How I STOPPED MULCHING 90% of my GARDEN
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- Опубликовано: 4 май 2024
- Mulch is useful for so many gardens, but it looks like we might be overdoing it. When your garden is full of healthy plants, a lot of times there’s not room for mulch! Native plant gardens for example don’t need to be mulched, and they live mostly like nature intended. I replaced 90% of my mulch with plants and in this video you can learn how.
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I’m new to zone 7b, and a fixer house on 6 acres with NO garden beds, just “grass” and weeds right up to the house. I learned about the Seed Bank the hard way … 3rd year in, I have become the mulch queen! Your channel has changed my way of gardening with dense planting, filler grasses, and low disturbance methods. I will be so happy to hand off my mulch crown and have thick and thriving garden beds ❤️
Yes early on we really rely on that much! I'm glad you're finding the videos helpful! 🌱🌱🌱
I am working on mulching my entire lawn in the next year as a short term solution before I get the energy to plant the native plants, ground covers, perennials, and vegetables I want.
This year the project will be mass planting blue flax and rudbeckia hirta in one area.
Baby steps.
😬Am also dealing with creeping bellflower. I...just want to bury it all.
For native perennials that are just getting established, i mulch around them with a thick layer of grass clippings/fall leaves.
Great idea, I'll bet they appreciate the leaf mulch! 🌱🌱🌱
I was out planting early, in the light rain, wondering if I had finally lost my mind. I came in looking for warmth and inspiration. And I found it! Thanks for showing how planting densely is worth it...eventually.
Thank you so much! It is totally worth it but yes. It takes a while to fill in, I definitely mulch the first and second year, and then I expand the garden and start again😂🌱🌱🌱
One thing to consider is to not leave any bare soil, because doing so can expose soil biome to hot, drying sun, which can kill beneficial microbes, insects, etc. soil life benefits from mulch. So while waiting for plants to grow close together, keep the soil covered and protected with some kind of mulch.
Exactly! It's great for new gardens. Thanks for watching! 🌱🌱🌱
Mulch, leaf litter, compost are what I use to protect bare ground over winter and spring. It mostly cuts down on commercial fertilizers. I live in zone 9B, semi-tropical.
Love all the native plants!
In 9B deep south even with dense planting I still use mulch (gathered, not purchased) to conserve water and protect soil better in our high heat. It also breaks down nicely and feeds the micorhizae.
@TexMarque same here. I'm zone 9a. I swear by leafy matter. The absolute best mulch there is. If I don't have enough my second fav is hay. I know, I know people freak out about hay. But if you keep it thick it won't seed. It keeps the soil cool and composts as fast as leaves do.
Such a good video. This is a down to earth version of the piet oudolf garden style - have your perennials interact with each other, use grasses and sedges in defined clusters to create an order and act as green mulch, see the garden in all seasons - especially the seasons in which the flowers decline and leave beautiful skeletons. I love your videos Lisa - you are doing such a service to show people what realistic gardening looks like for us northern prairie folk.
Thanks so much! 🌱🌱🌱
So happy to have found a channel for gardening with native plants!
You're in the right place!
Been absolutely loving your content. Keep it up! You're delivering so much value
Thank you so much, that means a lot! 🌱🌱🌱
Your gardens are beautiful and inspiring. I have one garden bed to the point of "Where do I put the mulch?" Looking forward to more maturing to that point. 🌱🙏 I appreciate your perspective and insights. Thank you for creating these videos.
Than you so much! 🌱🌱🌱
I love your channel! It is so informative and entertaining to watch! Thank you for sharing!❤️🙏
Thank you so much! 🌱🌱🌱
Love the idea! I'm trying to learn the right plant types that are low maintenance. Your garden looks amazing!
Glad to hear it, thank you so much! 🌱🌱🌱
New subscriber! Glad you showed up in my feed! You are so informative and to the point! Thank you! 😊❤
Glad the video was helpful! Thank you so much! 🌱🌱🌱
So much great information! Your channel is awesome and your garden is beautiful! Two green thumbs up!
