Basic mulching questions.
 

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


When mulching a flowerbed, do I need to use landscaping fabric? Do I
lay down the mulch (and fabric if needed) before or after a plant
flowers?


Thanks for you help in these matters!

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





--

Aspasia

"Aspasia" wrote in message
...
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

--
Aspasia

If using mulch, landscape fabric shouldn't be necessary. If you're talking
about the woven product, the stuff ain't what it's cracked up to be as far
as weed control. All it takes is a weed seed coming into contact with the
soil in the fabric's spaces. Then, if you don't yank the weed(s) out soon
enough, the root won't pull through the fabric opening, making it harder to
pull than if nothing was there. Just an unnecessary expense, IMHO. An
organic mulch should be all you need -- chunky or shredded bark, cocoa bean
& rice hull mix. Marble stones and pavers can keep the soil over the roots
too hot. And even tho you see concrete over tree roots all about town, it
also holds too much heat and impedes water flow, further stressing the tree.

Suzy O