Fall is the perfect time to give your perennials a little TLC, by adding a layer of mulch around stalks and roots. When exposed to cooler temperatures, roots that lie in the top few inches of soil can get easily stressed and frostbitten.
If self-sowers play a large role in your plantings, skip fall mulching. That fresh layer could interfere with seed germination in spring. The biggest challenge with fall mulch is that you need to squeeze the job in on weekends, especially in areas that practice daylight saving time.
The best time to mulch perennials is after the top 1-2 inches of soil has frozen. The mulch provides insulation, keeping the soil consistently cool through winter. Loose organic mulch, such as shredded leaves, bark chips, pine needles, and straw, is a good choice for helping perennials survive winter.
While mulching in early fall is safe, you should never mulch during late fall. "This can insulate the ground and prevent plant dormancy," says Morrell. The much-needed hibernation helps plants survive the cold winter months.
Mulching perennial plants offers many benefits. A well-decomposed compost applied as a mulch will provide much-needed plant nutrients, possibly eliminating the need to feed the plants. Mulch is used to moderate soil temperatures, help retain soil moisture, and suppress weeds.
If you smother a perennial in mulch, you upset the plant's biology and run the very real risk of keeping the crown wet during winter dormancy, and it will rot. I avoid organic mulches on perennials that need free drainage and good air circulation, such as bearded irises, lavenders, rosemary and sages.
A layer of mulch about 4 to 6 inches deep over the plants works well. Most perennials will pop through the mulch in spring. If the plants are young, small, or newly planted in fall, you may need to clear some of the mulch in spring so that the plants can emerge without difficulty through the winter protection.
“The best period to mulch is from late spring through to late summer when the grass is actively growing." While May is the ideal month for mulching fast-growing grass, the exact time you should do it to your own lawn will depend on the height of the green blades growing in your garden.
Many gardeners and landscapers highly recommend adding mulch to your soil in the fall for a plethora of reasons. In some cases the practice is in lieu of mulching in the spring, whereby you'll be busy planting, pruning, and spreading seeds, so planning ahead helps save you time.
The best months to mulch are mid to late April, after spring bulbs have started to push up through the ground but before spring weeds get too active.
Cutting back perennials in the fall is not only a great way to keep flowerbeds looking neat and tidy through winter, but it also aids greatly in keeping plants vibrant and blooming the following year. Removing spent foliage and blooms helps a plant focus on recharging it's roots and resources.
Keep the base of plants free of dead leaves and debris particularly before frost. Keep watering until the ground freezes. This is the most important factor for how plants weather the winter. Apply a layer of mulch or mulched leaves in late fall.
Just the opposite, in fact: ANY mulch that's piled up against a plant stem or tree trunk provides cover and traps moisture, inviting pests, disease and rot to destroy that poor plant.
In addition to nourishing your lawn, mulching grass clippings and leaves when you mow saves time, money and is better for the environment. Dealing with lawn clippings or raked up leaves can often be a painful and laborious process.
To prepare the soil of your mulch bed, use a rake to remove any organic material like leaves, seeds or sticks. This will also help get rid of any debris that was created when you trimmed your trees and bushes.
If you don't get to your spring chores right away (and we don't blame you) – how long does mulch last in a bag, anyway? As long as it's dry, a sealed bag can sit indefinitely. Bagged mulch can go sour or moldy in wet areas, or even can attract pests, so proper storage is really all you need for a long-lasting product.
Carefully rake or hand remove the material without damaging the plants that you wanted to protect. Remove the material gradually as temperatures rise in the spring. Once removed, this material can be added to the compost bin where it will eventually break down completely into compost.
Although using mulch has many benefits, it cal also be detrimental to the garden in mainly two ways: Overmulching can bury and suffocate plants. Mulch provides a convenient hiding place for pests. Bake your plants with excess heat if don incorrectly.
Expert green thumbs contend that getting rid of last year's mulch is completely unnecessary. Mulch gradually breaks down, adding beneficial nutrients and other organic matter to the soil. Removing pre-existing mulch every year only ends up to be extra work and a needless expense.
The one-third rule means that when you mow, you want to cut off the top one-third of your grass blades.
At this point, your perennials should be well into dormancy, and mulching around them won't encourage tender new growth. The ground has had time to chill and absorb fall moisture. Go ahead and spread a 2- to 4-inch layer of mulch around the base of the plants to protect crowns and surface roots.
Some perennials will successfully break through a barrier of mulch, but more often, damage will result. If the vegetation has to struggle to push up through a layer of coarse mulch, doing so may take a toll on its initial appearance.
Like with watering, there's such thing as too much of a good thing. Too much mulch can encourage pests and rodents by providing them a place to hide while they eat your plant! Avoid covering the soil around hostas with more than a couple of inches of mulch, and don't mound it up around the crown.