If you have a garden and you love your plants, one of the best things you can do is get mulch for your garden soil. Mulch has several qualities that can help you with your plants, keeping them healthy and growing.

The main purpose for adding mulch to your soil is to regulate the temperature of it, so that your roots and plants don’t suffer the stress of going to extreme temperatures. Mulch accomplishes this by acting as a barrier between the direct rays of the sun and the soil. In this way, the soil doesn’t get as hot during the day, and the mulch takes the heat. At night, this heat is emanated into the soil, which prevents it from becoming too cold.

Another purpose of mulch is to keep weeds from growing and compete for natural resources with your plants or crops. It does it by blocking the sunlight that weeds need to grow and by physically blocking its growth.

In addition, there are several types of mulch that have special properties. For example, cocoa mulch gives out a great chocolate aroma. Rubber mulch doesn’t need to be replaced and has a resistant to impacts, which comes useful in places where there is playground equipment from where children can fall. And so on.

However, some types of mulch can be expensive, especially the ones that have very specific qualities. That’s why it is practical to know how much mulch is needed before buying it. In those cases, barring previous experience, the best tool to get is a mulch calculator.

Mulch calculators are tools that help you calculate the amount of mulch you need depending on several factors. The easiest way to get a mulch calculator is from Internet. Just type “mulch calculator” in any search engine and you’ll get several results. Try the mulch calculators from sites or companies you know. They’re the most trustworthy.

Mulch calculators can vary from site to site. Some of them require you to enter the area of your garden, while others ask for the dimensions. In any case, all mulch calculators will require the thickness of the mulch cover you plan to use (this will depend on the type of mulch you plan to use as well).

Finally, some mulch calculators will ask for the type of mulch you’re using. In general, these are the most helpful, as some types of mulch need more quantity per area than others.

Eventually, the best mulch calculator is experience. Once you had a try or two with covering your garden with mulch, you won’t need a mulch calculator to know how much mulch you need next time.