Perennial Flower Beds
How to mulch colourful perennial flower beds
Mulching perennial flowers is an inevitable part of flower bed maintenance.
There are several uses for mulching, and all of them contribute into creating and maintaining a beautiful garden.
First of all, mulching adds to the aesthetic look of your flower and vegetable beds and enhances the beauty of the garden.
It also prevents weeds from overrunning your garden so you will have much less trouble keeping your garden weed free.
Mulching also helps to keep the soil moist, and that is very beneficial for plants that cannot tolerate the dry soil.
Mulching even helps provide and maintain temperatures in the ground for stimulating and improving development and growth of plants.
Mulch keeps mud from splashing on the leaves of the plants, therefore your flowers look neater and more attractive, and there are fewer chances for them to get a fungal disease.
If you choose organic mulch for your garden, it will enrich the soil with humus and keep the upper layer of soil airy and loose.
How to Mulch Flower Beds
It is highly recommended to put a layer of mulch on perennial flower beds before you plant your perennials.
Usually this layer would be two to three inches thick. Firstly, it will make it possible to spread the mulch evenly throughout the planting area, and secondly, you will not have to spend too much time mulching when the flowers are already planted.
The components of mulch can be different. These days’ lots of different varieties of mulch are available on the market, and you can easily choose the one you find the most appropriate for your garden and personal preferences. See How to Make Mulch and Garden Mulches.
The gardening industry of today uses mulches that contain; buckwheat hulls, cocoa bean hulls, pine needles, leaf mould, pine bark, hardwood bark, well-rotted sawdust, shredded paper, lawn clippings, and compost.
Be careful while mulching perennial flower beds though. It is possible for the mulches mentioned above to change the pH level of the soil, which might in turn have negative consequences for the growth of your plants. That is why the pH level should be always under control.
There are also inorganic mulches that consist of plastic, recycled rubber, stone, brick, rock and landscape fabrics.
Depending on where you live, it is possible to get more “exotic” mulches like cottonseed, peanut shells, cocoa and rice hulls etc.
When you are mulching perennial flowers, avoid putting the mulch too close to the stems of your plants. The area around the base of the plants should be always clear.
To put the mulch down, use an ordinary shovel, and spread it all over the flower beds by means of a rake. In places that are difficult to reach, you can distribute the mulch with your hands.
Mulching your perennials for winter will not actually keep them warm, but at least it will provide an even temperature in the soil.
This is an important tip for regions where the weather conditions are not stable in winter, and the snow is not enough for the purpose of insulating the ground.