If you're on the hunt for a stylish way to tidy up your landscape beds and protect your plants, a ground cover might be just what you're looking for. However, it can be difficult to decide whether to use rocks or mulch for your ground cover. Both mulch and rock ground covers do offer a variety of benefits, including soil moisture control, which can be important during the warmer months here in Indiana. When trying to choose which one to go with, you should consider 3 things: how long it takes for each material to decompose, how often each material needs to be replaced or replenished, and what color options each material has.

What does mulch have to offer?

A flower bed topped with mulch in the backyard of a home in Fishers, IN.

Mulch is a great choice for your landscape bed ground cover and has many advantages. Before going with mulch, be sure to consider:

  • How long it takes to decompose: Although mulch does decompose over time, it releases vital nutrients into your soil when it breaks down.
  • How often it needs to be replaced: Because mulch does decompose, you will have to replenish your supply about once a year.
  • What color options are available: Mulch typically comes in black and a few shades of brown, which can make colorful landscape bed plants pop.

A mulch ground cover can even stimulate helpful microbial activity in your soil.

What do rocks have to offer?

A large landscape bed of well trimmed bushes topped with rocks in Carmel, IN.

Rock is another excellent option that offers many benefits for your landscape bed plants. Before choosing rocks for your ground cover, make sure you keep in mind:

  • How long it takes to decompose: One advantage of a rock ground cover is that, unlike mulch, rocks will never decompose.
  • How often it needs to be replaced: Because rocks will never decompose, you don't have to replace your supply quite as often. However, rocks do fade from constant exposure to sunlight, so you will have to replace them eventually.
  • What color options are available: There is a wide range of colors available with rock ground covers, such as blue, grey, tan, red, orange, and more.

Both mulch and rocks provide many benefits for your landscape bed plants.

Besides being an aesthetically pleasing addition to your landscape, ground covers offer a variety of benefits for your plants (whether you choose to go with rocks or mulch). One benefit that ground covers provide is that they help to regulate the temperature of your soil. Although the summer temperatures here in Indiana don't get extremely high, they can still be too hot to encourage growth in your landscape bed plants. A ground cover can insulate the roots of your plants and keep them at the ideal temperature for growth.

Ground covers can also retain moisture in your landscape beds by preventing water from evaporating; this means that with a ground cover, you won't have to water your landscape bed plants quite as often. Another benefit of a ground cover is that they suppress weed growth by essentially suffocating weeds. Ground covers can even keep soil erosion under control by protecting your soil from wind, rain, and snow.

Give us a call to sign up for our mulch and rock installation service today!

Whether you decide to go with mulch or rock, a ground cover can do wonders for the health of your landscape bed plants. With our mulch and rock installation service, our team at Precision Cutz Lawn Care will spruce up your landscape beds by hand-installing your choice of mulch or rock. We offer this service to the residential, commercial, and HOA property owners in Carmel, Fishers, Westfield, and nearby areas in Indiana. If you are interested in upgrading your landscape beds, give us a call at 317-965-7868 today to sign up for our mulch and rock installation service!