I always pull the wrap away from the ball, then covering the whole thing with compost & soil. I have a good supply of free burlap bags, so I use them to mulch my berry & tomato plants. They let water & roots though & rot in a year or so. I can see no problem with planting the wrap with the plant. Most of the 14 or so blue berry plants, I have are sucker & bare roots when planted. Must be nice to have larger plants.

Wow, I thought this thread would have died out and so hadn't checked back for a little bit. I've been having some troubles with slugs where there's sparsely planted lettuce/spinach/beets, and I do not particularly like to hand kill them (though if I had fish, that sounds like a great idea for food). I have had good success with all my transplants into the garden, but would definitely like to direct sow a lot more. I was looking into Masanobu Fukuoka's seed ball method, but I'm not sure what kind of clay to use or where to get it. Since my last post I've pulled back the mulch around my beds to sow seeds, which I actually like a lot. Now there's a nice border of mulch matter around my beds that are still steadily decomposing, and the soil is good and warm. It was also a nice chance to peek at all the different bugs under the mulch layer. Now I'm considering finally investing in some diatomaceous earth for slug control. Thanks for reminding me of its existence.

A bit of a guessing game what you are up to., : ) Misc seeds of this and that. The needs of different seed are written on the packet...but just suppose you get free seeds from a friend...look up on the interweb what they need...no time for that?...do not mulch the seeds. If a big seed, stick it in twice its size, if a itty biity seed, just sprinkle on top and add a dusting of very light dry soil. Tap down with your hand and lightly water. Very wet and quite warm in NY right now. Don't mulch until your seedlings are up and strong. You will learn eventually what it takes to make a successful garden. Pay attention without frustration. You might be doing some dumb things...sometimes it is the only way to learn.... -sometimes, 'no light needed for germination', means no light in a dark damp corner at 65 in a basement covered for three days, then tender light for three months before planting in june when the soil is warm... You will soon discover that in NY, some things grow without effort, and others seem a waisted seed packet and expense...never to grow a thread of green. It is fun though if you want it to be.

I saw burlap at JoAnn's the other day. There was also a coupon for 1/2 off for a few days, starting today I think?? I just filled a new raised bed with a mix involving quite a bit of horse manure. To try to make it less offensive to my neighbors (that load was a little too fresh for neighborhood living), I covered it with straw, then stapled a piece of landscape fabric over the top (I had some left from a project a few years ago). Then I ran chicken wire (had a bunch of that laying around too) over the top of that to keep it from blowing away. Of course, in a couple days, the pile had shrunk down so my fabric & wire were loose, but it still looked "neater" that way, and my straw didn't blow away. Of course, the landscape fabric won't decompose like the burlap, but in my case, it keeps it cleaner looking, and I already had it. I'm still new to the neighborhood, and so far my next door neighbors have been supportive of my gardening projects. I try to keep things looking neat. Now, when I do this to my front yard/lawn, I guess we'll find out about some of the other neighbors...