[BXMurphy]

Let's start a fight.

I am unanimous in the following...

Nothing says, "I have no imagination and can't afford a plant" quite like a mulch bed.

I will suggest that you should never see the mulch (and weeds will never see the sun) in a properly planted flower garden bed. I will also suggest that the only weeding necessary is done with a garden edger.

Finally... any ground cover... even grass... is to be preferred to mulch.

Your turn.

 

[Colonel K0rn]

Mulch is for people who don't put a PreM in their flowerbed. I put some out when I did my bed, and had to only pick out straggling mondo grass that popped up through the bags of raised bed soil I used to actually raise the flowerbed off of the ground. I have very few weeds in the bed now, and some very aggressive growing pansies that are still sticking around since I planted them last year. Mulch is just another reason I'd rather use my money to buy more flowers.

 

[Rackhouse Mayor]

Let's start a fight.

I am unanimous in the following...

Nothing says, "I have no imagination and can't afford a plant" quite like a mulch bed.

I will suggest that you should never see the mulch (and weeds will never see the sun) in a properly planted flower garden bed. I will also suggest that the only weeding necessary is done with a garden edger.

Finally... any ground cover... even grass... is to be preferred to mulch.

Your turn.

Just remember you started it.... Bare soil flowerbeds are for Massholes that don't have a real summer. :lol:

Mulch has nothing to do with money or imagination. In fact, mulch can be very expensive. Have you priced rubber mulch lately? And trust me, there's a lot of thought that goes in to type, color, and quantity of mulch.

It's more about necessity. Do you have insulation in your home? That's what mulch is for us Southerners.

 

[BXMurphy]

Just remember you started it.... Bare soil flowerbeds are for Massholes that don't have a real summer.

Heh! Good! That's the spirit!

Mulch. It's for someone who can't afford a plant instead, and, even if he could... wouldn't know how to care for it.

In my mind, if I see mulch, I see a white flag of surrender. It's like, "I give up... I dug this up or I can't get anything to grow here... heck, I may as well just cover it up with somebody's lawn scraps."

 

[pennstater2005]

I like mulch.

 

[BXMurphy]

Mulch is for people who don't put a PreM in their flowerbed

That's right, Colonel. There is NOTHING more luxurious than soil that looks like coffee grounds. No weeds. No stones. No debris. Perfectly manicured.

If you can't do that, plant some flowers or grow some grass. I'm with you!

It has gotten so bad in America that black mulch is on the market as a poor imitation. People put it down and a month later, it is filled with debris and looks like crap.

Look, if you are going to grow a flower garden, GROW A FLOWER GARDEN...

Pre-M? Snapshot. 'Nuff said.

What are you using?

 

[BXMurphy]

I like mulch.

Understood. Some guys actually like a toilet bowl in the front lawn as a planter.

But let's think about this...

Mulch? Really? You couldn't get a plant in there? You couldn't get it to grow, to flower, and have it even more beautiful than lawn scraps?

Pennstater2005? Et tu?

ANYTHING is more luxurious than lawn scraps.

 

[pennstater2005]

I don't like plants that much. Overrated. Mulch is King. Well, aside from grass.

 

[kds]

I have a huge terrace on top of a retaining wall, and I also have dogs. There's no way I'm going to be able to cover so much space with plants, and then have the dogs trample them. Nope. No way. Not even going to try. Throw the mulch down.

Mulch has nothing to do with money or imagination. In fact, mulch can be very expensive. Have you priced rubber mulch lately?

I just got a quote for mulch of my terrace, 29 cu yds of cedar (3" deep) for $1600 delivered. Expensive.

Mulch is for people who don't put a PreM in their flowerbed.

I still put pre-em down.

 

[BXMurphy]

I don't like plants that much. Overrated. Mulch is King. Well, aside from grass.

'Zactly. No excuse for mulch or stones or leaves or whatever.... except for no imagination or no money.

Now... we ARE in the landscaping forum of a site called "The Lawn Forum," right?

