IN MY WARPED WORLD ....

mulch is a natural product ... whether created by mother nature or added by you ...

colored mulch is heresy ... learn to enjoy the natural weathered gray color of driftwood or natural colored mulch .. color in the garden is added with the plants ....

along the same NATURAL considerations.. NEVER use plastic as an edging .... stone/brick etc.. is much more natural looking ...

AND NEVER USE THE ALLEGED PLASTIC WEED BARRIER STUFF under mulch .... just sending me the money/cost will prevent as many weeds as the stuff.. plus its plastic.. plus its useless ....

in summation.. natural is best.. skip false colors.. and false products [plastic] ... you are trying to create your garden of eden ... go natural ...

just my 2 cents.. ken

Edging can be a pain, because if you use rocks or anything that's hard to mow or trim around, then weeding around the edging can be a chore. For edging, I just cut the edge using a spade. I clean it up sometimes with the scuffle hoe, which cuts weeds pretty sharply, or the hand trimmer. Pretty easy to mow along this edge. In one small garden, I'm using bricks that are buried flat, length-wise, which looks neat and it's easy to mow along this type of edge.

For mulch, I agree with Ken, don't use that awful, expensive, colored mulch or anything plastic. I use whole leaves, shredded leaves, municipal compost, and aged wood chips. I've got 2 large piles of chips leftover from tree work, and can't recommend them enough. They are free, they look excellent, especially if you can obtain chips that are pretty evenly chipped and don't have a lot of sticks. (Some trees chip better than others). You can ask the municipal tree trimmers, or even a local tree company to dump chips in your yard. Of course you have to have someplace to store a pile of chips for awhile.

I just started spreading a pile of chips that is 2 1/2 years old, and they are beautiful. Easy to work with, rich brown color, and they add organic matter to the soil. I put down a layer of cardboard and newspapers under the chips in the paths, which prevents weeds from coming through for about a year.

Well...I agree with ken....but for different reasons.
Natural mulch because red is ugly. You wouldn't put leaf green pillows on a mulch red sofa would you? I like pine bark mulch because it looks like good Iowa soil and not mulch.
And plasyic edging has to be trimmed around, can catch on the mower...if you put it in low enough to look right the grass will jump over it.....and looks ugly.
For ease and neatness, try brick...you can put one mower wheel on the brick and avoin trimming and once a year spray or brush with round up to kill any weeds or grass growing between the brick.
Linda C

Since the garden is still growing, just cut the edge with a spade of half moon edger for now. When the size of the garden is pretty much settled, then edge it with rock or brick or something like that. I got a pile of used brick from my neighbor, and I'm waiting for the super observant garden visitor to pick up that my edging matches their house and not mine :-)

For mulch, ask around for what's free. In the north, municipal compost is almost entirely leaf mulch, and is very good stuff.

I use leaf mulch and just shredded wood. It breaks down nicely and it is not eyecatching. I hate to notice mulch -you should notice the plants. Any colored mulch is just plain yucky to me.

Thank you. I honestly don't like the mulch, red or black. When I started all this i was told/read mulch this and that so I did. But I think its a bit of an eye sore. For edging I think I am going to use a thin maybe 1" depth x 4' wide stone preferrably a darker stone (if I can find such a thing) I have seen plastic versions of this but talk about cheap looking. I like the thought of aged wood chips with that gray patina. Does it still hold the mousture as mulch does. And I may wait until next year for the edging as I know it will be significantly longer and possibly wider. Thanks!!!

I started making my own mulch this year. I usually use my compost, but the gardens are getting bigger every year and I ran out and after pricing the stuff in the area, I decided not to take on a second mortgage. :O)

Since I have hoards of leaves from last fall, I started shredding them and adding used coffee grounds to the mix. I also added some pine needles which my neighbour gladly drops in my driveway.

Here's a photo of the wheelbarrow full of the mulch and following is a photo of the mulch on the gardens.