Thank you so much! 🌱🌱🌱
Hey wonderful video! One comment - I think what you identified as "Jacobs Ladder" at 6:45 is actually a cultivar of native Woodland Phlox! Jacobs ladder flowers look more similar to columbines or tiny hibiscus flowers with large stamens, whereas woodland phlox has bigger gaps between the petals, and no visible stamen! Further, woodland phlox is easily identified with the dual symmetrical petals at the base of the flower stem, which this definitely has.
Great video!
Whoops! That was definitely a late night editing mistake 😂 yes it is woodland phlox. Glad we have someone here that knows so much about woodland plant identification! Thank you! ☺️🌱🌱🌱
Your garden is 🔥
Hello there I am so happy to hear this message it's about time somebody addressed this I've been a landscape designer for much of my life and it's been almost impossible to persuade people about this over mulching thing in the garden that I do I use trenching as a way to keep the grass out of the gardens and it works very well I used to mulch in those trenches but then found but it's just as easy to drag a pointed hole around the trench a couple of times in the season to keep it open I think it looks nicer and is a healthier way to have a garden no matter where I buy my mulch I wonder about the chemicals in it thank you again and God bless you I'll look at your posts from now on thank you
Thank you so much! Yes! Let's liberate everyone from the tyranny of ANNUAL mulching 😂🌱🌱🌱
What is a pointed hole?
Fantastic - a new way of thinking for me. Love it.
Thanks for watching!🌱🌱🌱
Great selection of perennials and natives!
What a lovely and joyfull video. I love your point of view. ❤
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed it! 🌱🌱🌱
you had me at 0:58 lol I absolutely love this channel - subscribed!
Thanks! 😂
The way you describe this is incredible ❤
Thank you so much! 🌱🌱🌱
I loved the moisture retention, because I’m in Wyoming where it’s incredibly dry, but I battle bugs so much worse I’ve given up.
I love my mulch path, it works great and is easy to maintain.
So easy! Thanks for watching 🌱🌱🌱
Beautiful garden Beautiful lady 😊
Woah! It really fills out later in the year!
Thanks notoots!
Thanks for a great video😁
I learned something! Thsnk you!
This is a fantastic. Liked & Subscribed! Thanks, YT algorithm.
Thank you so much! 🌱🌱🌱
I heard someone refer to wide plant spacing as "funeral home landscaping!" I thought that was brilliant!
Oh my god 😂
I call it the "plant museum" look, where you walk a bit to view each plant as you would a sculpture in a museum, haha!
Amen! One of my PA Sedge isn't doing too well, and that makes me sad. The others, though, are looking very nice and I think they'll survive their first year in the ground here. Another good cover plant is native strawberry. That stuff will weave its way through all the nooks and crannies that the other plants can't quite manage. In my region, it's evergreen or semi-evergreen, so you get a decent look to the bed even when all the other plants are napping.
So true! Native strawberry is a tough plant!🌱🌱🌱
Great video!!
Thanks so much!
Another snappy video! Being May can you do a video or do you have experience with the chelsea chop for natives? Just learning about this want to avoid the flop of the leggy plants last year.
I am going to chop asters very soon and my red bee balm. Aster will get another chop in early July! Will try to mention it in an upcoming video! Thanks! 🌱🌱🌱
Not needing mulch is such a flex! Today I am grumpily staring at the chipdrop woodchip pile I have to carry in buckets up a steep slope to build the soil and trying not to make eye contact with my neighbors, lol. But I am assured that after doing this for a few years, I'll have lush green on the hillside.
The hard work will be worth it! Stabilize that hillside! 🌱🌱🌱
did chip drop twice - am in hot central texas and my native (and non-native culinary herbs/medicinal herbs) are just fine without water -- the fig and pomegranate I planted are doing great. Mulch is life (also for termites so good to have a termite service to protect your house!)
I am just done with my first dump of chipdrop. took 4 months to mulch ...
Native grasses will keep erosion down, plant some now for years of enjoyment later!!
My problem is that I can't stop rearranging my gardens 🤦♀️ Maybe someday I'll be able to let them be long enough for things to properly fill in 😂
Relatable 😂🌱🌱🌱
Greeting's from Ireland, I haven't mulched my beds in three years and the flowers are up and flying. Every March I used to put a hand full of organic fish blood and bone meal around each plant and then mulch the beds with homemade compost. I don't think flowers need a lot to grow but I will mulch and fertilise next March.
