Phillip: In your zone 7 climate, you need no mulch at all, and in fact it could be detrimental to your plants. In a climate where there is no hard freezing in the soil, leading to frost heaving, mulch is just a nuisance, and can harbor pests that will attack your berries next spring. Strawberries are extremely hardy plants, not bothered at all by cold. The only danger my overwintering strawberries have faced in Northern Virginia is deer, which can pull up plants by the roots. The plants usually remain green all winter long. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Mulch now. Reason I would mulch now is to preserve moisture through the fall - especially important with new bare-roots; prevent heaving from freeze/thaw cycles through the winter/early spring; and to help suppress weed seedlings, both this fall and especially next spring. Not sure exactly how thick to spread it - I normally use leaves, not composted mulch, so hate to give you bum advice. Have fun bulb planting this weekend - it's supposed to be absolutely beautiful here in SE Michigan tomorrow and Sunday :0)

You can have as many of these leaves as you want for free. This tree dwarfs their house visually, its a problem of scale and proportion. People really should think more carefully before planting trees. Its a particular complaint of mine. Sometimes a single tree is preferable, for instance, not 4 or 5 different kinds and shapes in one front yard struggling for sunlight and fighting for attention. I like well chosen trees. I grow full sun loving SW native plants that need drainage, air circulation and have a mostly all gravel xeroscape with lots of prickly pear cactus, agaves, yuccas and native grasses mixed in that are not fun to clean out. These leaves are not my friend and I spend all winter cleaning them away and raking boat loads off the roof which has a parapet that holds them, so the gutters stay clear and won't leak in the house when it freezes. I haven't met a gardener or homeowner yet without some problem to put up with however. I wanted to add on the mulch question that snow makes an excellent mulch when its there all season like in Colorado. Here we experience a lot of very warm days alternated with cold dry windy ones. Mulch is a good way to protect the freeze/thaw damage and cold drying winds or freeze damage. Here it keeps the temperature from too great of a fluctuation for the plants. Our ground can get pretty dry in winter and warm up pretty hot in the sun and doesn't really freeze much except in shady spots, sometimes not at all. Mulch would be good here but maybe not necessary where you are. I have never had problems with rodents etc, and mulch. Plants always look nice, green and fresh when you pull it away in spring. I recommend some kind of protection. I have used thick polyester quilt batting on less cold hardy cactus and succulents because it wicks away moisture. It works great where you need something dry to avoid rot problems.

In cold climates mulch is applied after the ground freezes to keep it cold, and removed, if necessary, in the spring to speed up warming. The whole idea is to keep the ground and plants from alternately freezing and thawing, heaving the roots out of the ground. Sounds like you can keep your mulch on. What a great system you have! Congratulations!