Do I need to mulch every year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:if you fo not mulch and do not clean up the dead plants over the winter, do you need to cut them back in the spring or just let them stay where they fall?

Cutting back and cleaning up is just to make it look tidy, if that matters to you. The plants will come up and bloom even if you don’t cut them back. I do something called chop and drop where you cut back last year’s dead stalks and such, chop them up a bit, and then leave them in the bed as mulch. It’s an in-between measure - tidier than just leaving it all standing, better for wildlife than cutting to the ground and taking it away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have about 1/3 of an acre of yard with mostly native plants, I leave the leaves among the plants over the winter and don’t cut the dead stalks until January, and then mulch everything. But now I am thinking i should just let nature run its course as better for bugs and other creatures, though wont look as “neat” as mulch, and we are in neighborhood (Kent) of “neat” yards. Bad idea? Certainly cheaper than the 6k in mulch and labor fees every year

I turn my mulch over and it looks like someone just mulch the beds. You can do that every other year and get mulch every two or three years. Just turn over what you have and spread it out. It will look new.

[Anonymous]

Not really. We touch up, and remulch as needed.

[Anonymous]

I never put down bagged mulch. I do mulch my leaves every fall, but that's it. I have extremely successful gardens with no hardwood mulch.

[Anonymous]

If I don't mulch, the weeds take over something terrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I don't mulch, the weeds take over something terrible.

Nature abhors a vacuum. Bare soil isn’t an option anywhere but the desert, a beach, or deep, dry shade. Planting things you want very densely, so they crowd out the weeds, is the best way to go. Then you can let fallen leaves mulch for you in the fall/winter, and no need to buy bags and bags!

I do usually have a chip drop pile at all times. I use the coarse chips for paths and the partially decomposed material for mulching new plantings, tops of containers, vegetables (where you do indeed want a little space between plants).

[Anonymous]

You don’t need to mulch every year, and the only mulch I’d use is ground up leaves a grease, or pine needles. A ground cover plant Is a better option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don't need to mulch, ever. I have never used mulch. Real gardens should be densely planted, or at least planned to be densely planted at maturity, to avoid unsightly mulch.

The mulch phenomenon is a landscaping company gimmick that busy, non-gardening homeowners fall for because they don't know any better and think a yard needs to be neat above all else. I see the landscapers diligently pull up tiny plantings that are way too spaced-out, replace them seasonally with tiny new ones equally too spaced-out, and add fresh mulch all around them, never allowing anything to actually develop. This is now the "standard", such that people who have never been exposed to actual gardening techniques think this is the way a garden should look. A garden is never neat and tidy. It's alive and should be lush and a little bit "messy". The ultra-neat, spaced-out, "islands of plants in a sea of mulch" look is a lot more sterile in terms of biodiversity, and creates an inhospitable environment to insects, birds and other wildlife. Also it looks ugly.

Excellent post

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We pay a company 850 for premium black mulch on a 1/3 acre with 15 trees and 10 shrubs mulched to include weeding and edging. You’re getting ripped off. Time to shop around.

I'm not the OP, but would you mind sharing the name of the company?

[Anonymous]

I’ve been mulching ever since I discovered Ruth Stout decades ago. I started with hard clay and now I can easily sink my arm in the soil a foot deep.