Garden Mulching

Today I filled the flower gardens with new pine bark mulch. I like to use plain pine bark mulch that has a dark brown color. I honestly can’t stand driving by homes that use that “RED” mulch. Come on folks, there is no way you can get “RED” mulch from any trees grown around here. They have to be filling that product with dies to get it that color. Anyway, in a previous post, Mulching Flower Beds, I talked about learning all about mulching flower beds from none other than Roger Cook from This Old House. Roger was pretty serious about using a good quality pine bark mulch instead of all the designer mulches out there.

So today my son and I headed out to the local mulch/loam place and we picked up a yard of pine bark mulch. This year I only needed to apply about an inch of mulch because last year we put down a decent depth. Actually, it’s really important that you only put down a couple of inches of mulch so that you don’t choke off the other plants from air. The other important thing is to make sure you don’t put the mulch up tight against the stems and trunks of plants and trees. That can also damage your plants and even kill them. It’s also very important to make sure you leave plenty of room between the mulch and your house. I think it’s a good idea to keep at least 6 inches of space clear between the mulch and your siding. The one exception I have to that rule is on my farmers porch. I have mulch right up against the vinyl lattice skirt. However, the skirt is vinyl and the framing is pressure treated. It’s also 6 feet from the house foundation.

By mulching the flower beds you help keep moisture in the soil and you also help keep weeds from taking over your flowers. I will probably need to get at least one more load and possibly two to finish off all the flower beds we have on the property.

Related posts:

1. Our Perennial Flower Garden
2. John Deere X300 Mulching Mower
3. Buy A Garden Rototiller – Troy-Bilt
4. Purple Gem – Rhododendron
5. Proper Edging of Flower Beds