anyone else?

[readandpostrosie]

sick of weeding?

[Cheryl Isaak]

Oh ya! but I've got a back log from when DS wasn't able to move much and needed Mom in the house.

C

[readandpostrosie]

how deep should mulch be, in order to prevent week growth? do you put landscaping cloth under your mulch?

[Jim]

[....]

the primary function of mulch is moisture retention. while mulch might increase the germination time for the weed seed residing in the soil it does nothing to retard or stop the germination of the weed seed contained within the mulch.

on several different landscaping jobs located in different neighborhoods the flower beds all produced the same variety of uninvited weeds. the common denominator was the mulch. I tested my suspicion by placing some of the mulch on the soil in a test bed here at the testing plot. nine days later the very same weeds were sprouting. the mulch producing this problem was a Scotts product of shredded hardwood.

mulch depth required to provide substantial moisture retention should be no thinner than 3 inches. landscaping cloth can be semi useful in providing somewhat of a barrier for the weed seed contained within the soil.

in my years of installing and maintaining flower beds I've yet to see imported weed seed contained in pine bark or pine straw. unfortunately pine straw is out of vogue with the trendy urbanite.

[sf]

Hi Rosie!

The mulch in my garden isn't very thick (maybe an inch or so) and it has beaten back weeds so far. I just push it aside to stick a plant here and there. I think landscaping cloth is better used under gravel in places where you have no intention of ever planting, but weeds may appear anyway - like greenhouse floors and driveways.

[Jim Kingdon]

Was it ever in vogue with said trendy urbanite? Sites like:

things like "Managing for pine straw is a relatively new enterprise in Florida's pine forests." so I kind of got the impression it is on the increase.

I've been going with pine bark mulch for my acid-loving plants, because that seems to be what is readily available around here. But I might try the pine straw if I had a local source. The web hits mostly seemed to be from south of here (where here = Washington, DC), though.

[readandpostrosie]

thanks!