I'm using large pine bark nuggets and haven't noticed a problem with
that. What kind of mulch are you using?

I use shredded cedar chips mulch. Seem like large nuggets that you use
work better than shredder chips because they last longer. I even found
two groups of termintes in the shredder cedar chips after I had put
them in the flower garden for just two years. This is one of the
reason why I want to remove the mulch (but I keep delaying doing this
for one thing or the others). I probably need to remove them and put
them in a compost pile (that I should have done one year ago).

Do you think termintes will bother large pine bark nuggets? How long
do you think the large nuggets will remain effective in keeping
termintes out?

I don't add stuff to my flower bed, but I guess you could make more flaps
next to your plants and stick stuff in a pile under them. If you're
feeling the need to mix things in, well that's another story.

Sooner or later, you will need to put amendment to the soil, right?
How do you get away from doing this?

Jay Chan