55KRC

Can I be re-mulching beds right now?

Now is a great time to be cleaning out those beds, raking and removing left-over dead foliage. And with the raking, you’ll typically fluff up you mulch, and be amazed at how fresh it looks after fluffing! Don’t be in any hurry to re-mulch your beds. Let the temperatures warm up, let the soils dry a bit and warm up, and then worry about re-mulching later, if needed. It’s amazing how fluffing the mulch does give it a new look, as well as showing you that you may not need to re-mulch as much as thought you were going to have to do! Now, you can re-mulch now if you want. You’ll see many landscape companies re-mulching now. But if can fluff and wait until later, that’s even better. How deep should mulch be? 1-3 inches – and as far as I’m concerned, in many areas, the less the better. Do remember to keep all mulch away from the trunks of trees (avoid the volcano mulch look!). Mulch piled up on the sides of trees will cause decay and eventual tree problems down the road. Technically, mulch around trees should look like a donut. Mulch as usual up to within a couple inches of the tree trunk, and then taper it back down to the soil level next to the trunk, but never touching the trunk. If you have trees that are mulched like that, re-do it this spring, the ‘donut way’. And if you landscape company insists on piling mulch against the sides of the trunks of your trees, ask them to change it. Your trees will be glad you did! Ps…Don’t forget to apply pre emergent herbicides either below or on top of the mulch to help stop weed seeds from growing.

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