i have large areas of my yard mulched. you have a lot of questions, i'll throw out a couple of answers/observations and let others take on the rest: - you can significantly decrease the amt of mulch/frequency of refreshing by using black or brown landscaping fabric. i recommend it VERY HIGHLY. you can also use newspaper and (for areas with no plantings) glossy catalogues and magazines. (this winter i used all the christmas cataloges i was sent unbidden to block the weeds in a large area -- worked like a charm, and one less thing that needs to be trucked to the dump). i have a bed in full sun with landscaping fabric that i mulched lightly three years ago -- it still looks great. whatever you do -- overlap A LOT. at least 6 inches. - i recommend mulching incrementally rather than all at once. spreading mulch is by far my least favorite gardening task -- it is HARD WORK. better to buy a couple of bags a month and spread it where it needs to go. - the longer you have mulch, the less often you need to replenish. eventually you get rid of weed seeds in the given area. i have a couple of beds that i have had mulched for five years -- they hardly EVER need replenishing. - consider layering an inch or two of leaves and yard waste under your mulch. less mulch you have to use, and it enriches the soil. - consider using pine bark mulch. it's the least ecologically-harmful mulch out there (aside from free mulch from the dump) - check for free trash tree and line-clearing mulch from the dump. i mulched a couple of areas with it last year. breaks down quickly, but, hey, it's free. - i am slowly transitioning away from wood mulch to pine straw. it is SO MUCH cheaper and easier to spread. you have to block the weeds with newspaper. -bagged mulch is (strangely enough) about the same price as mulch from the local landscaping company. it's also easier to handle. however, it's much easier to get a big load of mulch delivered and dumped near your site. it just depends on how much area you need to mulch.

It is really nice to see what hostas you all love the look of. Harryshoe, I cannot tell you whether or not your Northern Halo is actually named correctly. It looks gorgeous though. I have a sneakin suspicion that if it were in my garden, I would be loving the look of that one! I am not clear though about what it is you would like a suggestion on. Rob_sneyers, I had never heard of a hosta named Eos. As for Queen of the Seas, I just got it last year and I am hoping to love it too. Bernd, those are a nice bunch of hosta you picked. Don B. I got Brother Stephan last year. It had 2 eyes. It is now emerging with 5 eyes. I agree that Babka's Brother Stefan is gorgeous. I am crossing my fingers that mine might look that good. Did you see McTavish's photo comparisons of Brother Stefan and Paradigm? I have attached a link. Here is a link that might be useful: Paradigm & Brother Stefan Photo Comparison

With my plants, a lot of it, as far as pest damage goes, is just the good luck of being in a climate that snails and slugs don't seem to like. It's arid here where I live, so i just water, water, water and when I have the occasional pest issues, I try to use 'appropriate' insecticides, so as not to kill pollinators. I really make an effort to try and not do that. They help keep US alive, so it's the least I can do. : ) Sometimes I see caterpillar/cutworm damage...Believe it or not, the biggest problems for me, by far, are pill bugs! When the population explodes, like it is this season, they are everywhere. Snail and slug pellets seem to work real well to control them. Plus, yeah, sometimes those spouses are real pesty. For that, I just keep the lawn mowed, edged and fairly weeded. Keeps my wife happy. : ) I only fertilize with the nice dirty water I get from my fish pond, but rich soil and water are what's working for me to get mine to grow well, I guess. No doubt you'll get a lot of good information from having started this thread. Good luck, and HAVE FUN! Cheers, Don B.

Windy.....here is some basic info on expanded shale that I stole from an old Gardenweb thread. In my pots I use basically a cup and a half of it per 2 cups of potting soil. I use a raised bed blend. I just started using it last year so the jury is still out, but the difference in the drainage and the stopping of the overly wet "mush" is clearly evident: Expanded shale is like "Vermiculite plus"--it is, as I understand it, "popcorned" shale rock. Please realize that vermiculite is expanded, or "popcorned", mica. Mica is naturally a rock made of many fine layers--all fragile and glassy (silica rock is, basically, glass--so you have whisper-thin layers of glass puffed out, mostly apart). When expanded, mica forms a very fragile accordian shape that holds a lot of moisture--and usually some air. The air is needed to keep roots from drowning--they have to breathe, too! Alas, mica breaks down quickly into tiny blobs that can form a gray mass of blech -- say, if used at the bottom of a container. Even if the blobs are evenly distributed in your dirt-free soil mix, they still won't hold air anymore--and don't hold much water. Blobby mica is not a sterling aid to roots anymore. Solution? Add more vermiculite (at an annual cost), try another product/substance/method, or move to expanded shale. Unlike mica (which expands into a fragile accordian shape to make vermiculite), shale starts as a roundish rock. Expanded shale retains a smooth rocky appearance--just larger. (Think of corn expanding into hominy--still a distinct shape, but bulkier.) What is so wonderful about expanded shale? Expanded shale *always* retains 30% air. Even if you dump it into a bucket of water, the stuff still retains 30% air (in normal environmental conditions). This means your plants' roots always have access to air, so they are pretty much drown-proofed. Texas A&M tested solid clay soil, in a ground-level bed, with moisture-sensitive plants. Solid clay soil slew the poor test plants rapidly (as anyone with clay soil already knew.....) The plants in the bed with expanded shale survived and *thrived*--that 30% air pocket content saved them. Naturally, the 70% water pocket content provides needed moisture to plants, even in challenging conditions like raised beds/containers in 110+ degree F summers. (Probably great for vacation survival for houseplants, too. Also for people with "blue thumbs" who overwater everything....) Expanded shale is easy to use. It is useless to put a layer of expanded shale in the bottom of a container--just mix it evenly in the soil. The A&M experiment was 50% clay, 50% expanded shale. Your good compost/coir (or peat, or varied, aged compost only) soil mix will not need that much shale. Unlike the water absorbing gels, expanded shale will never swell or shrink, so you don't have to worry about the soil (and plants) heaving up or collapsing. Expanded shale weighs more like lava rock than vermiculite--and has the same ability as lava rock to remain intact for many years (centuries? millenia?) at a moderate initial investment.