It depends on the type of fertilizer. Granular organic fertilizers do not "percolate downwards" well - they must be mixed thoroughly with the soil and its microbial life as that is how they are broken down into plant accessible nuttrients. They are not water soluble and they do not leach, hence the lack of ability to percolate. Synthetics you can maybe get by just by dusting over the top of the mulch but with 2+ inches, I'd be inclined to rake the mulch back and apply fertilizer directly to the soil if you are using a coated or timed release product.

Sherry, I never used hay for a mulch, but I did have horses for years. Hay packs down a lot and actually becomes a barrier to water. Think of it in terms of thatched roofs. It might work better for you to move it to the areas where you don't want the water to get through in your garden, as a weed preventative. However, the hay may also contain lots of weed seeds. Been there. Done that. I thought my father was going to kill me as a kid when I spread horse manure mixed with straw and hay from my stalls, into his corn field. We never did get rid of all the weeds! Choked out all the corn in that area too. I am thinking of trying pine needles in the future rather than pine bark. For one thing, I can't hack shoveling piles of it up and hauling it around anymore. Pine needles come either free, if you gather them yourself somewhere, or in lightweight bales. I noticed at the last Heritage Rose meeting in Lakeland, that all of Malcolm's rose gardens at the college were being mulched with pine needles this year. Don't know about cost. However, I have read that the pine needles allow air and water to pass more freely than pine bark, which compacts pretty tightly. Sandy

Nate, it sounds like the following is too late, since your work has already begun, but for what it's worth: We had 4 new roofs (entire house) and everything that that entailed (remove old roofs, put on new + gutters & downspouts) and new stucco siding on one side of the house's addition (hence, remove all old stucco, too). Contractor also created a new profile for the eave over that side of the house; also made and installed a copper overhang for the window on that side. Not all of this was done at the same time; still, a lot of construction materials and debris. Used the same contractor and his small crew for everything. The crew was able to do the roofing job by accessing all the roofs from the patio; the main issue was roof debris that ended up on the ground. They were exceedingly careful and neat but even now, I do find the occasional nail and bits of roofing material. For the stucco work, however, they needed to erect and safely access scaffolding. I asked the contractor to try to protect a daylily bed directly under the side of the house needing that work. For various reasons, I couldn't dig up the plants in it, even though it contained some daylilies I value a lot (eg LAST SNOWFLAKE, NEON FLAMINGO, COWBOY SCARF, MABOU, Jack Carpenter patterns, and more), so he set up the scaffolding on a large piece of plywood that was placed on cinder blocks on either end of the bed (and with two blocks supporting the mid part of the wood). The crew had to access the scaffolding of course, so one end of the bed got badly trampled & the soil very compacted. Even so, given what had to be done to the house, and the time they spent doing it, the daylilies sailed through everything in near perfect condition. There was a lot of bent and torn foliage, but it was late autumn anyway so that didn't matter. Plus, it was the crowns I'd been concerned about. We plan to use the same guys to paint the house's exterior next spring. Since I don't know exactly which month that will be, I expect to have to dig up the entire bed. Even so, I'll ask the contractor to once again place scaffolding on plywood on cinder blocks. The idea will be to protect the soil from compaction so that I can use that bed again as soon as the work is done.

It is interesting to me how much rose culture can vary in different climates. What works here in the deep south would be a poor cultural practice for where Straw lives. This what makes an open forum like this so great, you don't have to rely on the wisdom of a single individual but can get collective global wisdom. Also the people who frequent this forum actually grow roses and are kind enough to share their experiences. I can't recall ever seen a healthy garden in Florida without some kind of mulch being used. Where I live, the favorite is pine bark and I have seen many health roses gardens growing with a pine bark mulch. Here in my hot humid climate, without some sort of mulch, the organics are burned out of the soil. Before the use of chemical fertilizers, farmers who wanted to use the same plot of land over and over had to replenish the organic materials in the soil. This was done through cover crops and mulching. Now farmers try to maintain growth of crops through the use of chemical fertilizers and irrigation without trying to maintain the organics in the soil. As the organics disappear from the soil, so does the nutrition and water holding capacity. This is a big difference between wood mulch and bark muIch. Pine bark takes many years to breakdown and is a good mulch for gardeners who already have plenty of organics in their soil and can afford the cost. I use wood chips (and now peanut hulls) because they breakdown and provide a composted organic layer for my garden. In a new garden, when wood chips are first applied, I see a period when the nitrogen is in short supply and I have to feed nitrogen to my plants. By the second year, I don't need to water nearly as much and I don't need to fertilize. I am trying to mimic the forest floor where organic materials is constantly being renewed by falling debris. No one needs to water or fertilize the forest. In the old days in Florida, newly cleared land was called "virgin land" and was known as the very best for growing. I am also trying to create a diverse population of micro organisms in my soil. Many fungi and bacteria compete with each other. Certain type of fungus feed on nematodes, so nematode damage is not a problem in my garden. I have been very influenced in my gardening approach by Ruth Stout and her success with heavy mulch.. I would really like to hear other's experiences with mulch.