i might suggest.. you skip the tilling ...

you can not mulch over seed ... many are shallow planted.. and many surface planted.. as such.. it would be self defeating to cover them ...

you might want to check in .. at the winter sowing forum ... and grow them in milk jugs.. until spring.. so you can put out larger seedlings ...

i suggest such.. because you say you have significant weeds...

removal and heavy mulching will put those to rest.. and then in spring you could move out your winter sown plants ...

in other words.. you are trying to kill two birds with one stone... weeds and seeds ... get rid of the weeds.. mulch properly.. and do the seed a different method ...

or just wing it.. lol ..

ken

Thanks Ken,

Think i may check in over at winter sowing then, i'm also trying to protect the seedlings that have sprouted outside already.

But reading what you wrote makes sense and what of the Ipomopsis rubra that has already sprouted? Safe to Mulch?

Cheers

Mulch when you have the material and the time. That could be spring, summer, or fall, and depending on where you are in Washington and the soil temperatures, maybe winter. Keep in mind that a properly applied mulch could keep seeds, wanted or unwanted, from germinating and growing.

in my MI ... winter heave would be why i would mulch late .... so that the plants go dormant prior.. and then i can cover bare soil.. so winter sun can cause repeated freeze/thaw cycles...

does that mean anything to you??? ... i dont want to waste time discussing it.. if it doesnt happen in your zone ... of which z8 PNW ... i highly doubt it does ...

ken

Hi Ken, I'm not certain if what your saying does apply to this zone, I'm really just very very new at this whole thing " gardening " I really want to help the soil rather than hurt it. But i think from what i've read from you and Kimmsr i'll mulch in certain places and other places i wont. For now that is.

I guess i may have to improvise a bit and if it goes well...weeds up... then next season hopefully i'll of gained a notch in my belt:)

Thanks again.

One thing I can add is that roots will not continue to grow after frost has killed off the top of the plant. Whatever was there at frost is all there is (unless we're talking about fall planted bulbs, but you didn't mention bulbs). So if there is not time before frost to get a big enough plant for it to survive, you might want to wait till spring.

Ken's suggestion was that if you have a lot of freeze thaw cycles (not the air temp but the ground itself), fall mulching is good to moderate the soil temp so it does not freeze and thaw as much or as fast.

Thanks toxcrusadr,

I don't have any large plants to plant, i do have a bed with a ton of bulbs that i'm going to dig up, their so compacted that there at the surface level all different sizes hugging one another. It's actually quite sad looking, I feel terrible for the state there in even though i didn't put them in it.

As far i know i dont have the ground problem ken was talking about. I'm so new at this, so much information to try to cram in... in the nick of time.

scarletflowers - I would suggest you try to identify the bulbs before you start moving them. Some bulbs do better partially exposed and slightly crowded. Not all bulbs need deep planting and doing so could be detrimental to them.

This post was edited by floral_uk on Wed, Sep 3, 14 at 9:53

Irises, for example, grow right at the surface. Although they're tubers and not exactly bulbs. Anyway bulbs are best dug up when they are dormant. Here in MO we do it in Oct. or Nov. and replant before it gets too cold to work.

You don't have to learn everything right away. The garden will be OK.

PS "there" = not here; "their" = belonging to them; "they're" = they are. Love, The Spelling Police :-D

Haha! my husband does the exact thing to me about "there... family " it drives me nuts. I've always done it and probably always will ..

I suppose i should wait until they go dormant since they are sprouting, i'm assuming they will be blooming in the fall.