A brand new bark mulch has wonderful color and looks great. But mulch isn't only used for decoration or weed control.

I use mulch to help me conserve water when I plant trees on my property. Some of the trees I plant would normally not survive the hot climate where I am the length of time it takes for them to establish themselves well enough to survive on their own.

Mulch allows the water I give the plants and trees to soak down into the soil quickly but also helps stop the water from evaporating and being lost into the atmosphere.

Basically what the mulch does is gives the evaporating water a surface on which it can precipitate or be "knocked out" of the air. What you want is a product that has a lot of surface area, something that breaths a little bit and something that provides a little insulation from the hot sun. I try and use a good 10 cm (4 in) of mulch around all my plants and it really makes a noticeable difference.

I've tested - so I know for sure it makes a difference.

I took two trees that received the same amount of sun. One tree had mulch and the other tree had none. I gave them both the same amount of water and came back the next day - the tree with the mulch was still moist, the other's water had all evaporated away.

You don't have to go out and buy bags and bags of mulch either - if I had to buy all my mulch I'd be broke!

Trees naturally produce fallen leaves, and leaves happen to make a great mulch. When you're raking up your leaves just rake them around the base of the tree or move them to another. If you don't want the wind to blow them away or need something a little more pretty you can throw some soil over the top. The soil will help stop the wind from blowing the leaves away too.

I've even taken my neighbors leaves and used them as mulch!

You can use straw as mulch too. Use it in the same way as you would the leaves. You don't have to break up the straw or fluff it up either, just pull it off the bale in the width that you want and lay down a little straw carpet.

Even my established plants and trees receive a healthy amount of mulch around the base to make sure the tree or plant gets as much of the water I give it as it can.

One of the reasons I use mulch like this is because if I didn't the water I use for my plants would be unsustainable. My property does not have a source of water so every drop of water I use is either harvested rainwater or hauled to my property in containers with my truck.

You don't have to have the personal water challenge as a reason to conserve your water though - knowing that you can conserve more water should be reason enough.