Covering the garden bed

It has done almost nothing but rain here in Florida.  The plants are loving it.  The grass is growing like crazy.  The mosquitos are breeding.     The sun has finally come out today, so maybe the dragonflys and butterflys will come back out from wherever they have been hiding.  Where have they been hiding?  I don’t know know about the dragonflys, but I have seen butterflys hanging upside down under the leaves of sunflowers.  I was thrilled to have a “port in the storm” for them.  

During breaks in storms, I finally got the front garden bed all dug up and dirt moved to other areas of the yard.  I planted the Hibiscus bushes, and today I will get the Lantana in the ground under the birdfeeder.  From my old house, I pulled up bulbs of Amaryllis, and I took cuttings of the pink Mexican Petunia.  I will be rooting the cuttings, before I put them in the ground.  How?  Simply place them in a dark container of water. The cuttings will send out roots! Easy Peasy.  Lots of plants can be started this way, but that is another blog post.

Now that I have the garden bed dug and starter planted, I need to consider mulch options.  Mulching the garden bed is VITAL!  Not only does it finish the look of the bed, the mulch serves other purposes as well. 

• helps retain moisture
• helps to repress weed growth
• helps to ammend the soil

I wondered what my options were.  Off the top of my head, I could put down store bought bagged mulch, the city composted mulch, grass clippings from mowing the yard, straw from the chickens, raked up leaves and seed hulls from the tree out back, layers of newspaper, pieces of carpet, gravel or pebbles.. better yet a collection of shells from the beach, plastic weed barrier, shredded rubber tires, or pine needles from Michele’s backyard forest.  Each idea has its pros and cons and even its place. However,  I will most likely toss the grass clippings in the bed, then place a couple of layers of newspaper down and top it off with 3 inches of the city composted mulch, that I will haul home in plastic containers.  It will help to ammend the soil and look just fine.  It will also be FREE. 

I found the following sites full of mulching ideas and their pros and cons. Edenmakers appeals to my “ooooo shiny!”  Enjoy.

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/understanding-the-benefits-of-garden-mulch.html

http://familyfinances.suite101.com/article.cfm/cheap_mulch_options

http://edenmakersblog.com/?p=285