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Sheet-mulching over tulips?

foreignlady (5b - Montreal area)

11 years ago

Hi! I have an area that's is invaded with grass and weeds around a few perennials (mostly daylilies and sedum). I was thinking of trying sheet-mulching around these plants. The problem is that there's also a few tulip bulbs in there that come up randomly in the spring... I don't know where they are exactly at this time because I can't see the leaves anymore for some reason.

If I do sheet-mulch over it, will the layers breakdown enough by next spring for the tulips to come through? And if not, what will happen to those tulips?

Thanks for your help!

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Comments (4)

User
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Is sheet-mulching an actual bed sheet?
sylviatexas1
11 years ago
only if you make your bed with cardboard!

You just put down overlapping layers of cardboard to block sunlight from weed seeds, & then put mulch on top of the cardboard.
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User
11 years ago
Got it. Thanks.

In a Montreal winter surely 2 layers would be soft by spring. When bulbs are covered by a stepping stone they will grow sideways to reach the sun. If they can't reach the sun they rot.
purslanegarden
11 years ago

You can also help it along by being sure to water in that area with the material that you are using for sheet mulch.

The other side is that if you're ready to sacrifice those other plants to being covered up to kill them along with the grass, you could just hoe the area, then keep it maintained to prevent grass and other weeds from taking hold.

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