Construction: mulch placement

Wood mulch provides numerous functions to a bioretention practice including reducing soil erosion, filtration, protecting underlying soils from compaction, retaining moisture, and minimizing volunteer weed establishment. Communicate to contractor how to install and the mulch type in the plans and or specifications with notes, details, spot elevations, and other special features needed as per designed.

Equipment recommended for this task can be:

• Automated: Mulch blowers.
• Manual: Shovels, buckets, level rakes.
  

During installation:

1. Ensure that mulch depth should be no greater than 75 mm to maintain oxygen supply to underlying soils.
2. Ensure that the top of the mulch meets the finish elevation as per design.
   

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  Machinery placing mulch in a rain garden at Glendale Public School in Brampton, ON. Read about the Design and Build Overview in this case study.

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  Mulch layer as the final grade in the Haggert Ave bioswale project in Brampton, ON.

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  Elevation problem with the mulch close to the end of this rain garden at Mineola P.S. This elevation is not allowing runoff to fully enter the rain garden and causing ponding in this low spot.

a top dressing over vegetation beds that provides suppresses weeds and helps retain soil moisture in bioretention cells, stormwater planters and dry swales.

A shallow excavated surface depression containing prepared filter media, mulch, and planted with selected vegetation.

(1) The wearing away of the land surface by moving water, wind, ice or other geological agents, including such processes as gravitation creep; (2) Detachment and movement of soil or rock fragments by water, wind, ice or gravity (i.e. Accelerated, geological, gully, natural, rill, sheet, splash, or impact, etc).

The technique of removing pollutants from runoff as it infiltrates through the soil.

a top dressing over vegetation beds that provides suppresses weeds and helps retain soil moisture in bioretention cells, stormwater planters and dry swales.

A lot level bioretention cell designed to receive and detain, infiltrate and filter runoff, typically used for discharge from downspouts.

Linear bioretention cell designed to convey, treat and attenuate stormwater runoff. The engineered filter media soil mixture and vegetation slows the runoff water to allow sedimentation, filtration through the root zone, evapotranspiration, and infiltration into the underlying native soil.

The portion of water precipitated onto a catchment area, which then flows as surface discharge from the catchment area past a specified point.

Water from rain, snow melt, or irrigation that flows over the land surface.