Golden Acre Home & Garden: All about mulch

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:03]You're looking at a bag of straw mulch and I'm at Golden Acre Home and Garden this morning joined by Colleen to share with us why it's important to protect your soil. And this is such a great way to do so. Mulch comes in different aesthetics >> [laughter] >> That's a great way of putting it. It really is.

[00:00:22]Um I think a lot of times when people look at mulch, um you know, I've seen this in my career uh and they tend to think of it just as an aesthetic, okay? And they go, "Oh no, I don't I don't like it." For for whatever reason, uh they don't like the wood chips, the traditional mulch. And I think a lot of people don't realize exactly what you said, how much protection it gives the soil. Um every year we talk about amending our soil, adding uh compost and manure and coconut coir. But if you don't protect it, uh the sun uh the UV and the heat will kill dead the top 2 in uh basically fry all the uh the microbes in there. Uh then you get water erosion, wind erosion, impaction, all of the stuff you want to avoid, and that's why mulch is so handy.

[00:01:09]>> And not just protecting your soil, mulch can help add a little bit of nutrients as well.

[00:01:14]>> It does, yeah, especially ones like straw.

[00:01:17]So uh straw is a I use straw around my veggies, okay? So I have different mulches in different parts of my garden.

[00:01:24]>> Okay, we're having a mulch lesson in this morning.

[00:01:26]>> And uh I really like putting this on.

[00:01:30]It's very good uh to put on top of seeds. Some people will put it down at the starting lawn seeds. Uh okay.

[00:01:36]Um seeds will come up through it. Uh it helps uh hold the the the soil down, but it does allow air flow to get through.

[00:01:43]But like you said, as it breaks down, so this is touching our soil directly. So so we put this straw and we kind of push it down and now it's on our soil.

[00:01:52]As the moisture is in our soil and the heat warms it up, it starts the chemical reaction and starts breaking it down.

[00:01:59]So, when you go into a forest, which arguably has the healthiest soil on the planet, you don't see soil. You see leaves and mulch and and bark and twigs and everything else. That's kind of what we're trying to duplicate, just maybe a little cleaner.

[00:02:14]>> I love that. Thanks for the tip.

[00:02:16]>> Thanks, Aviana.

[00:02:17]>> Now, of course, if you're interested in learning more about mulch, you can always visit Golden Acre Home and Garden both in store or online at goldenacre.ca.

[00:02:26]>> Let's Get Gardening, presented by Golden Acre. Expert advice to help you grow.

[00:02:35]>> You're looking at a pile of pine cones, but did you know you can use this as mulch, a soil protector? And I'm at Golden Acre Home and Garden this morning joined by Colin to tell us more about how pine cones are used as mulch. Tell me more.

[00:02:49]>> So, so these are relatively new.

[00:02:52]I'd seen them on social the end of last year, some people using them. And then I actually ran into somebody at a trade show.

[00:03:01]So, this is an Alberta product. In fact, these pine cones are the lodgepole pine, and the lodgepole pine is Alberta's provincial tree.

[00:03:09]>> Perfect.

[00:03:10]>> So, really, really cool.

[00:03:12]And the thing I like about them, so we talked earlier about aesthetics. And a lot of people they look at mulch and they look at that straw we looked at and they go, "I don't like that aesthetic."

[00:03:21]And I I get it. I get it. We want to enjoy our gardens.

[00:03:25]But I find these they're very unique.

[00:03:27]>> Yes.

[00:03:27]>> A lot of people have difficulty growing grass or whatnot under a spruce tree.

[00:03:32]This makes an amazing ground cover. It looks natural. I can add to it. But another massive benefit, they keep critters out of your garden.

[00:03:42]>> Oh, really?

[00:03:42]>> Yeah.

[00:03:43]>> Because I guess they don't like >> Exactly.

[00:03:46]>> the feeling of pine cone. It feels like stepping on Lego.

[00:03:48]>> If you if you have to walk across a or uh pine cones. Um >> you choose?

