Yes, it does hinder germination. I try to collect the seeds that I want to propagate and start them in pots indoors and then set out the little plants when the weather warms up. Another option is to pull the mulch back near the plants that reseed themselves. And when you think about it, sometimes weeding can be a pleasant activity. My eyesight is so bad that when I'm weeding is the only time I can see what's really going on down there on the ground anyway. haha. Cheryl

I mostly mulch with pine straw because that's what grows here. When the early spring bloomers finish, I rake the pine straw back to allow things like periwinkle to come up. In the fall, I pull the periwinkles after frost, leaving a place to sprinkle poppy seeds and larkspur.

All in between, I'm cutting off ratty spiderworts, cutting back tatty nicotianas, pulling out spent larkspurs, cutting off dead salvia stems, and doing other grooming tasks in various seasons. Mulch just rolls with the flow.

Nell

Janetgia I was thinking about your question. I thought it was a good one. I wonder what kind of mulch you are using since there are all kinds of mulch. During the summer last year I had bark mulch on the beds. Last fall I used a mix of chopped leaves, compost and manure. All that suff is broken down now. This spring I had reseeds all over. As a matter of fact I had seedlings coming up in the heavily barked paths as well as the gravel driveway. It didn't seem like much was going to hinder these things. I wonder how much depends on the type of mulch that is used?

I sure appreciate all the feedback here. When I first began expanding this bed, my DH remarked upon the time a few years ago when I cut sod out of a corner on our old property with good intentions of creating a bed there, then never got it done AND never mulched, so the whole thing grew back as crabgrass where once there had been pretty green lawn. Thank you for that reminder, honey. LOL Anyway, this year I am expanding a bed and want it at this point to be ready for fall planting of perennials, so I feel like it needs to be mulched to keep the weeds out til I'm ready to plant. BUT, it sounds like I need to collect and then wintersow some seeds this year, and maybe next year actually remove the mulch and let my "design assistant" take over at that point :)

I have found it really does depend on the mulch used - pinestraw gives me hardly any reseeders - same with larger wood chips. I like to mulch with soil conditioner and compost so I do get alot of reseeders. If you want to prepare a bed for fall planting why not clear your space, lay down 10-12 layers of newspaper - print only not glossy ads and then top with soil conditioner. That will deter any weed growth at the same time building up a good soil base. The newsprint will be partially decomposed by fall and easy to plant into - cardboard will also work. It would be sorta like a lasagne garden - good luck with your new garden and yes we want pictures next year .....

Lynne

janetgia,
I mulch yearly (I have very sandy soil) and unless I leave some bare-ish soil open don't get reseeders. It's a trade off. I have a few areas that I leave bare on purpose and mulch in late spring after reseeders are up.

Depends. Some seeds could be of the perenial kinds and these would eventually make it's way down to ground level. Some like annuals are light rooted and so easily dealt with.

Now not all mulches are the same as you can see from the input from others. Many manufacturers have mulches, like wood chips, sawdust, etc.. that are not fully decompoosed. These kinds are nitrogen stealing mulches and are detrimental to germinating seeds. It's not that good for regular plants either if such mulch makes it way below soil level and in sandy soil situation, it's only natural that some of these kinds of mulches will make it's way into the soil.

My suggestion is to disturb the mulch when you start seeing weed seedlings every now and then. This way you easily kill off these pesky weeds.

ianna

This is a very pertinent question for this time of year.

Some plants are finishing and going to seed, poppies and foxgloves for me. I use thin slabs of old alfalfa hay which are like cement so I know they will hinder most reseeding.
I plan to lift a slab or two and sprinkle some seeds on the soil directly to see if I can get the foxgloves to reseed. I will be saving seeds just in case. They should all be Apricot Beauty since that is all I had this year.

I have plans to pull most poppies so I am not overrun next year.....good luck to me.

The weather is so hot, I don't work out much past 10 AM.

I wish I had loose, fluffy mulch but this is what we have left over from the dairy and I will keep using it.

DH just tossed down 10 more bales for me yesterday..........

This is my third season trying to create a cottage garden out front, so I'm still pretty new to gardening, but here's my experience so far. For what it's worth.

The first two seasons my beds were small and I mulched moderately with bark mulch. This year it's all just gotten so big that with two small children at home, I really can't afford to mulch! I'm sure my neighbors miss it, because it kept my garden looking very tidy and intentional...but I planted lots of flowers those first two years that I'd hoped would reseed, and hardly anything did...like bee balm and bachelors buttons, both known to be good self seeders. The only place I got lots of reseeding action was in a long stretch where I ran low on mulch and had spread it very sparsley.

So this year I didn't mulch at all, and I have things coming up all over! Lol* A HUGE patch of poppies that volunteered, rudbeckia everywhere, bleeding hearts... It's a little irritating having to go through and pull weeds, but from what I hear, once you get a densley packed garden, the weeds should naturally decrease. (And in all honesty, I only pull the really out of control or big ones.) So that is what I'm trying...because truly, this year, I have seeds coming up from things I planted a couple of years ago, that I didn't get anything from last year.

I do ammend my soil with inexpensive manure compost from Walmart, and I think it helps because I've planted at the end of my driveway which is essentially 70 percent gravel and 30 percent soil...but I added some topsoil and manure compost and the plants are doing pretty well.

I do plan to leaf mulch in the spring, for looks and for the soil, but I have a feeling because it breaks down so quickly it won't cut the reseeding down too much. We'll see what happens. :) Good luck!

It has been SO helpful to hear everyone's experiences - I am more convinced than ever that all the mulch I've put down was a mistake if I wanted reseeding to take place. I also just realized I probably made another mistake: I planted some Four O'Clock seeds in my new bed, then put mulch over them to help keep the moisture in. But now I'm thinking - if mulch keeps the weeds down, wouldn't it keep my seedlings down too? *sigh* If it ever stops raining I am going to have to go out and change some things.

Thanks all!
Janet

This response is for quiltmommy. I don't usually mulch because I packed my front yard cottage garden with tall thick plants, plus I added lots of wildflower seeds like california poppies (which are annuals in my zone). My experiences with weeds has been very minimal and so this technique in my opinion is quite successful.

I don't use mulch in my front bed because the last time I did, the material ended up mixed in with the topsoil. Plus I do top up my soil with compost and manure every season so adding mulches just complicates it.

However I do use mulch to provide 'clean' edges to my backyard garden which is mostly shrubbery. With shrubs and trees, I only limit the top ups near the base of every shrub and tree, hence less complicated since I don't need to remove a lot of mulch in order to top up the soil.

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One question for everyone though -- does cedar mulch deter pests? Does shredded cedar mulch deter slugs?

Ianna

ianna - thank you, your comment has me feeling very optimistic about my plans! Lol*

janetgia - well, you know, we are all making mistakes together! LoL*