Awesome! I'll bet they are starting to grow fast right now! 🌱🌱🌱
This was very inciteful. May I just ask your opinion on weed sheets. I am doing a ground level bed with some lupins and hostas. Should I do a weed sheet to stop weeds coming up or go with mulch for the first year or 2? Does the mulch break down? If I'm going to do this flower bed I want to do it right first time. I'm in Ireland zone 9-10. Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Thanks for the guerilla labeling of plant names throughout the video. Helps to connect plant to growth habit / context.
Rosy Sedge, why are you so cute?!
Thanks for noticing! We really need more examples of how the plants really look in the garden. 🌱🌱🌱
I love your content! I started a new full sun garden that has boulders. This is the same premise that I have! I am packing in a variety of drought tolerant plants, grasses, and seedums (between the boulders). My goal is to not to be able to see the base of my plants.
That's going to look awesome! 🌱🌱🌱
I have a front yard cottage garden, have had it for years, and I've always had a huge weed problem. I always felt so guilty about the fact I love plants and have so many. I kept thinking, I should take plants out so I can weed more easily. Anyway, now I realize that my problem wasn't that I had too many plants; I had too few! The past couple of years, my perennials have grown even more, and I now have plants right next to each other, no need for mulch. (I still do use mulch between the rocks and natural lawn edge.) I am not at all a fan of the "plant museum" look, with plants dotted around in a sea of mulch, which you described in this video. So glad I stumbled upon this video today. I'm going to check out more...
Thanks so much! I'm glad this some worked out for you!
Makes total sense. This fall is my perennial gardens 2 year anniversary- looking forward to having one less task
That's great! My beds are older but the edges are all new because i keep bumping them out a little at a time! 😂🌱🌱🌱
I started using g&b brand soil conditioner as mulch in the spring and it's great! Instead of hard lumpy components, it's very fine, but it's definitely not soil. It decomposes wonderfully in the pacific northwest winter, but also protects the soil in the summer.
There's only one place near me that sells it, and it's a little $$, but my garden is fairly small, and the joy it brings me is so large, so i make the investment.
It's also great for grass seed in an area with a dog. The grass still grows, and the new housing develpment soil gets better every year.
And last, in the winter, it helps control the mud in the areas where the dog did destroy with her big paws and claws 😊
I love that you said that you may need to use mulch when it comes to new beds or new plantings... But the comments 😂
😅 🌱🌱🌱
In winter I fill my garden wagon with forest soil and dump it out in piles and stuff grass clippings and chopped leaves between them in the narrow drainage areas I leave to be able to walk through them. I make rows with some and beds under my trellis frame for various things depending on time of year. It`s just a huge experiment right now and this fall/winter I hope to get rutabagas, turnips, beets, carrots, radishes and some potatoes. I wish there were no power lines near the cursed pine trees shading my winter garden and yard. It ruined a lot of my plans for growing more food and using solar power for part of my heating.
So I didn’t mulch this year and raked out all the old mulch because the soil under is a nice black and the mulch was just always getting in my driveway and looking messy. Anyway, so many weeds now. Thinking of doing rock instead of mulch but tiny beds I did rock in so far still get weeds too. I guess it’s inevitable. My question is what’s the safest most effective solution to killing weeds once rock is on top? Im scared of round up but are other brands ok?
While I love the dense planting, my wife hates it. She has a fear of snakes and mice. You have some great ideas, maybe I could implement some of them in the areas that I want to be “my” space! Lol
My husband loves mulch…but I’m the gardener, he doesn’. I find it doesn’t stop weeds but hides the dirt so in Spring I’m weeding anyway and searching under piles of mulch to find dirt to plant new perennials and annuals in!!!
Is mulch pad made of all rubber? Can you link one that you recommend? The ones I found aren’t ve😢wide.
This makes sense. What are the deer resistant plants the can be used for this purpose.
Deer are tricky, but in general they don't like to eat sedges! It would depend on your location which sedges to choose. And some like sun or shade, or wet conditions so you'll have to look up "native sedges for shade in raleigh NC" For example, depending on your city
What about putting stepping stones on the side of the house so you have even less mulch to walk on and the bottom of your shoes stay clean! They are very inexpensive and easy to install in quick set cement.
