*Need*? mulch? Nothing I grow. The only plant I can think of that I've heard of more than one person successfully growing with a lot of mulch is musa bajoo. OTOH, is a much longer list of plants that can be killed by a heavy mulch. And even that isn't mentioning voles.

There have been discussions like this in the New England Forum. A fairly heavy mulch of organic material put on in the spring or summer, away from the crowns, is a very good idea. A heavy mulch in the fall can invite voles into the garden, and a heavy mulch put on over crowns can smother and rot the plants.

Hmmm...post this question on the Soils and Compost forum and you'll get some distinctly different opinions from the above. First, mulch is used to protect the soil, not necessarily plants. Sure, some plants can benefit from a protective mulch covering but these tend to be plants that are borderline for that particular zone or subject to bud freezing and dieback, like hydrangeas for example.

Leaving soil exposed during winter can lead to erosion and compaction from rainwater. It is also an excellent germination bed for weed seeds that blow in, most of which occurs in late fall or early spring before one has much chance to get out there and get rid of them. Mulch will also insulate the soil against heaving from freeze/thaw cycles which can be very detrimental to any number of perennials. And an organic mulch serves to enrich the soil and encourage beneficial soil organisms as it breaks down, which it will do, albeit slowly, over winter.

Many gardeners use leaves - they are readily available, free and make an excellent mulch and compost easily. It is best to chop them up, either with a lawn mower or string trimmer, rather than leave them whole. Others use bark, compost or whatever material they have at hand or can obtain easily and cheaply. And with any mulch, it should be applied to the soil surface rather than over the crowns of plants or up against the trunks and stems. Mulch can encourage rots if it remains wet over winter and is immediately adjacent to plant parts, but keeping it a short distance away from the plants reduces this problem AND the likelihood of voles or other critters burrowing through to dine on your garden undisturbed.

There are three reasons to use mulch in the winter:

1) To protect plants from freeze/thaw cycles, which can cause them to heave up out of the ground, exposing their roots, and possibly killing them. Some plants are more susceptible than others. Heucheras are especially susceptible. If you have heucheras and want to use mulch to protect them from this, put the mulch around the base of the plant after the first hard freeze, to keep the soil frozen, which will keep it from heaving. All of this said, however, I have many heucheras in my gardens and I never bother with winter mulch - they're all doing fine, though sometimes I have to sort of push them back into the ground in the early spring.

2) To add organic matter to improve the texture of the soil. A top dressing of shredded leaves or bark can do this, and as earlier posts have mentioned, be sure to apply it on the top of the soil, but keep it away from the stems of the plants.

3) To keep the soil moist - which is a problem in the winter if it doesn't get cold enough to freeze where you are, and if there is very little moisture in the form of rain...even if the top of a plant goes dormant and appears dead, the roots are still taking moisture in through the soil, and should not be allowed to dry out, even in the winter. If we have no rain or snow for a couple of weeks, and if the soil isn't frozen, it's not uncommon to see me out in the garden with a hose in the middle of December watering the "dead sticks" where my flowers used to be (my neighbors think I'm nuts).

thank you for your responses all. I was under the impression that certain plants need mulch to survive the winter.

i was under that impression too ~~ however ~~ it has been my experience that i have caused more damage than protection with my mulching practices to certain plants ~~

for instance, the first year i planted huecheras, penstemon, & cardinal flowers i had read they needed winter protection ~ so i mulched around them & they appeared to be doing just great all winter ~~ however ~~ in late winter/early spring they disappeared! ~~ rotted out from being too wet ~~

i haven't mulched them again; & i have the most beautiful heucheras, penstemon & cardinal flowers ~~ actually, cardinal flowers are suppossed to be *difficult* garden plants; but i now have them in six different garden area (all gorgeous; want some seed?)

good luck, phyl

p.s. i DO mulch everything else with shredded leaves; mainly cuz i think it looks pretty!

i was under that impression too ~~ however ~~ it has been my experience that i have caused more damage than protection with my mulching practices to certain plants ~~

for instance, the first year i planted huecheras, penstemon, & cardinal flowers i had read they needed winter protection ~ so i mulched around them & they appeared to be doing just great all winter ~~ however ~~ in late winter/early spring they disappeared! ~~ rotted out from being too wet ~~

i haven't mulched them again; & i have the most beautiful heucheras, penstemon & cardinal flowers ~~ actually, cardinal flowers are suppossed to be *difficult* garden plants; but i now have them in six different garden area (all gorgeous; want some seed?)

good luck, phyl

p.s. i DO mulch everything else with shredded leaves; mainly cuz i think it looks pretty!

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The fall that I broke my ankle I was unable to mulch and lost several of my favorite hibiscus as well as a few othter plants. I'm sure it varies by zone and know that some of my friends here do not mulch. I grow many zone stretchers (z: 5 and z:6) and believe that I would lose them for sure if I did not mulch them well here in z:4.

My beds are completely covered with mulch over the winter. As the weather begins to warm in the early spring I pull the mulch away from the crowns but still leave it around the plants. I find plants are more apt to be killed back in the early spring after the mulch has been removed due to a late freeze on tender foliage. Those plants usually recover.