O.K. You have an entire yard to landscape and less than one day and $100 to do it. Can it be done? Yes. Do you need to sign up for Trading Places and risk your neighbours filling your yard with fake flowers made from mattress coils and spray paint? No.
My niece moved in with her boyfriend who lives just up the street from me. That move closer to me has provided us with lots of time for sharing things like my homemade pizza, my garden tools, my furniture and my advice. A couple of weekends ago she decided the grown up thing to do would be to landscape the front of their house a little bit. Hydrangeas and lavender were decided upon. I told her now all she needed to do was dig up a bed, stick the plants in and mulch.
Niece: Mulch?
Me: Yeah, you know, mulch. If you only do ONE thing make it mulch. Except the bright red stuff. Never use the bright red mulch.
Niece: Why?
Me: Because it's hideous.
Niece: No, why do I have to mulch?
Me: (a bunch of nasty swear words, fist pounding and head shaking, ending with me declaring ... ) YOU'RE NO NIECE OF MINE!!!
After I calmed down a bit I explained to my niece that the single easiest, cheapest way to make a home look landscaped is to put down mulch. Even if you don't put in a SINGLE plant, mulching will make it look like you did something dramatic.
Like you care about your home and are very particular about it even though you'd really rather dig out a plantar's wart than garden. (this isn't the case for me of course but some people aren't as fond of gardening as I am)
Mulching your desolate, dried out garden beds is like putting Spandex on a wrinkly old saggy body. It just makes everything look tight and put together.
I loaned her my edger to cut out her beds (which is why my garden beds aren't edged yet) and then ran out to buy some mulch so I could show her the difference it makes. The above shot is my garden bed without mulch.
Below is a bed with newly laid Spandex.
Tight.
I use natural, cedar mulch which is the same colour as the bricks on my house to begin with but softens to a more weathered, lighter colour once it dries out.
Again, before mulch ...
After mulch ...
It has a bigger impact than planting the entire garden with $10,000 worth of plants would have. All for the price of $30. 12 bags of mulch at $2.50 each. Once I edge the beds and reseed my tiny little lawn it'll look like I spent a lot more money and time in this spring garden bed than I have. Of course all the perennials have to fill out still.
As soon as I took these quick shots with my iPhone I sent them to my niece. Her response was ... "Ah, I see."
I was expecting a response more along the lines of "This is the greatest day of my life, my view of the world will never be the same, and in all my years of University I never received such valuable information. I bow down to ... " That kind of thing. Something more reasonable.
I still have a few bags to put down but that'll be done in no time this weekend. So if you have a sad looking yard and no money or energy to put into landscaping it at the moment, do your self a favour, grab $50 or so, head to a local hardware store or landscape place and pick up as much cedar mulch as you can fit into your car. Not only will it do great things for your landscaping it makes one hell of a car air freshener.
Why not black mulch? Even though I like black mulch and think it can look great with a lot of homes, it's filled with dyes and other things I don't want my chickens accidentally eating. Or the vegetables I grow in my front yard. I don't want them eating black mulch juice either.
This is the first long weekend to kick off the summer in Canada so I'll be off Monday. I'll see you back here on Wednesday with the update on my hinged hoop house, The Hinged Hoop House 2.0.
Have a good weekend!
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Heather
Thank you, Karen! Until today, I was wondering how to hide a hideous mound of weed-filled dirt, the result of a path that was excavated a couple of years ago. My plan now is to pull the weeds before they are monsters, stick some rocks in here and there and plant flowers. Then, I'll mulch around it all. Done! Now, instead of feeling miserable when I look out at the mound I'll feel happy. :)
Kristi
Can you post a picture of this edger thingy? How do you use it to cut out a flower bed? Thanks!
Sophia
Love reading your articles. Hope I can get cedar mulch in Ohio, haven’t seen it used here yet. Black mulch is everywhere! I’m going to ask you, Karen, to get into the way back machine and please tell me what shelves you used to put together your stunning white shelves feature in the magazine article. I’ve been staring at them for months and need to know. I must be crazy but I am converting a two-family into a one-family home and some furniture no longer works. I can’t spend a fortune on new pieces and need to be as creative as Karen! Just a Dream to be as creative cause but I bet I can swear as well!
Erin
I am converting all my outdoor veg beds into no-till, so yes, mulch is the name of the game this spring. It's coming in by the truckloads, but so much lighter to work with than topsoil!
Love the spandex comparison. thats gonna keep me giggling while I shovel.
Krystal @ Three Wondrous Acres Homestead
I completely agree!!! I'm addicted to the dramatic look of mulch. I absolutely love prepping a fast new bed, tossing in a few clearance plants I've collected, then topping it with mulch. Minimal investment, looks beautiful, and typically minimal care. Then I can spend all of my time, money, and energy on more important things around our Homestead!
Alena
There ain't such a thing as a $2.50 bag of cedar mulch in Ontario.
Karen
Lowes, Rona, Canadian Tire and Home Hardware have all had bags of cedar mulch on sae for $2.50, (regular $3-$3.50). Lowes actually had it for $1.99 a 2 cu ft bag earlier in the season. ~ karen!
Robin Carter
Hey Lookie!
