No problem.

Just pour it on. If it is granular fertilizer, wash it in with a hose. If it is liquid, it will just run down.

Jeri

You can fluff the mulch a bit with a rake if it looks dingy. I just add a little more. Organic mulch breaks down and does wonderful things for the soil in the long run.

The mulch thing is very expensive. I keep buying more to renew what there is and keep that blasted weedy grass from popping up. Of course, w/ this sand, my plants need all the organic matter they can get. Maybe you would like it better if you planted a ground cover? What you could plant depends on the soil and how much you fertilize. Plants I would use for ground cover would probably not like all that fertilizer, plants like catmint which forms a wonderful 3 ft mat. Anyway, just a thought. Brandy

There are so many different type of mulch. What do you use and what looks and works best?

We've always used the "Western Bark" sort of mulch you'd find at Home Depot. That should be a decent choice for you as well, I would think.
IF you have pets, do NOT use that cocoa-fiber mulch that smells like chocolate. It would poison a dog.

Jeri

the first year i used mulch, it was dyed red...besides the color looking absolutely hideous with my roses, the red dye ran every time it rained..i was sure i hated all mulch!! for years now, i've just used plain pine bark mulch, it's a darker brown when first applied, then it bleaches out a bit and gets lighter colored. for me...mulch is only expensive with a new bed, because you need so much of it, but in the years that follow, you need to just top it off, and it goes alot further. don't worry about the food..it gets down there...i just sling the granules on top and water them in..it doesn't have to be a major production...but i do know that without mulch, i couldn't keep a tenth of the garden i have now..just too much time weeding. stick with it..you'll be a convert!! donna

The only mulch I use is leaves from deciduous trees and sometimes from avocado trees (I crush the bigger leaves). Is that acceptable or should I be using commercial mulch? The leaves often have rabbit droppings mixed in from cottontails who frequent our property, and I assume that's a good thing. I also mix in banana peels and coffee grounds.

Ingrid

I didn't update my mulch last year and I'm paying for it this year- tons of weeds! My plants are happier with a good layer of mulch too. You might want to scratch in an organic fertilizer that breaks down slowly over time then cover it with a good layer of mulch.

Wanttogarden:

We buy our mulch in bulk from a local tree trimming service and that has been the hot ticket for us. I can get two yards for around $90.00 and when I did that this year I had TONS leftover. Of course that much is subjective depending on how large/how many beds we are talking about but you might consider that route. I stored what I had leftover in plastic trash cans for next year and as the mulch breaks down of course the soil is fed. I don't think it is died so no worries on the color running. It will fade naturally and not next year but spring of 2009 I will mulch everything again. Here is a picture that kinda shows what the mulch ends up looking like. For me it keeps the weeds down very well.

Hope this helps.

Kate

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I use regular pink bark mulch and other than fading slightly, it is ideal for me. Not too expensive, no dyes to worry about, helps keep down the weeds, and adds organic matter when it breaks down. I can't imagine gardening without it, to be honest.

Ingrid, you go girl. Sometimes the oak leaves, even shredded, take a while to break down in our zone. The worms are looking real hard at our compost pile.

I am afraid I might get attacked by hordes of hungry worms if I venture outside.

We have very few browns left this time of year and we are waiting for the leaves to fall to store for next years feeding frenzy.

We also buy pine bark mulch when it is on sale cheap for our fancy beds out front, or to top off our leaf mulch beds when company is coming. As said "fluffing" is good. Solid fungal clumps or sour airless goo is not a good growth medium, but OK to add to the compost pile.

The soils forum is an interesting place to visit.

F.L.

At the arboretum we are using hardwood mulch which has a nitrogen supplement sprayed on it-- it breaks down more quicklly than some mulches, but I was told the nitrogen added helped offset the nitrogen in the soil which would be consumed in helping the mulch break down. I've had great results with pinebark but it comes at a premium here. We keep our mulch at about 4" deep, both to conserve moisture and to keep weeds out. Up north in Ohio I did the same but the mulch lasted a lot longer-- here in the South we are topping off 2 and 3 times a year, whew!

But wantogarden is in NoCal, where bark mulch would be the thing most easily-obtained.

Jeri

I've been using wood chips from the local sawmill. Whatever chips are spilled when they load the rail cars, the company moves to a pile and it is free for anyone to help themselves. It is mostly pine, fresh wood colour and is working really well. Just need to make sure to add some kind of extra nitrogen. Pine needles work really well too and there are plenty of them around here. These may not be as esthetically pleasing as bark mulch but hey, its all free and works just fine.

Want to Garden -

I think I know what you mean. I'm a newbie to gardening too and before I was bitten by the gardening bug I always thought mulch was unattractive; just a step above looking at plain dirt. I still think it's an acquired taste, although I understand now that it helps keep the weeds in check and the soil moist. Next year I'm probably going to try using a living mulch in my rose garden by planting an annual ground cover Sweet Alyssum "Carpet of Snow". I have this growing in a small bed right now and I think it's very pretty. It's also pretty cheap if you plant it from seed.

-Kristin

Kristin, in parched Calfornia, Sweet Alyssum isn't going to help our roses at all. They need something to keep the soil cool and humid. I DO however like the thought of growing Sweet Alyssum THROUGH the mulch -- just because I love the smell of it.

Jeri

Jeri:

As always thank you for your advice. Few more questions. My rose bed is the only sunny part in the yard so beside roses all my other sun loving plants get dumped there too. Thins like Oriental Lilies, Mary Gold ( to cover the base of the roses), and maybe a new set of perennial since I am re-doing the bed. Can bulbs, coneflowers or other deciduous plants push through the mulch in spring by themselves or it has to be removed for them? Is the mulch you mentioned the very fine and almost like compost/dirt kind? What happens if in the processes of planting new stuff dirt gets mixed with it? Does it have to be topped off every year or every other year to keep it clean and fresh looking? Can compost be used mulch?

Sorry for long list of questions but these issues always kept me from mulching. I mulched one bed with redwood chips last year and in process of replacing 6 plants, the chips all got mixed with soil and it is a very ugly sight.

I would not want to admit how much money I have spent on mulch this yr! I am establishing new beds plus feeding older ones. The mulch is 60.00 for 2 yards, and that is hardwood mulch (lasts longer than pine). I also include pine cones and magnolia cones, and anything else that comes my way, including bamboo leaves recently. I just mowed over the small bamboo branches, shredding the leaves, then turned them into the soil. Thinking about going back for more... Brandy

Wantto -- I wish I could answer that question, but you're using companion plants that we don't try -- we have SUCH a drought problem. Plus, anywhere we put water, we get Bermuda Grass.

But, FWIW, Bulbs seem to push through. Gladiolus do, at least, and Irises (which we DO have) have no problem coming through.

But, look -- You don't mix your bark mulch with dirt. You just spread it on top!
You CAN mulch with compost, but -- well -- it looks like dirt. We mostly used compost as a part of our potting soil.

And yes. Compost decays, and needs to be refreshed annually. I try not to think how many tons of it we've brought into this hillside, over the years.