[00:03:55]>> So so yeah, these guys with the sharp edges make it very uncomfortable uh for cats, for skunks, for anything to dig in.

[00:04:04]Also, because it doesn't form a mat like straw, it doesn't matter what I do, there's always gaps. It's amazing for air flow and moisture to get through.

[00:04:14]So, you're kind of eliminating that uh that heavy-duty mat. Um helps with soil erosion, but something else as well.

[00:04:21]These guys are incredibly long-lasting.

[00:04:24]So, they will break down, but very slowly where every year you're going to have to replenish uh straw, for example. These guys, you're probably looking at uh 3 4 years out of them.

[00:04:35]>> Oh, wow.

[00:04:35]>> So, you get you get long-lasting, sustainable, Alberta company. I mean, when I saw these, they were just checking all of my boxes down the list.

[00:04:44]>> Well, that's a perfect version of mulch.

[00:04:46]Thank you so much, Colin.

[00:04:47]>> Thanks, Adriana.

[00:04:48]>> Now, of course, if you're interested in learning more about the different types of mulch products that Golden Acre Home and Garden has to offer, you can always visit them both in store or online at goldenacre.ca.

[00:05:00]>> Let's Get Gardening, presented by Golden Acre. Expert advice to help you grow.

[00:05:08]>> [music] >> This morning, we've been talking about how mulch can protect your soil. And right now, you're looking at cedar chips and shredded mulch here. Just uh few varieties of different types of mulch products that you can find here at Golden Acre Home and Garden. And Colin joins us now. Colin, you have so many different kinds of bark nuggets, really, and cedar chips.

[00:05:30]>> We really do. And and I think the most important point uh is that they all have a benefit, okay? We don't want to We don't want to kill people with choice.

[00:05:38]Um But when it comes to this, you know, this is really going to become somewhat of a focal point in a garden. So, we want to make sure we have all of the different ones. Now, depending on what you're looking for there's different applications. So the one you are talking about which is this one here, Western red cedar, this is shredded. This is really really great for weed suppression.

[00:06:04]It forms a mat and oh thank you. It forms a mat as you can see there.

[00:06:09]It's tightly woven and it really stops weeds from coming up. When they do come up they're easier to remove. Not everybody likes that look. The chips here they're bigger, they're more fragrant. More weeds can get in but on that side as well. Also there's better air flow and moisture retention. So if you're looking for a certain type of aesthetic with a certain type of benefit, we've absolutely got all of the products.

[00:06:35]>> And we talk about the bark nuggets. So cedar is a specific color, the bark nuggets kind of have a darker color.

[00:06:41]This really is more of an aesthetic choice.

[00:06:43]>> It is and I love the bark nuggets.

[00:06:47]One of the things I love about them is it looks like a forest floor. So everybody has their own different aesthetics. Some people want a very clean garden, some people want that more natural look.

[00:06:58]But what's important to remember we need to protect our soil. So you know there was a study done by a university and what they found is in one square foot of soil the addition of 1% organic matter allows that soil to retain about 1.5 more liters of water.

[00:07:19]>> Oh wow.

[00:07:20]>> Yeah and that's readily available plant water.

[00:07:23]We do all of that work and then we don't protect the soil. So the soil gets damaged from sun, from wind, from rain, from impaction. Putting this down is absolutely beneficial to the health of our soil. It helps with weeds and we we we deliberately brought in the straw, the pine cones and all colored mulch, cedar mulch, natural mulch, because we know how important it is to protect the soil, but we also know how important the aesthetic is.

[00:07:50]>> Yeah, that's right. Some great tips.

[00:07:51]Thank you so much, Tony.

[00:07:52]>> Thanks, Adriana.

[00:07:53]>> Now, of course, if you're interested in learning more, you can always visit Golden Acre Home & Garden both in store or online at goldenacre.ca.

[00:08:02]>> Let's get gardening, presented by Golden Acre. Expert advice to help you grow.