A Quick Buyer's Guide to Garden Mulchers |
Posted: July 13, 2017 |
A healthy, well-maintained lawn and garden is the jewel of the property owner’s crown. It is often the first thing seen by neighbours, visitors and passersby. A green lawn with neatly-trimmed hedges and flourishing flower beds will elicit feelings of pleasure and envy, while a decrepit yard with dying grass and overgrown bushes will invoke pity, even disgust. Lawn mowers will keep the grass tight and trim, and chainsaws prevent trees from becoming too big and overbearing, but the best gardeners and landscape professionals know that the key to the perfect yard is in the details. Machines like garden mulchers are an important part of the gardener’s arsenal. A garden mulcher pays for itself pretty quickly: Instead of buying expensive commercial mulch, you can just shred the detritus and other surplus organic material your garden naturally produces to make your own mulch. Not only are you eliminating waste, you’re turning that waste into something which can benefit your lawn and garden. What is a garden mulcher? Garden mulchers are outdoor machines with metal blades which pulverise and shred small organic material like grass clippings, leaves, branches and twigs into a million tiny pieces. These pulverised material, in turn, can be used to add a protective layer around shrubs, trees and on flower beds. The ground up material also provides nourishment to the plant life around it. Benefits Garden mulchers provide a host of benefits to property owners, gardeners and landscapers. Traditional compost pile sizes are drastically reduced, and rancid odours eliminated, with the reduction in debris and detritus produced left to rot. Garden mulcher owners also save money on expensive fertilizers and mulch. The amount of waste you generate is decreased, making garden mulchers environmentally-friendly and reducing the waste that is sent to landfills. What is mulch? Mulch is the term given to any protective layer applied on the soil’s surface. It can be either organic, like dead leaves, grass clippings and branches, or inorganic, like disused carpets and recycled tire rubber mulch. This protective layer insulates the soil from the heat of the sun, reducing the amount of moisture lost through evaporation and ensuring a better water supply for the plant life. Improved water retention means less time spent watering shrubs and flower beds, and less water used, reducing the strain on the water supply. Mulch also prevents weeds from growing and reduces the erosion of the soil. In the cold fall and winter months, mulch protects plants and soil from temperature fluctuations. Chippers, shredders and mulchers—What’s the difference? Many people get garden mulchers, shredders and wood chippers mixed up. I don’t blame them. They essentially serve the same function, but in many ways the machines are also very different. As a rule of thumb, garden mulchers are used for small organic material like twigs, leaves and grass clippings. The machines also typically require a power cord to function, but not all. Mulchers are usually small outdoor machines, suitable for home gardens and lawns. Some manufacturers, however, have designed large, commercial-sized garden mulchers which can handle hardy limbs and brush. Shredders are a powered-up version of garden mulchers. They can process thick branches up to 2 inches in diameter. However, shredders work slower than mulchers, as the shredding mechanisms between shredders and mulchers are different. Wood chippers are the most powerful shredders. They can work with big limbs and even small plant trunks. Chippers are usually powered by gas, but some also have inbuilt battery packs. Garden mulcher features Here are some of the features you should be looking for when shopping around for a garden mulcher. Many manufacturers claim their product to be the test, and only you can judge whether a particular model is a good fit for you.
Construction: Obviously, do not go for a flimsy looking and feeling garden mulcher. A good heavy-duty mulcher made of strong, corrosion-resistant materials will provide you years and years of service.
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