That's a great idea
I understand exactly 💯 but I'm still going to mulch in the front lol
That's fair! 😂🌱🌱🌱
I don't use mulch myself but use shrimp compost instead. I found mulch to attract snails and earwigs into my garden. And mulch looks messy!
@Bea768- I too have increased my use of shrimp compost, spring and fall. This spring my soil is so much healthier with all the worms, etc.. I also noticed huge increase of slugs, earwigs and large black ants when using mulch. I know somewhere that the ecological explanation says that beneficial insects will balance everything out(?) but in the meantime they are destroying my plants. 😢🇨🇦
I definitely mulched my bed this year... why? It's a brand new bed and the plants won't be here for another week! I figure, slow down the seed bank and add some organic material while I wait. Oh and I am so jealous! I have only one monarda in the back veggie garden and that is it for native plants. SOON, very soon!
Smart thinking. When our plants are small those weeds are way faster! 😂
I want to put a mulch walkway through my front lawn that leads to my side yard gate. Trying to get rid of lawn. Less watering. Any suggestions? I like this video. Thank you
Thanks, just make sure you put down enough mulch to keep the grass and weeds out. Good luck!
My Nana used to say.." Mother nature is a prude, she likes to be covered up! and shell do it with weeds if you don't cover her up!"
This is such a true statement. Your nana knew what's up! 🌱❤️🌱
I've never been a fan of landscape mulch. Especially black mulch. If you're in a climate with long hot summers black landscape mulch is one of the worst things you can put down. It heats up the ground, inturn heating up plant roots and the plants themselves leading to stress and other problems. The absolute best thing you can use is leafy matter. When trees start shedding their leaves and plants have gone dormant blow, rake all those leaves into your beds, around your trees and such. Not only does this cover the ground you are creating a microclimate and living soil. This leads to healthy plants no need for fertilizers and other chemicals to fight diseases. Plus no weeds. Landscape cloth is just as horrible.
I use my grass clippings while green around my garden and fruit trees because I`m building soil but I`m on a rural lot and don`t care what it looks like. I just want food and rich soil.
How do we keep the grass out of the creeping phlox? Grass has destroyed my native and pollinators beds.
I feel your pain! Grass is constantly trying to get into my native beds. I use a natural edge and it's a constant battle. One thing to check is what kind of grass you have, as bermuda is going to behave differently than fescue. I found out a lot of the grass I had had seeded in and I was able to pull it easily, but it depends on the species, hope this helps! 🌱🌱🌱
Rhizomes will seek the cover of the phlox, which preserves water in the soil. The best thing is to religiously edge the lawn every year with a hand edger to break off the rhizomes and pull them away from the groundcover. It may also require you to dig up the phlox after it is done flowering, clean up all of the grass rhizomes and roots, divide it and replant it for next spring's blossoms.
Mulch isn’t just for weeds though, it’s a great little ecosystem that continually helps improve your soil. I think you were eluding to that with agriculture but in some areas where our soil isn’t all that great mulching is super important.
It's true, if you are growing things like roses or some annuals for example, they may not like rocks and clay, and it may have to be amended and conditioned for them to thrive to their fullest potential.
My biggest problem in gardening is invasive lawn grass getting in between my plants. Any suggestions?
This is an ongoing problem for a lot of us. I use a half moon shaped edger and create a natural edge like in the video. The grass tries to grow in during the year but if I trench it really well a couple times a season, that really aggressive grass doesn't creep in.
If you have something else like a quackgrass infestation, I've controlled it with diligent pulling. But there are some gardens where I had to start the area over because there was so much quackgrass, there was no way to save it but to herbicide and start the area over.
Sadly I have an empty piece of garden where I had sprayed bindweed and it needs to be rebuilt. Sometimes it is necessary. Good luck!
Hi! Fellow.5b here! Ive been searching for prairie dropseed everywhere! If you are in chicago, can you share your source??????😮
My website has a list of local native plant sources! lisalikesplants dot com. Let me know if it's still working... 😅🌱🌱🌱
What kind of mulch are you using? It looks awesome!
