Gardeners: should I apply mulch?

I prefer composted manure, added yearly. It never has to be removed and it continuously improves the soil under it.

If your yard has grass, leave it alone. The grass will grow to fill in the spaces. Mulch is unnecessary and simply a place for bugs to hide and nest. I am happy to leave my grass unimproved. I use the compost for my flower gardens.

I have my large lawn mowed every 10 days. That keeps the grass nice and the weeds (mullein, dandelions, crab grass,clover) clipped.

Pile up the little white stones and make a decorative cairn or plant a nice bush and use the stones as edging around it. (How can small white stones look elderly? Are they that old?)

eww, grass

@gailcalled I am letting the grass grow where it can. However, there is a strip along the sidewalk to my front door that I think would look good from some sort of mulch.

@dpworkin Can I buy compost manure from the store? I have a compost bin in my backyard, but I built it myself and I’m not sure if it’ll actually make compost because I’m a newbie.

@gailcalled: How about putting in some flowering plants on the edge? Are the small white stones used as edging between the lawn and the path?

You can buy 40 lb bags of dried manure from any gardening center.

Where do you live, by the way?

I have planted some ground cover grasses and hibiscus already. It’s just the dirt that looks a bit unkempt – from removing the white rocks.

I live in Austin, TX. Zone 8, I believe.

@silverfly: If you’re after perfection, buy some mulch and strew it around the plants. Otherwise , weed and let the plants grow into each other. Personally, I have always loved a blowsy-looking flower garden as opposed to a manicured one.

Like this.

@gailcalled Yeah, I didn’t think about letting the grasses do the ground covering. Maybe I’ll just be a bit more patient. :)

When I had a big garden, I bought composted manure by the truckload. I think you might want to check your local Yellow Pages, or perhaps do a search on line for a good supplier. It’s many, many times cheaper that way.

@dpworkin What’s yellow pages? ;-) I may do that too. My yard could definitely use some fertilizer.

I agree with removing the white rocks. Mulch will have to be replaced due to compacting, being walked on, blowing away, etc. Have you considered putting down lava rock (usually 1” to 1½” in size). This usually comes in bags in black, red, or a combination of both. If you have a nursery nearby, they might sell it in bulk if you have a large area.

Lava rock (or any rock) does nothing for soil enrichment.

You’re right dpworkin, lava rock does not enrich the soil whatsoever if that is what silverfly is shooting for. Lava rock is more costly at the beginning to install, but in the long-run is less maintenance free and only has to be touched up occassionally. Mulch usually needs replaced at least every other year.

I prefer to mulch every year with composted manure because that way, stuff grows.

Personally I think Lava rock is THE most god awful stuff to ever be used, bark mulch is next.

Fugly and never goes away.

I do have a big lawn and lots of natural space as well..I prefer decorative pea gravel if I use any gravel at all.

I’d scrape out as much rock as is possible and add topsoil and plant low maintainance ground covers..I love Irish moss..looks and feels very exotic and fills in all sorts of strange gaps.

I have to agree that lava rock would look worse than the white rocks. Putting in any kind of rock would completely defeat my purpose. I have so many damn rocks, I could start a business.

Concrete the lot & have a nice pattern imprint put in!! my front garden is now one weed free big drive ;-)

@Scooby Nice. Although now you have no options to put any more plants, flowers, grass, etc. I think the world needs less concrete, but that’s just me.

@silverfly
Ah but I do, ya see I have a very nice garden at the rear of my house ;-) I agree with less concete but it does look good…....

@Scooby Well, cool. We’re actually going to stain the concrete on the inside of our house. I want more green outside. :)

@silverfly
I’m laying a new lawn at the weekend & replacing topsoil to my borders, I’ll be adding mulch & manure to enrich the soil in the borders plus putting over a cover of heavy forest bark to help retain the moisture ;-)
I have mainly perennials in my garden flowering from march onwards, it’s a low maintenance garden as much as it can be……

@Scooby Sounds like a great space. I’ve been doing a lot of research and I’m pretty intimidated at how much information is involved.

@silverfly
There’s really nothing to it, as long as you’re practically minded, gardening is a pinch, do go for low maintenance though if your free time is limited… ;-)

What about converting it into a rock garden with a fountain ;-)

@SmoothEmeraldOasis I like it. I really want a fountain or birdbath… something not to gaudy. But again, I despite all rocks now.

@silverfly Oh, well I would than suggest to have a landscaping company take care of it for you, that way you can enjoy the view and save your back.

Here’s a garden I planted, bit by bit, on either side of a wide flagstone path. Plants were begged, borrowed, stolen, started from seeds, root cuttings or division. Soil came from my compost pile. (Notice who’s on upper left, inspecting part of his kingdom?)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45159532@N08/4755960195/

@gailcalled I saw your hard work and your pet overlooking his kingdom, it is very nice, thanks for sharing.

@gailcalled Beautiful!

@silverfly: The only cost was labor, sometimes mine and sometimes the teen-aged male I have work for me from time to time. Notice the crowding; that avoids mulch. Milo gives the orders and then sits there and surveys his kingdom while I sweat.

@gailcalled That’s what cats do, isn’t it?

@Andreas: This one certainly does; another favorite posture of his:Here

@gailcalled A well-exercised cat!

Speaking of mulch: Both our cat and dog pickup varying amounts of mulch from our garden. But that’s what vacuum cleaners are for, right?

@Andreas: You’re joking, right. Just the sound of the dustbuster sends Milo under a bed.

@gailcalled Vacuum cleaners and animals are never in the same room. That would be too cruel. They hide/run away.

Actually, again it depends on what they are exposed and what your conversation to them is like at the inception of yourth relationship with that pet. I say that because I have had many pets in my lifetime both cats and dogs and birds and rodents like rats too. Fish ofcourse, only see you through that abismal clear wall. Anyhow, Drako just lays whereever he happens to be when I begin to vaccum. And Dora she is more skiddish, she will go to the next room in her other bed just to get away from the noise because her nap is being disrupted. They are cute characters.