I'd say 70% groundcover, 30% mulch- not that I don't mulch my groundcover every spring before it comes back to life, and I do see where my husband is right, it's nice to see a patch of 'dirt' here and there...

but since my yard is the size of my parent's living room, I see no point in wasting space- if I can put a plant there, I'm gonna ;)

I find weeding in groundcovers to be very tedious. With mulch, I can use my scuffle hoe or weeding stick and not bend over as much. I have to bend over and track the weed back to the root to pull in groundcover.

One of my big problems with mulch is that I have to pull it all off once a year so I can fertilize, add compost and lay my soaker hose arrangement.

Mulch does help with soil water retention better though.

GeeDavey, I only recently finished the laborious task of removing the mulch from all of my beds so I could fertilize, weed, aerate the soil, etc. And that is another reason why I prefer groundcovers to mulch...can't wait til mine fill in better. When I first started gardening I made the mistake of using that big, chunky wood mulch. Now I'm buying pine bark fines/soil conditioner to apply as a top dressing/mulch on my beds, and it is much, much easier to work with. I'll never buy another bag of hardwood mulch.

I was thinking about Pine Fines as a mulch alternative. It decays quickly?

I use my leaves as mulch. I don't fertilize so I don't have to remove it. It slowly decays and improves the soil texture. Most plants come up through it unless I have piled it on too tick. I also use groundcovers so it isn't a question of gc's or mulch. In one bed I have Vinca minor and just let be any leaves that fall in that bed. Any leaves that fall on any of the beds are left. When I clear my paths of leaves they go to on either side of the path. Some beds thathad mulch, but no gc's are being invaded by various groundcovers, such as anemones, bloodroot, mayapple, asarums, trillium etc. etc. etc.

GeeDavey~ yes, the fines seem to decay a bit quicker than regular hardwood mulch, and that's ok by me. The only drawback is that I have to apply more bags of the fines to get the same coverage that I did with heavier hardwood mulch - you'd need, at the very least, 3 inches of fines or it'll wash away in the first heavy rain you have. One bag of fines doesn't give you much coverage when you're piling it on to a depth of 3 inches. However, the fines cost me nearly 2 dollars less per bag than the heavier mulch. So it kinda evens out. The product I buy is sold at a local nursery and is simply called 'soil conditioner', with the main ingredient listed as composted pine bark fines. Besides its use as a mulch or top dressing, you can mix it into the soil when you're digging new planting holes, which is something that isn't possible with traditional hardwood mulch. Another bonus is its natural dark color, which blends in nicely, and it smells really good, too.
So far I'm happy with it.

It depends on the situation but I'm not sure it has to be an either/or issue. I use both. I mulch around evergreen groundcovers and over the top of deciduous ones. And since I use a high grade of finished compost as a mulch, there is never a need to remove it to fertilize, etc. The compost itself is sufficient to maintain nutrient levels in the soil for just about everything I grow and for those few plants that do require supplemental fertilizing, it can be applied directly on top of the mulch and worked in as necessary.

Since the time I have available to work in my own garden is limited, the fewer unnecessary steps I have to take the better. Mulching or top dressing with a high organic product like compost is one of the best things you can do for your soils and and your plants. Repeated applications of this product over the years results in excellent, rich and freely draining soils, which all my plants, including the groundcovers, love.

QUOTE:by gardengal48

[ Since the time I have available to work in my own garden is limited, the fewer unnecessary steps I have to take the better. Mulching or top dressing with a high organic product like compost is one of the best things you can do for your soils and and your plants. Repeated applications of this product over the years results in excellent, rich and freely draining soils, which all my plants, including the groundcovers, love. ]

Yes. I've found that to be true, too. Those are exactly the benefits I'm beginning to discover using the soil conditioner, rather than hardwood mulch, as top dressing. Using the conditioner has made my soil much 'fluffier' and my plants seem to be doing so much better this spring than last. The texture of my soil is alot nicer and it's a pleasure to work in. As I said in a previous post, I'll never buy another bag of chunky hardwood mulch again. I hate to even think of the amount of money I wasted on that stuff last year.

So then, do you make your own compost? Or buy it? I make a bit, but it doesn't add up to enough. I'd have to supplement, which I do now with manure.

What about weed control? Don't the weeds grow right in the compost?

I buy prepared compost in bulk - don't have the time or the space to make enough of my own sufficient for the entire garden.

Any kind of mulch properly applied will reduce weed growth. From time to time weed seeds will germinate into the compost but the texture of the soil makes them very easy to remove. And a heavily planted garden is one that has few weed problems:-) One of the reasons I mulch twice annually is to keep the weeds at bay. If for some reason I skip a mulching, the weeds return with a vengeance.

Thanks. Out of curiosity, what months do you apply the compost, and how deep? Twice annually, two inches of compost would seem like a lot to me. Any less though must not do much to the weed suppression.

Thanks for the info. Very helpful. It may help me a bunch.

The timing depends a lot on my schedule :-)) I try to shoot for early spring before things fill out too much, sometime in March if I can but this often gets pushed back until well into April if I'm too busy and the weather is too nasty. The again in late November or early December. And I'd consider 2" a minimum amount. It's pretty fluffy stuff to begin with and compacts with rain/irrigation and breaks down quickly - you can barely see any trace of the previous season's mulch by the time I get around to the next application.

GeeDavey, I live in zone 6B. I use soaker hoses,fertilize, & use compost. I never, never pull my mulch back. My soaker hoses are arranged under or in the mulch. I have never removed them for any reason or season. I top dress with my fertilizers & or compost. You are going to a lot of trouble for nothing. Read up on top dressing & look at your directions on the soaker hoses. They don't need to be removed over winter. Relax!PS I also sprinkle Preen on top of the mulch when I freshen it each spring. This keep weed seeds from sprouting. Works great.

I prefer both. Different applications require different methods. I love mulch for keeping my plants hydrated and less water stressed and keeping me from stressing b/c they keep the bulk of the weeds out, so I have more time to enjoy them.
I love groundcovers for their colour, texture and again for doing something different besides grass. I love tall grasses but think lawns are over rated. Ground covers again save on water and some have flowers which change them throughout the season.

I have some of both, also. As long as the groundcovers come up thickly enough to crowd out that awful weed named grass, I am happy. But, like cheryl above, I don't remove my mulch, just add manure and another layer of mulch. All I have here is sand and I need all the organic matter I can get.