How To Mulch Your Flower Beds

You’ve put in a lot of hard work landscaping your yard. The layout is perfect, the plants are in place, and it’s looking great. Now it’s time to lay mulch in your flower beds and other landscaped areas. Let’s take a look at how to mulch your flower beds so you get the most out of your project.

What is Mulch?

Mulch is, quite simply, layers of organic material that you add to the surface of the soil of a garden or landscaped area. The purpose is to maintain proper moisture levels, suppress weed growth and improve soil quality.

When Do You Need To Lay Down Mulch?

Spring is a great time to lay down mulch. It not only makes your flower beds look clean, but it will lock in the moisture from all the rain in spring. Your new, and re-emerging plants will benefit the most from it. With this in mind, wait until your plants have started growing again to ensure you don’t bury them.

Fall is also a great time to add a layer to help protect your plants during the harsh winter months.

Add this project to your home maintenance routine. Check out the Complete Home Maintenance Checklist for more things you can do to keep your home in top shape.

Where Can You Find Mulch?

Check your local home improvement stores for bags of mulch. Many stores will have great sales in the spring so watch for those. Bags make it easy to transport home, and all around your yard, but can cost more.

You can also have a local landscape supply company deliver mulch in bulk to your home. Grab a wheelbarrow, shovel and pitchfork to transport and spread throughout your yard. Additionally, check with your local municipality. They often have free mulch available. It will most likely be loose mulch and you’ll have to pick it up and transport it home yourself.

How Much Mulch Do You Need?

Determine how much mulch you’ll need by calculating the square footage of all flower beds. To find the square footage, multiply the length times the width. Do this for every area you want to cover. Then add them all up to get the total square footage.

If you are purchasing bags of mulch, the bags will tell you how many square feet they cover. If you are having your mulch delivered in bulk, they will help you figure out how many yards you’ll need.

How To Lay Mulch

Now that you know why, when, where and how, it’s time to get to work.

Tools / Supplies You May Need

• Shovel, Pitchfork and Wheelbarrow (if buying in bulk)
• Bow Rake
• Gloves
• Garden Hose

Step 1

First clean out your flower beds. Rake out any leaves, sticks and other debris. Pull all weeds. Remove the old mulch from last year too. Especially if any has compacted and is allowing mold or fungus to grow. You don’t need to remove the mulch down to the soil, take the top layer off.

If your flower beds meet your lawn you’ll also want to take time to freshen up the edging using a garden spade shovel.

Step 2

Next, add a light layer of water, then add a pre-emergent herbicide, like Preen. This prevents weeds from germinating.

Step 3

Spread your mulch. Put down a layer that is between 2″-4″ thick. You can use a bow rake to help spread it faster and level it out. Turn it upside down to drag and push the mulch where you need it. You also need to get down and use your hands for a lot of the spreading too. Wear gloves.

Step 4

Finally, water your mulch down. This helps your mulch to settle in to place.

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