. Both are good mulch, but if slugs and snails are a problem, straw is better. Also, the mulch from touching the plant stems. ~ ~ Leaves and Grass Clippings ~ ~ I prefer to compost leaves and grass rather than as a mulch. The leaves are usually acidic, and influence on the pH of soil. Some plants such as raspberries prefer slightly acidic soil, and plants that do not like an acidic pH, a change in the lime could help neutralize the effect of the leaves. Grass clippings can be very effective mulch - especially for moisture retention property, but keep an eye on it. Grass packs, preventing air circulation, so that anaerobic decomposition occurs. Again, I prefer to compost grass, turning the compost keeps it ventilated.