"Rob Barrett" wrote in message
...
Newbie alert....

Being quite happy with my garden's little show of spring bulbs and with my
pruned bushes actually coming nicely back to life, I'm thinking about my
next move.

I've read in a number of places that mulching the various flower beds and
shrubs is a great thing -- better looking than bare soil, weed control,
moisture retention, etc. So I was preparing to order some bark when I
decided to look around at the gardens in my neighborhood in Durham and I
noticed that hardly any of them are mulched.

Am I missing something? What are the downsides? Why don't others do it?
Maybe I should use this as a way to meet my neighbors?

confused,
Rob

Rob,

I know nothing about gardening.

But, we recently (last summer) moved house. At the front was a hump patch
between the drive and the road (quite big, 1 1/2 car lengths, one car width)
of bark, with a good scattering of weeds and lots of cat poo.

we spent hours raking it all off, bagging it up and taking it to the tip. We
grass seeded it, it is now green and the mowing keeps the weed away. We also
planted lots of bulbs. It's now colourful and green at the same time.

Not much help, I am sure there are better examples of how bark works really
well.

Ian