We are in the heart of summer, the month of August is the beacon of holidays, rest, relaxation, even the most hardworking workers can treat themselves to a few days off from the newspaper.

This month is however one of the hottest of the year, the one in which the heat becomes constant and life slows down, the march is scaled and at cruising speed you can enjoy the landscape a bit instead of seeing it rushing through the window as during the other times of the year. Even our beloved plants are affected by the climate. This is the right time to give time to your green home corner and make it more suitable for the heat.

There is a very important practice called Mulching, which creates a surface layer that covers the soil in order to maintain temperature, humidity and protection.

Mulching means covering the free soil around the plants with natural or plastic material, doing so does not allow light to reach the ground and prevents the development of weeds, in addition to preserving the water reserves of the soil since in the absence of light the evaporation of water from the soil is drastically reduced and the covering layer constitutes a physical barrier to vapor dispersion.

Mulching can be done with special synthetic sheets, re-usable the following year or with natural materials, always recommended to put the plants at ease. To prepare a good mulch for the pots I advise you to use straw or dry leaves and peat and if you have recycled material like dried fruit shells in your home. Let's see together how to proceed in this simple action:

Lightly remove the surface soil and wet it generously
Take some dry leaves and shred them with your hands
Sprinkle the uncovered soil from the plants with dried shredded leaves and cover it with peat or pine bark or dried fruit shells
Press well with your hands to compact the soil
These simple gestures will allow your plants to better withstand the summer heat and to better manage the water present in the earth in view also of moments in which you would have to be absent from home for a few days of vacation and wet the plants would become less frequent.

Protect your plants, create a sheltered place for them, keep them safe from the temperatures of the season and do as you do for them too. In this hot summer, in this slow month of August cover the free soil around you, rearrange the ideas, and create a comfortable place that allows you to shelter from the harshness of life.

Remember:

The beneficial effects of mulching can also be enjoyed in the winter months, especially if natural materials such as dry leaves or straw are used. In this case the ground cover acts as a thermal insulator and allows the soil to be kept at a slightly higher temperature than that of the air.

Happy August!