I have your logo meat cleaver (attached) in real life! So maybe you should give me your lovely old butcher block so I'd have a "set" ya think?? ;)
Idaho Girl
Mulch has been the cherry on top of my yard for a while now and needs to be refreshed most years. I like to 1st re-edge any areas where the grass is creeping into the flower beds - if you wait until after you mulch, you dump dirt on top of your pretty new mulch. I also do any plant dividing and moving prior to this, as well as adding compost around perennials if I'm feeling really ambitions. I use a steel kind of half round tool with a lip on top that you stomp on, then flip the inside dirt up to create a clean edge and kind of 45 degree angle that lets you put the mulch a little deeper next to the the grass. It does help slow down the grass intrusion, but I do have to clean mine up every year or 2. I get my mulch down here at the local big box store during their yearly memorial day sale when it's $2 for a 2 cubic foot bag. I've priced out having it delivered by the yard to my driveway, but it's actually cheaper this way even before adding a delivery fee for the bulk (and I can lug each bag over to where I need it rather than reshoveling mulch from the driveway pile, which to me is way more work). They even load all those bags into the back of my SUV for me. I always end up with a few more bags than I need, and have not had problems stacking unopened bags by the shed and using them the next spring. I have 60 year old trees that drop a LOT of leaves, and haven't had problems blowing or raking them out of the mulch as long as you're not in a big hurry. Karen is so right - this is an easy yard improvement that creates a super satisfying result. Oh, and remember when you're putting mulch around plants to leave at least an inch between the mulch and the plant crown to help avoid rotting your plants!
Pam
Where do you live that you can get bags of mulch for 2.50. It’s more like 8-10 here. We have found wood chips at the bulk yard for 12 a yard. Not as fine as mulch. It is pre mulch but doesn’t get fungus or mold.
Marilu Rudez
A big tip of the hat for your comment about Trading Spaces. I once saw them liberally cover the walls of a home with chicken feathers, from top to bottom. Clearly the home owner's aesthetic was less sophisticated than they had hoped. I'm certain that your idea will be snatched up in a trice!
Thank you! I wish one of MY aunts had cared enough to give me the mulch talk. Mulch it is! First, I have to rake and haul off the ton of hideous red rocks some quick sale genius liberally distributed in my yard. Try raking leaves and pine needless out of those things. News flash: Even small rocks are heavy! Do mulch, not rocks.
Mr Embarrassed
Um. Hi. I'm Tony and I have covered a front yard in red bark.
"Hi Tony"
After many of these counseling sessions I no longer feel compelled to use red bark. I don't get tempted when I see it in stores. Old picture remind me of how it ruined my life.
But I'm feeling better now. I'm not ashamed to tell people I used to have a red bark problem.
My wife referred me to this blog. I don't know if it was to shame me for the red, or to encourage me to bury the currently weed-infested yard with mulch. Frankly we have had a lot of problems with leaves in bark and I do think mulch will be tougher for leaf removal. But whatever we put down, we need to keep it away from the edge of the yard where it meets the sidewalk. Otherwise it works its way out there, gets real messy for the passers-by, and needs to be swept back. Our plan/solution for that is to border the yard with a fence or something like Karen has, to keep dogs out, then maybe a rock border within (heavier and harder to find its way outside), then the mulch/bark to keep it within the limits. Also - mulching deep is a REALLY good idea. At least 4 inches. Otherwise weed seeds will get through too easily. Those are lessons learned and shared ... from a former red bark addict.
Kelsey
I have a question about your drip irrigation system, but I figured I'd be more likely to get a reply on your most recent post! My garden is about 15' x 20' and I'd like to get a drip irrigation system. You said the irrigation kit 2000 is best for most gardens, but does it say anywhere how many square feet that kit is good for? I couldn't find it anywhere on the site!
blue
Mulch makes things look like they were done on purpose. I'm converting over to all native plants, which most people think look like weeds. Put some mulch around it and they don't know the difference.
Cat
Thanks for the graphic illustration of the impact of mulch. And thanks also for the education about why you shouldn’t use black mulch (we don’t need to discuss the disgusting red stuff).
I’ve forwarded your email to my resident gardener (aka Gandalf) for his edification.
Enjoy your long weekend.
WestCoast Nan
I get composted mulch from the dirt farm, it is a bit darker than yours but I was told it was better than cedar or other bark mulches (could have been the slick salesman)...
Barb
Thank you so much! I guess some peeps might think this is a no-brainer but these are the kind of tips I need! If you have any other ideas like this please share. Keep them coming!
And I wondered too. Do you have Netflix? We've been watching a UK show called Big Dreams, Small Spaces. The host is Monty Don and it's such a lovely show. I'm probably not going to do 90% of what they show but I've gleaned some good tips and the host and the show are just so warm and friendly and soothing. Every show features two different families and their yards and sometimes a "theme". Just watched the one where a woman had a "gone-wild" allotment that she wanted to tame and have a place to keep bees. :)
Oriah
I always treat mulching like the crowning jewel of my hungry garden. I'm in the middle of transplanting all the volunteers to "permanent" homes around the yard and then i'll put my annual ton of mulch in the yard for it to eat. My yard eats a ton Every. Single. Year. On the bright side, i've gone from having nothing but red clay in the yard to having 8-10 inches of black topsoil. I went to a bait shop after buying my house because the clay didn't support worms and once i did some initial landscaping and mulching, i set them free to eat and multiply. They are my wiggly ground children.
Shawna
can you show me what the edger is and how it works? I just use a spade and it's tedious
Brandi G.
How do you keep your chickens from kicking up the mulch everywhere?? I recently decided to mulch a couple trees in our front yard, and it wasn't 10 minutes and the chickens had it nicely spread across the yard! I'm going to try again with some sort of border on it, but they've also jumped into my larger potted plants and kicked mulch out of those too...so I'm not too hopeful in the border being much of a barrier.
Bethany Jones
I just spent 8 bucks to mulch just outside our apartment patio. We don’t own it, but it looks so much better!
Karen
It's amazing stuff! ~ karen