Mulching

I just put down a thick layer of pine bark for mulch around my flowers. Am I going still going to get lots of weeds? I needed to put something down to keep in the moisture in my sunny garden; my husband bought a pickup truck load of mulch and we put it down yesterday. I pray to God that I'm still not going to have to pull weeds night and day. Was it bad to put a thick layer down? Your opinions please!

Kathy

How thick did you lay it?

Mulching is about the best thing you can do to control weeds. If your beds had a lot of weeds before you mulched, some of them will push up through the mulch. If this is the case then it would have been a good idea to weed or maybe use a layer of newspaper to smother the weeds. Mulching will enrich your soil, help retain moisture and when weeds do sprout they are much easier to pull from a layer of mulch than the ground. You did the right thing!

- Brent

I started with a thick layer of bark (the big chips) and even though they are disappearing... i still really don't get many weeds.

I'll get a few tiny ones in the spring when things are starting to germinate, but as stated... they pull out very easily -- and they are easy to find.

I honestly had MORE weeds than i do here, than i did at my old house with one of the dang weed block fabric things.

I layed it on at least 2"-3". My problem with mulching in the past has been putting down that black fabric stuff. It seems like wherever I put the fabric down, my perennials take longer to come back in the spring and don't do as well, so this time I skipped the fabric. I'm glad to hear that I did the right thing!

You did the right thing. That weed fabric is a curse to good soil, and a pestilence to whoever has to take it up later.

Zeppy, I'm glad you agree about the fabric. It is a terror when you are trying to dig in a new plant or two.