bsimon says:

June 1st, 2007 at 11:13 am

I mulched two weeks ago. I had to mulch though, as I had a ton of waste from tree-trimming and buckthorn eradication. Some of the much went on my attempt at a small native prairie wildflower garden, stocked with plants from the Friend School sale. Most was placed anywhere I could find space, which was either on the dog path along our fence to hold down mud, or in newly opened spaces formerly taken by buckthorn - the chips will hopefully keep the dirt on our hill until we plant there - which probably won’t be until next year.

Normally I get chips from the free piles placed by the city of Minneapolis in various parks’ parking lots. This time, I split the cost of a chipper with friends and we spent a saturday morning chipping branches at our houses (they’d taken a tree down).

I mulch with woodchips primarily because they’re free. My dad used to use mushroom mulch which worked great, but I haven’t yet bothered to find a local source (his sources back in the day were in WI & IL).

Accidental Gardener says:

June 1st, 2007 at 11:52 am

I have been mulching over the past few weeks. We live on sand and, in case you haven’t noticed, it hasn’t rained much so wet is not an issue. Getting mulch down while I still have space to walk and place the mulch is the priority. Once everything starts to fill in, which it did quickly with the warmth this year, I can’t mulch till fall.

bsimon says:

June 1st, 2007 at 2:09 pm

Me three on sandy soil.

Mushroom mulch is, as I understand it, the leftover growing medium from growing mushrooms - basically a bunch of shredded organic matter. The piles were usually still hot when we were unloading them & spreading the stuff around the yard. It did a great job of keeping the weeds down, keeping the ground moist & it pretty much disappeared by spring. Which is why I’d like to find some in place of the wood chips!

Peter Hoh says:

June 1st, 2007 at 10:27 pm

I’m not too happy with the wood chip mulch available at Ramsey County Yard Waste sites. It’s a little too rough, with lots of big chunks.

I use cedar mulch for some of my paths. I prefer a smaller, darker mulch for my flower beds. I’ve used cocoa bean mulch for several years. Aside from the occassional problem with slime mold, I like it. Pine bark nuggets (the small ones) are pretty nice, too.

Last year, for a big project at my sister-in-law’s house, I used something called Organic Grower’s Mulch from Kern Landscape Resources in St. Paul. It’s small bits of wood mixed with composted manure. I took some home and used it in a few places. I really like it. I don’t have to brush it aside before putting in a new plant — I just mix it into the soil. Applied thickly, it does a good job of suppressing weeds.

Jaime Chismar says:

June 2nd, 2007 at 11:42 am

This year, for the first time, I plan to mulch my veggie garden. The past two years, I grew veggies in haphazard clusters and it was rather difficult to mulch. This season, I decided to plant in rows and suddenly the necessity of mulching made perfect sense.

>>> do you rake it up in fall?
There are many ways you can put your garden to bed. Some gardeners yank everything up in the fall, add a few supplements to the garden, then re-mulch to protect the soil from erosion during the winter. Other gardeners leave their mulch as is all growing season long, then rake up in the spring.

Jaime Chismar says:

June 3rd, 2007 at 10:47 am

Pine needle mulch is all the rave in other growing zones. When it is green, it is slightly acidic, but really not worth worrying about.

>>do perennials still spread when they are mulched?
Could you be more specific? Are we talking hostas or yarrow or ???

Connie Nelson says:

June 4th, 2007 at 10:16 am

Hey Msmith,
There’s a difference between summer mulch and winter mulch, tho they both help prevent soil temperatures from fluctuating.

Most people don’t use wood chips for winter mulch, because the best winter mulches hold air in. Straw or leaves (best if chipped up) are the most popular winter mulches. Winter mulch is much thicker than summer mulch, too. In winter, most beds and plants should have 6 to 10 inches of mulch. And, yes, you should remove winter mulch in spring.

All this said, not everyone winter mulches all their plants. I usually only mulch the beds that have tender or unprotected plants. But it really helps plants make it through winter, especially the kind of winters we’ve been having lately, where we can’t count on an insulating layer of snow.

Who out there winter mulches? Do you mulch every year? Have you seen a difference?

Connie Nelson says:

June 4th, 2007 at 10:32 am

Pat,
Pine needles make great summer mulch. In fact, they sale them by the bag in the southern states. They do add a bit of acidity to the soil, but not enough to affect most plants.
And, yes, perennials still spread with there’s mulch on the ground.

Connie Nelson says:

June 6th, 2007 at 1:15 pm

Chris,
Sounds like you are a mulch maniac. Good for you! I really think winter mulch makes a big difference in what survives, especially now that are winters are so wacky. I, too, lost a few things this winter, including a brunnera I just loved. Oh, well, I guess it serves me right for not mulching that bed.

BTW: don’t think Leo DiCaprio mulches. His people mulch for him!