Im using what I have and that is leaves, hay and woodchips. It looks messy, but who cares! Still if I can find a way to create mulch like yours, that would be great!
Most of the beds have leaves and stuff I've chopped from our grasses and stems, but the new bed behind me in the video is just shredded hardwood. I don't like it shredded too finely because it breaks down quick. I just get it delivered locally and my neighbor and I went in on this pile.
@@lisalikesplants , thank you!
This depends on geography. To me, mulching goes hand in hand with weeding. We're in Middle Tn, the 4th rainiest area in the nation. Each year in my gardens (I have 5) there are literally thousands of tiny oak, walnut, elm, etc sprigs that grow before anything else. You can't ignore them - they become trees. So you pull and cover, pull and cover, pull and cover for a month. Finally, about June, it ends but until then you CAN'T just let it go and wait for coverage.
This year I used cardboard over large areas but still the number of tiny trees was incredible. Wish I could just wait until thick plants prevented weeds.
I hear you. I'm not convinced that mulch helps with tree weeds? They seem to come right through. I pulled a ton of siberian elm today 😣 You guys have a ton of weed and pest pressure that we do not have in the north.
@@lisalikesplants On the good side, they grow like crazy. In the past two weeks we have alternated rain and 80+ degrees. I plant on the 80 day with fertilizer and the stuff seems to explode. Today I dug up and transplanted almost 50 blanket flowers that had self seeded. Like your channel a lot!
Well dang I came here hoping to get around mulching my veggie garden but alas no such luck 😂
Haha yup that's precious soil we need to protect! Thanks for watching! 🌱🌱🌱
I'm trying to make a native garden.. but that doesn't mean I'm getting rid of all the weeds. Because I'm basically allowing weeds as long as they're native.
So happy you're starting to garden with natives! It's so rewarding! 🌱🌱🌱
What are you using for mulch? It looks like compost…..
I have some shredded hardwood that I'm using in new beds and at the edging and for the path. It looks dark because it's slightly composted, but it's not dyed.
In the UK we don't leave gaps inbetween plants (bar the planting space for growth recomended) We just let plants grow into each other. I wonder why Americans started leaving massive spaces around each plant and mulching so much?
No idea 😂
Are you in the Denver area?
Illinois
100%🎉
🌱🌱🌱🌱
Maybe one of the reasons plants are spaced a distance is they are in a fire zone. This is a real issue in California .
That's a really good thing to think about! Here in the Midwest we mulch up to the foundation of the home. I assume in a fire risk area rocks would be much safer as a buffer instead of using shredded hardwood at all near the home.
I live in Far Northern Calif fire country. The guidelines for fire hardening homes does not work in totality.
Having greenery that keeps the soil from baking and retains moisture is important. Reducing landscape to a barren state to save real estate is too extreme. A lot of buildings burnt down with green trees standing right next to them. Why? The man made materials, windows imploding from the heat and embers wedged into crannies and cracks, smoldering, boom.
Keep green.
Mulch with compost.
This isnt an ad yall but just get chip drop its free it just takes a few weeks so plan in advance
Excellent resource. But be prepared for a TON. Great to share with neighbors! 🌱🌱🌱
Mulch FEEDS the soil. Triple shredded hardwood MULCH.
❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉🎉😅😅😅
All landsscapers do tree volcanoes, I don"t get it ? Who taught them to mulch that way ?🤔
No idea😣
Your idea is good for a small yard. But we just can’t see how your idea can apply to a large yard, such as an acre.
On the contrary, mulching an acre sounds like a lot of work! It really depends on what you have. Many people have large areas where they manage native plant gardens instead of grass. Plants fill in and get big and cover the ground. It sounds hard to spread 15 yards of mulch regularly.
If it seems too expensive to have large gardens, seed mixes can be a wonderful alternative.
I'll try to show some pictures of larger yards full of plants. ☺️
I don’t think anyone is worried about how to mulch perennials that are years old lol
LoVe your existential explanation of what a brain sees as “colonial order” vs. natural “disorder.” 😂🎉
Thank you for hearing that! I was trying to be diplomatic, but YES 🌱🌱🌱