On 1 Jul 2005 10:32:01 -0700, "hanson"
wrote:

I use red colored bark mulch.

? Why "red" colored?

When mulching around trees, do I need to
use landscaping fabric under the mulch????

IMHO if you use a thick enough layer of mulch, you
shouldn't need landscaping fabric underneath. I don't
have direct experience around trees, so would defer to others...


When mulching a flowerbed, do I need to use landscaping fabric?

No. Why would you? Defeats the purpose. See below.

Do I lay down the mulch (and fabric if needed) before or after a
plant flowers?

Doesn't matter. The plant just goes along and does its thing. You're
providing a pleasant environment. The function of the mulch is to
keep down weeds and keep the soil from drying out (a big factor in dry
So. Calif). Where are you, BTW?

As the mulch decays, it will add to the soil. (Some opine that the
act of decaying requires taking "energy" [inexact, unscientific term!]
from the soil. I never considered that enough of a minus, if true,
compared to the many plus aspects of mulch.

There is a lot of info on the Web, for example:

http://www.gardenguides.com/TipsandT...ch-noframe.htm

BTW: There's a great little free utility called TinyUrl which takes
these long URLs and makes them short. Can download from
TinyUrl.com I keep it on my desktop.

Thanks for you help in these matters!

HTH





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Aspasia