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I made my own leaf mulch this Spring,too. First time. I really like it and it went alot further than I thought it would. But, since all this rain, I'm wondering if I should have been less generous when laying it down on the flower beds. Some beds are VERY wet and are staying wet. I see bottom leaves of some established plants rotted, normally they don't mind alot of moisture. And I see a variety of strange mushrooms! ha. All manner of shapes and colors. I've been removing the dead foliage and a couple times found bugs burrowed under them. I think I've lost my blue eyed grass.

Love the natural look it gives the beds,tho. I plan on making more in the fall.

Thanks for your post. I have been thinking about a compost pile. I don't know much about it. If they smell and attract bugs I probably can't do it. I have a very small yard and really no appropriate place to do it. I do have plenty of leaves though. Thanks again.

How do you make leaf mulch? How do you shred the leaves? I have a LOT of leaves, this would be very cost effective next year. Does it have to age more than six months?

Me? This Spring I bought an inexpensive leaf blower with a vacuum attachment that when used it mulches (or shreds) the leaves as it sucks them up. The shredded leaves go through a tube into a bag. For something that sounds so simple, it was a pain to get the hang of it - the vacuum that is. It wasn't happy with wet leaves or any debris other than leaves, i.e.sticks or clumps of dirt, pebbles. So, I took chicken wire and wooden stakes to make a holding pen if you will, and dumped the leaves in there to dry out for a day or two. Once a day, turning them over with a pitch fork. Mostly cause I took leaves off of flower beds, ect. and things started off wet. I think it would be much easier in the fall on a crisp, dry day as you're raking leaves off the yard. Plus the hose kept flying off or I'd forget to zip up the bag after emptying it. But I finally got into a groove.

But, others on here probably have a better and easier way - maybe with a genuine shredder and tiffy mentions adding coffee grinds and pine needles. I never thought of that.

A string trimmer used like a stick blender in a round galvanized garbage can does a very good job of shredding leaves..
And in the fall, if you use the bagging attachment on your mower you will have the most wonderful mix of leaves and grass....makes a wonderful mulch!
Linda C

I don't have a Shredder, but have been thinking about it more seriously since seeing Tiffy's mulch combination. It would make things easier. Now I use the lawn mower to shred a few bags of leaves in the fall. I rake a few piles and run the lawn mower over them, then bag them.

I spread a light layer of the shredded leaves and the aged wood chips in the front gardens (in addition to whole leaves over the winter), where the gardens are visible to the neighborhood and they are more formal, ornamental gardens. The shredded leaves have a more tidy appearance. In the back yard, the gardens are more naturalized, and I use primarily whole leaves for mulch. I think they both look very attractive.

I totally agree with Robynpa, the mulch is not supposed to be what you see when you look at the gardens - it's bizarre when people landscape their yards with a sea of orange or black mulch, then place a few anemic looking shrubs and perennials here and there! By this point, the gardens have filled in a lot and the mulch tends to disappear.

Pieheart,

I'll place a link to a post which I did in another forum. If you read the first entry, that's what I do.

I am using leaves gathered last fall by neighbours who left their bags in the driveway, but the leaves I gather from our property in the fall get shredded as soon as they are dry. The dryer they are, the smaller the pieces.

Julianne,

Since you have a small yard, this just might be the solution for you. :O)

Here is a link that might be useful: Making mulch with zero $$.

I "stole" two bags of leaves from the side of my Mom's driveway that were waiting for the trash man. Only, after I dumped them out to dry I had to go through and pick out all the sticks, rocks, sod bits, ect.

tiffy - what do you store your leaf mulch in if it's not going to be used for awhile. I put mine in a big plastic trash can with a plastic bag liner, but was worried it would mold esp. if I put the lid on. So, I tried to use it as fast as I could. Would it get moldy do you think, say if I made enough extra this fall to use next Spring? I went to your link. Good tips there.

