How do YOU mulch?

18 years ago

Hi all,

I am wondering about the different ways people mulch for winter protection. In past years I have purchased red cedar mulch and put a 3-4" layer over all my perennials (we won't worry for the moment about any "special needs" plants). I've always done this about end of October, beginning of November. However, I now live with a much larger garden area, and it simply isn't practical to buy all that mulch. Soooo, I've been told by several people that leaves work well, and we have more leaves than I could ever possibly need, so that seemed like a good solution. I have covered everything with about 4-5" of leaves. Most of the leaves have been run over with the lawn mower so they are somewhat shredded. But I have a couple of questions.

First, I have read that we should not put the mulch down until the ground freezes. Is that really necessary? I don't particularly want to wait until its icy cold outside and perhaps already have snow on the ground. So I went ahead and put the leaves down. We are getting to about 30 or high 20s at night and the last few days only up to 35-40 during the day. Many of the plants have not yet died back, so I tried to pull their leaves up above the mulch. So, how many of you wait until the ground is frozen?

Second, those who use leaves - how do you keep them from blowing away? We've had a couple of big winds since I put thtem down, and some places, particularly on the north side of the house, are losing their leaves. Once the snow comes of course it'll be fine, but until then?

Thanks for the help,

Ann from ND

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Comments (6)

zenpotter
18 years ago
At the moment my leaves have been mulched by the lawn mower and are in bags on my patio waiting for the ground to be frozen before I spread them. I wait for the ground to freeze because that is what the experts say and it seems to work better. That I learned from experience.

I have the most luck keeping the leaves in place in the areas that I have left tall stalks and stems. I don't clean my garden until spring so that the leaves will stay in place. I also like to see the stalks and stems above the snow.

The one spot I always have problems is also the spot that I get a lot of winter dammage. A hill that gets enough wind that both snow and mulch blow away so the ground is typically bare. I can't put bags of leaves down because they roll down. After 6 years of trying various plants I have settled on sedums they hold on by themselves.
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selkie_b
18 years ago
LOTS of leaves! And some compost around the roses. We keep them down over the strawberries and the raised bed with chicken wire. For the one un-hardy rose I have we make a cage of wire around it and fill that with compost and leaves - works great and they stay put. Elsewhere, it's quantity! Not an issue when you have a GINORMOUS silver maple in your back yard! Half the mulching is done for you :)

-Marie
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I mulch when most things are up & accounted for in the spring. We use a mixture of 50% leaf mould & 50% manure to mulch with. I like the natural look & it improves the friability of the soil as well as adding nutrients. Our leaf mould is always loaded with earthworms as well. It goes down 4-6" thick & it always virtually decomposed into the soil by early winter. When mulching, be careful not to cover the plant's crown. It takes us about a month to work our way around the gardens at mulch time. Sure looks nice when we're done though. In more direct answer to your question...early winter, after the ground has frozen, less hardy plants benefit from a covering of pine boughs or pine straw as an insulator. But, spring is the time for general mulching around each plant. I wouldn't hire one of those "mow & blow" crews to mulch. Many, if not most, are not gardeners & they just toss the mulch onto any open area they see. If you're going to hire your mulching done look for a gardener (getting harder & harder to find). Happy Spring! Tricia
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Hi, Tracey. Boy, would I love to visit Australia sometime! Maybe you can put up pictures later in your season - we'll all be garden-starved by then! I'm by no means the most experienced or best gardener around here but I have fought the grass in the flowerbeds battle. The way I see it, you never really WIN this one. The best you can hope for is to get the upper hand and an acceptable level of control. Grass is always going to pop up here and there. In the case of a bed that's out of control, I don't try to dig out the roots of the grass. I just pull up it along with as much root as possible (yes, I know there are still roots down there). This can be a BIG job and I've found it needs to be done pretty much in one go or it just never ends. I wish you a nice day with pleasant weather, preferably when the soil is soft so the roots will turn loose easily. Once you have the worst of the grass out of there - all that you can see above ground - put down mulch (a few inches deep). I do this after perennials have appeared so I can leave a tiny bit of space around them. You don't want mulch right up against the stems. One trick I use when mulching a bed with very small plants is to turn small flowerpots or even plastic cups over each plant before dumping on the mulch. When the cups are removed - voila! - each plant sits in its little mulch-free space. After the mulch is in place you will still have to watch for grass coming up but it should be a bit here and there rather than a weekend-long job. I've found that if I just keep removing the above ground part of the grass, eventually the roots give up to some extent. Oh, there will always be weeds! That is just unavoidable if your garden is outdoors. Birds and the wind will see to spreading seeds and grass and other weeds will creep in underground or with runners. But once you get control it only takes vigilence to keep things looking nice. I haven't found that planting very thickly really eliminates weeds. It does make them harder to see (don't you hate when sneaky weeds come up right IN the plant you put there?!) but they are still there taking up nutrients and water. And a lot of plants are healthier with a bit of air circulation. Hope these thoughts help. Luckily, I enjoy weeding (I find it relaxing, actually) because it is always going to be part of gardening.
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leaveswave
18 years ago
zen... if you're still interested in addressing that hill issue, you might try half-filled bags; they won't roll down the hill so easily. You could also use cut-up wire hangers to make prongs that would hold them in place.

prairie... the experts do say to wait until the ground freezes. I'm required to recommend that when I'm wearing my Master Gardener hat. However, in my own garden (and not speaking as an MG here) I do it when it's convenient. Funny how often convenient happens before the ground freezes! lol I have had excellent success in avoiding winter kill, but then I also grow mostly beautiful natives and not those 'particular' plants so much.

Good luck with whatever you decide.
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meeperx
18 years ago
Last year I left the leaves where they fell in my garden-and that seem to work fine for the most part.

I did lose a few plants to rot however-including a geum, a couple of small grasses, and a small endless summer hydrangea.

Lesson learned: zone pushing + less than perfect drainage + unshreaded leaf mulch = death.
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prairie_love
Original Author
18 years ago
Thank you for the suggestions. I have to admit to being relieved that leaveswave puts it down "when its convenient" . Me too. Meeperx, the rot is my biggest concern, having never used leaves before. I am planning to pull it off as early as possible in the spring and hope that works. Currently I really don't have any zone pusher plants, and I think the drainage is pretty good. I'll be crossing my fingers though until I see all those gorgeous green stalks poking up.

I thought my leaf blowing problem was about to be solved as it snowed most of the day today. However, it has now turned to rain. Who knows what we'll have by morning.

Thank you everyone.

Ann
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selkie_b
18 years ago
Nice thing about leaves is that you only wind up raking about half of them off! The other half (mostly already broken down) you mix into the top layer of your soil as compost and soil conditioner. It works wonderfully!

-Marie
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How do YOU mulch?

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How do YOU mulch?

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