Flax mulch, one of the brightest plant mulches for the garden

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Pale as husks of rice or wheat, or short one-inch strands like dried blades of grass, flax mulch spreads a bright cover that saves water, weeds beds naturally and keeps slugs and thrips away. Soak the layer thoroughly once and the fibres swell and interlock into a permeable crust that wind cannot shift.

It is the perfect soil cover for flower beds, around trees, in garden boxes and in the vegetable patch.

• Refresher: Mulching basics: mineral and plant-based mulch

Using flax mulch

• Rake out the flax mulch to form a layer about 2 inches (5 cm) thick.
• Then water to lock the mulch into place.

• Keep a hand’s width of bare soil around trunks and stems so damp fibres never sit against the collar.
• Flax breaks down quickly compared with bark, so check the layer regularly and top it up wherever the soil starts showing through.

Advantages of flax mulch

Typically, this type of mulch has the same benefits as other plant mulches:

• Helps plants settle in faster through avoiding erosion and soil compaction.
• Saves on water and watering.
• Adds organic matter as it decomposes into the ground.
• Naturally weeds your garden beds for a long time.
• Protects roots from winter freezing.

However, it also has a few very specific advantages that other plant mulch types don’t have:

• Forms a protective crust that blocks evaporation and stays in place.
• Neutral pH to avoid acidifying soil.
• Just like ashes, flax mulch keeps slugs from coming close to plants.
• Light color tricks thrips into thinking it’s a body of water, so they tend to not land nearby.
• Stays light-colored for a long time, excellent for matching with dark contrasting plants and to lighten up shaded courtyards.

What is flax mulch made of?

There are two types of flax mulch that are readily found on the market.

The first one is chaff that comes off seeds from the seed pods. Other names for this include shives, shoves, hurd and boon.

This is the flax most effective against slugs and snails, since it has sharp edges.

It’s a by-product of flax seed production. Seeds from the flax plant appear in many ancient and modern recipes, and as such, flax seeds are full of health benefits. Flax seeds are also pressed to extract an excellent natural wood preserver, flax oil. This type of flax mulch looks like husks of rice or wheat.

The second type of flax mulch comes from stalks. Sometimes this is also called linseed straw.

It’s actually similar to straw.

This can either come from straw collected when harvesting the seed pods, but another common source is rejected straw material from flax grown for thatching or fiber. The appearance of this type of flax mulch resembles short one-inch strands, kind of like dried blades of grass.

Both types of flax mulch are very light-colored, and they’ll both help disorient thrips naturally – a great added benefit in the vegetable patch!

Why does flax mulch form a tight cover?

Just like cocoa mulch, flax has a special reaction when you wet it for the first time. Indeed, when you’ve finished spreading the flax mulch into a one or two-inch layer (3 to 5cm), it’s important to thoroughly soak it once. You’ll notice that the flax forms a tight, fibrous structure after drying. This structure resists wind while staying permeable. Also, weeds have a harder time breaking through this “crust”.

When first wet, cellulose fibers soak water up and swell, interlocking with neighboring strands. It creates a mat of strands that weave in and out of each other. As it dries, the strands contract and tighten the surface of the layer of mulch. It’s almost like a woven material! Water and air can still pass through very easily, but wind won’t displace it.

This makes flax mulch an excellent choice for seaside gardens and places that tend to be very windy.

Read also on mulching:

• Protecting plants against the cold with mulch
• Plant-based mulch
• Mineral mulch