When I'm making leaf mulch I pile it up and run it over with the lawn mower. It reduces the pile to almost nothing in minutes - then you can just put it in the garden.

Schoolhouse,

Yes, sometimes we have to pick out those lovely things from someone else's bags, but I just consider it part of the game. :O)

I do a bunch and place in bags which have holes here and there, and then I place them in the shade. My thought is that if I end up not using it this year, the worms will get in there with the holes and the rain will make the combo turn closer to leaf mold which is great stuff to mulch with too.

I used to shred leaves but to be honest it was too overwhelming a task. Leaf vaccuums aren't made for the job. Now I just compost as many as I can. I need 4 cubic yards of mulch for my property. If you have a small yard shredding your leaves would be an option. Leaf mulch is good stuff. Compost does not smell - you can buy a closed container if you're worried. Mulch keeps the moisture in and keeps the weeds down. If you don't like the shredded bark, then wood chips certainly would work. Although I always found them annyoing whenever I dug or replanted things or wanted to add a layer of compost. As for edging, I prefer stone or brick. Many options there. Digging edges was just more work and it has to refreshed throughout the season. Weed whacking takes a fraction of the time - or if you lay your bricks level to the ground, you can mow right over them.

I am not too sure what I will do. It seems the options take a lot of time and as I have mentioned in a previous post I am a single mother of three. Time is not something I have. I steal it whenever I can to work in the garden. I have planted mostly perrenials in order to hopefully reduce the amount of time needed in the future. But right now its a lot of work and time. The last few days I have had my 2 year old son water the garden for me. He prefers watering himself but at least I eventually get the job done.

I pick up compost and bags of leaves and grass clippings from the municipal composting site. The town sifts the compost but little bits of debris get through. People rake up little bits of garbage with their leaves. And then, there are those dang little plastic stickers they put on produce that I've thrown out in the compost! Not to mention the ubiquitous plant tags from the previous owner's and my endeavors. I'm always picking stuff out of the gardens.

Here are some pics of my mulch. Shredded leaves around peonies -
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Wood chips (aged 2 1/2 years) on a pathway -
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Nice, terrene. You know what I find interesting? It's that the leaf mulch really hasn't disappeared or turned a fugly color since late April, unlike the hardwood mulch I've used. The summer isn't over yet, but I finding that the leaf mulch pretty much stays put in the flower beds. Could be all the wet weather, tho. Now, I did place some around the base of the Butterfly Bush which stands alone in it's own spot, and the lawn mower basically blew it away with each pass; because I didn't edge the circle.

Re: the lawn mower as a shredder. It never occurred to me that I could do that - just dump the leaves in a pile and mow over them with the collection bag on. I'll try that this fall vs. the vac.

Terrene your gardens are truly lovly. I hope some day to be able to do something like that. :) I'll try the municipal composting site. I haven't used compost beforeand I know its needed so at leat maybe I can get it free. Thanks.

Thanks - that mulch was just spread when I took those pictures so it looks pretty neat, but it gets a bit messed up over time. A few weeds grow, but they're easier to pull with the mulch. I like it when a few pine cones, needles, etc get mixed in. Ornamental, yet natural looking, but best of all it's free! This type of mulch continually adds organic matter to the soil and the plants grow great.

Yes it does take work and some time, lugging bags of organic stuff around. Julianne, in the case where you don't have much time, you should probably go for as low-maintenance as possible, and maybe keep your gardens small! :)

The very easiest mulch ever are whole leaves in the fall - they just fall into my gardens or get blown into them. And I rake some into the gardens too (and shrub borders), then rake them neatly through the garden. Voila, instant mulch and nature did most of the work! Here are some pics of whole leaf mulch.

November 07, this is pretty much how the gardens overwinter, with a bed of leaves. I like to leave a lot of foliage standing for winter interest and seeds for the birds, etc.
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Just took this picture yesterday, Digitalis 'Island Spice' is blooming -
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