Chocolate, Fine Grind

Enduring Color Pleases the Eye

Few aspects of your garden have the opportunity to please the eye as color.  We see color in a flowers petals.  We see color in our plants' bountiful foliage.  Color is found in the backdrop that frames our garden, the carpet of soil below, even the sky above.   Fading colors are always a disappointment.  Lifeless shades of gray do not add to the performance that a garden puts on for our eye.  Fine Grind Chocolate Mulch is a calculated choice for shunning the fading that creeps into a garden.  Chocolate Mulch draws attention to plants.  Its rich warm hue of brown supports the colors that dance above it.  This mulch sets a stage, if you will, for the garden plants to perform upon, in full living color.

55
00

1 - 5 cubic yards purchased

Mulch

46
00

6 plus yards purchased

Mulch

Considerations on Color

Fine Grind Chocolate Mulch communicates the presence of a rich fertile garden bed.  Its dark brown color confidently displays fertiliy in a flower bed and the entire landscape.

Benefits of Fine Grind Color-Enriched Chocolate Mulch

  • Attractive look of color & texture
  • 2 - 3 year color retention
  • Reduces water loss
  • Supresses weeds
  • Insulates against hot & cold
  • Promotes a beneficial environment for soil biology: earthworms, atinomecyetes, protoza, bacteria & fungi
  • Adds nutrients

Recommended Uses

  • Great way to accent any other earth tones that you may want to draw attention to in your larger surroundings.  Examples are any shades of brown or tan found in your home's stucco, trim or brick.
  • Works well in flower beds where a gardener may want to focus the attention of  onlookers toward the small and delicate colors of the plants growing there.

Directions for Use

  • Confirmation - Be sure to cross reference the product on your receipt of purchase to confirm you are reading the directions of use for the correct product.
  • Location of use  -  Our fine grind mulches work best when they are used in beds where small bedding plants will be grown.  A benefit of the fine grind mulches is their refined texture that amplifies the colors and textures of bedding plants.
  • Wind erosion - Fine grinds small particle size makes it vulnerable to wind erosion.  Because of this, the longevity of the mulch will be enhanced when it is used in protected areas, such as near a building, garden structure, trellis, hedge or dense tree foliage.  Also refer to depth when considering prolonging the mulches service.
  • Weed barrier - A barrier is considered optional. We have seen many successful mulched beds both with and without weed barrier. One consideration in forgoing weed barrier is the interaction of the life in the soil with the mulch layer.  Without a barrier, biology such as earthworms are more easily able to thrive in the area where the soil and the mulch mingle. Another consideration for going without is that by allowing the longer spears of mulch to drive into the soil and mingle with it, a bond is formed that contributes to the lower level of mulch remaining in place. Whereas the opposite is true when a weed barrier is present.  The barrier may form a fault line where the wind can easily lift the mulch particles away.
  • Depth - We recomend a depth of between 2 - 4" of fine grind be used when mulching a flower bed.  The goal of an adequate depth is not only to supress unwanted seed germination, but also to construct a mix and match of particles in order that the mulch particles are able to lock together and form one united mat of mulch. When we mulch too thin (under 2"), the mulch particles lie mostly horizontal and roll on one another rather than locking together. When we mulch too deep (over 4") with fine grind, the soil is starved for airflow that it needs in order to maintain a diverse biological ecosystem.
  • Surface cover - Keep in mind that our medium grind mulches are ment as a decorative surface cover rather than a soil amendment.  Long term, medium grind will contribute to your soil fertility, however in the short term a fully composted soil amendment will provide superior results when incorporating into you garden bed soil.
  • Using color - Drawing attention to an object of earth tone color can be difficult in a landscape.  All too often the hues of stucco, the browns of brick, or the amber of trim fade into the background in the larger picture of our landscapes.  No one wants the architecture of their home to be lost in the abundant colors of their yard.  We can draw attention to these structures by using mulch of a complementary color, but of a different shade.  Chocolate mulch performs this function so very well.  For example, a customer requested mulch for a house which had an exterior of very dark brown stucco with a yet darker stucco trim.  By itself the house was lost in a sea of green grass and foliage.  With the use of chocolate mulch's black hue of brown, the result was a dark blanket that projected the home above and through the sea of green.  The complementary combination of the browns was pleasing to the eye and very capable of competing with the other colors in the landscape.  If you want to draw attention to your home in a subtle yet undeniable manner, then chocolate is for you.
  • Using texture - Texture is always of consideration.  You may want the texture of your landscape to be complementary.  A fine grind mulch brings with it a smooth refined texture, as far as mulches are concerned.  The consistently elegent particles may complement your homes design or the texture of the foliage growing nearby.  For example a pine tree has a fairly rugged texture for its foliage.  If you want to tame the pine's texture, then using a fine grind mulch would help to that end.  If you want to accent the pine's rugged foliage or magnify it, then a coarser medium grind mulch would be more appropriate.  A second example of where a fine grind mulch produces a wonderful complement of textures would be in a flower bed.  The smaller mulch particles channel the attention of onlookers to the foliage and the delicate blossoms.  If your landscape, home, and even personality is on the formal side of the scale then fine grind mulch will aid wonderfully to provide that structure.  However, if you are working to achieve a more rugged or untamed texture, then a medium grind mulch would be better suited to that end.