Margaret & Toni,

I used to grow 3 Hostas, but I didn't have enough shade or space for them and gave two away and the other just died off.

Toni, You are right about not mulching Bearded Irises with wood.

I know you aren't suppose to put wood mulch around Lavender plants.

Margaret, you are very

Do those upside down pots blow away and/or fall over into the mulch while you're adding the mulch?

Beautifully done, and what a great idea!
What kind of mulch are you using? I haven't seen any so dark/black in our garden centers. It really is much more attractive than what I've found here. Sure makes those plants "pop"!

Super idea!

Thanks everyone for the great comments, and tips!

@Marilyn, I had no problem with the pots blowing away, of course you wouldn't be spreading mulch on a real windy day as it would blow all over the place.

@terrafirma, I buy the mulch at Art Knapp garden center.

Thanks Margaret!

Tara - Your local Home Depot doesn't carry the black mulch?

The black mulch comes in two size chips, large and small, I use the small, I tried the large and didn't like it as well, didn't look as neat on the beds.

Thanks Margaret!

Maybe I need to look again! I thought that the only black mulch that they carried was rubber mulch... I do know that Cypress is the most popular that they carry. Pine nuggets also.

Home Depot and Lowes both carry black-dyed hardwood mulch

http://www.homedepot.com/b/Out...
http://www.lowes.com/pd_148349...

The one I used I couldn't find at the HD or WM, and now of course I am not sure of the name but I think it was 'Natures Gold'.

Genius, just genius. I want to compost my driveway beds and you have just saved me at least fifty percent of the time it was going to take.



Peter

Thank you Peter, I hope it works as well for you as it did for me!

I don't care for the Lowes brand of mulch.. they don't keep their color as well as the "Scotts" brand.

I tried the Scotts brand and found the chips to be very coarse and I did not like the way it looked on the beds.

Margaret - Was that only the black or all in your area? I use only the red & found them to be very soft. But, then again, the bags were wet & the mulch was wet wet wet.

Toni, there is lots of red mulch sold here also, but the one I bought only came in black.

>> Very timely tip, at least for where I live. Where the snow is three feet deep, people are probably WISHING

>> Rick - You have that much snow right now? Didn't think you got that much in your zone.

No, I only had an inch or two and it melted 3-4 days later.

I meant that OTHER people with 2 feet on the ground and another 12" coming, WISH it were time for them to do some mulching.

If the weather continues the way it has been here, I may get to play in the garden early this year, we haven't gotten much snow since Christmas.

Rick - Ah, ok.. I was looking at your little info on the right side and it said that you were in northwest Washington, and I know that place *can* and does get socked with snow, but I didn't think that you'd have that much right now. My yard's melting pretty quick.. this was on the 11th:



I need to remulch my entire yard this spring. The mulch I put down a few years ago has broken down as it's supposed to and decayed.. making my yard SOOO much more rich! Before, all I had was yucky clay and sand. Now it's worm city! This is the mountain I put down when I got it.



That was.. 4? years ago? I think it was '10 when I got it. lessee.. that truck is from 4 renters ago, so it was either '09 or '10. I'm thinking '10 because I was getting serious with roses in '09 and ripped out ALL the dead grass & whatnot in '10.

Time flies when you're having fun.

It's nice to be able to go back multiple years in one yard.

I lived in one place for two years and hardly ever did anything except beat back the weeds to the best of my ability. Before we sold it, I bought and spread something like 12 cubic yards of mulch. The beds looked GREAT but then the house sold.

My photos have dates, or I would never have any idea when anything happened.