That means I don't want to hear any whining from a guy in Arizona with tumbleweeds and a rock garden for a front lawn or some dude in Hawaii with a lava flow complaining about how all his plants catch fire...

 

[BXMurphy]

I have a huge terrace on top of a retaining wall, and I also have dogs. There's no way I'm going to be able to cover so much space with plants, and then have the dogs trample them. Nope. No way. Not even going to try. Throw the mulch down.

Uh huh. But that's playing defense not landscaping. You might as well pave it over and be done with it.

 

[pennstater2005]

Benefits of mulching:

Ron Hazelton is never wrong.

https://www.ronhazelton.com/tips/how_to_apply_mulch_and_the_benefits_of_mulching

 

[Colonel K0rn]

Benefits of mulching:

Ron Hazelton is never wrong.

https://www.ronhazelton.com/tips/how_to_apply_mulch_and_the_benefits_of_mulching

He does have a point. Ron appears to have applied 10 bags of mulch in this video, and nary a stain on his glorious khakis. I think he wears the same shirt in all of his videos. I swear he was wearing the same outfit when he sealed his driveway with asphalt sealer, and not a damn speck of black on his outfit. I can't spray my yard without getting any dye on my hands/arms/shorts/shoes, and that's when I wear full PPE, and I'm using a 2 gallon hand can!

@BXMurphy I'm just using Preen I had a big container of it from a while back.

 

[SGrabs33]

I would certainly enjoy not having to pay for the beds to be "refreshed" with mulch every year. What's your flower bed look like @BXMurphy?

 

[TulsaFan]

Everybody was getting along so well and then this thread happens...Is this the turning point of The Lawn Forum? @Ware takes the day off to have a child and everything goes to hell???

 

[Pete1313]

Everybody was getting along so well and then this thread happens...Is this the turning point of The Lawn Forum? Ware takes the day off to have a child and everything goes to hell???

:lol: :lol:

Pre-M? Snapshot. 'Nuff said.

What are you using?

I used a mix of prodiamine+isoxaben last year in the beds and had good results.

 

[BXMurphy]

Everybody was getting along so well and then this thread happens...Is this the turning point of The Lawn Forum? Ware takes the day off to have a child and everything goes to hell???

Haha! Yep! Goes to hell in a handbasket over mulch.

I love this place...

 

[BXMurphy]

I would certainly enjoy not having to pay for the beds to be "refreshed" with mulch every year. What's your flower bed look like?

Actually looks like crap!

Last year I planted some Supertunias that covered every square inch. They overflowed the bed. I weed-whacked them into the shape of the garden bed. Gorgeous!

That was by accident. The rest of the bed was a wild, unplanned mess. This year... I will plan it out!

A guy here (or was it "the other forum") posted a picture of his flower garden under the influence of something called "Kelp Help." (I recommend and use it.)

That man's garden was straining against the garden bed boundary. I guarantee that if he tried to show a picture of the soil, you wouldn't see it.

Just like I couldn't show you the soil under my ridiculous petunias. Every square inch was a riot of color!

So, why would a man dig up perfectly good grass and dump lawn scraps on it? Why would he have an expanse of forest scrapings instead of something more challenging and luxurious?

 

[BXMurphy]

Benefits of mulching:

Ron Hazelton is never wrong.

https://www.ronhazelton.com/tips/how_to_apply_mulch_and_the_benefits_of_mulching

Benefits my eye! Just crying poverty and lack of an eye for beauty. Mulch cuts down on watering... evaporation... temperatures...

Wait! What is that I hear? Could it be... violins?

Ron! Pull up! Water that garden! Plant the right plants for your zone! Dude! You know the basics, right?

Or... don't grow flowers if you can't do it right.

 

[BXMurphy]

Gimme a Hoosier... a farmer dude.

He can grow 3 million acres of corn with zero weeds without breaking a sweat. You? Can't do a single rose bush without applying Agent Orange for miles around and then paving it over with mulch.

Mulch is for landscapers on The Lawn Forum.

Incoming... ducking!