Can Shredded Evergreen Be Used As Vegetable Garden Mulch?

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Types

Long-leaf pine needles are suitable for mulching uses in mild Mediterranean climates. You can find commercial preparations of these at garden centers or collect your own from trees in your landscape. Shredding them along with other materials like evergreen boughs, cones, bark and hardwood decreases the overall coarseness of the materials, thus making them more suitable for use in the vegetable garden. You can also find shredded materials from trees like cypress and fir, along with pine, that are commercially available and suitable as vegetable garden mulches.

How They Work

Organic mulches work by acting as a buffer between vegetable garden soil and atmospheric weather conditions. During warm vegetable-growing seasons, they help keep soil cool. This is important as many vegetables will not produce a good crop

if grown in excessively warm soils. Warmer soils also dry out faster. By keeping soils cooler and blocking evaporation in warm, dry weather, organic evergreen mulch helps your garden soil retain moisture, which is vital to vegetable plant health and production. As these materials break down over time, they also contribute beneficial plant nutrients to the soil.