When was the last time you looked your garden over real well? How long has the mulch been around your plants? How much mulch do you have in your garden, 3 inches, 4 inches or even more? Did you use weed fabric under your mulch? There are many questions you can ask yourself about the condition of your garden. Start out by making a list. Write it down, use a voice recorder or what ever way is best for you. This way you don’t get side tracked and forget an important step while giving your garden a tune-up. First things first.
How long has that mulch been surrounding your plants? If it has been more that 3 years it is time to replenish it. By replenish it we do not mean just go out and buy more mulch and dump it on top of what is already there. If your mulch has been in the garden more than 3 years you are asking to invite some very unwanted diseases to your plants. Mold and mildew will form under the surface of the mulch where the moisture does not get a chance to completely dry. With mulch being a relatively inexpensive addition to your garden you should never jeopardize your valuable plants by leaving it in your garden to try and save money.
A good practice is to completely remove all the mulch and weed fabric from your garden every 2 to 3 years and replace it. While you are doing that you have a great chance to do some serious digging around the roots of your plants. Your outdoor plants are really no different than your indoor plants. They both become very compacted around their roots over time and need at the very least to have the soil loosened around the root system to allow them to grow and breath with less stress on the plant. With certain types if plants like Hostas you can actually take advantage of splitting them in half and gaining plants for new areas of your gardens.
After digging up around the roots, give them some mild fertilizer and lay down some new weed barrier and put some edging around your beds to make for easier trimming when mowing or weed wacking to keep the beds looking great. Finally put back some new, fresh mulch and give everything a good long drink of water. You only need 2 or 3 inches of mulch in your beds. Any more than that makes it hard for the mulch to dry out underneath. The mulch will still do it’s intended job of helping to keep weeds to a minimum and keeping moisture around the plants from evaporating to quickly. More mulch is NOT a better thing, it only invites trouble. The same goes for old mulch. The work you just did will pay you back in a big way by extending the life of your valuable plants and give your flower beds a well tended look you can be proud of.
I am a Maine native and love the great outdoors. My wife and I are yard hermits in the summer. We spend all our time out in our yard adding to the look and feel of our property which led us to go into business for ourselves dealing with yard and garden decor.
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