Think of it as tucking in your plants and garden beds for the winter. Just like you add blankets to your bed, their beds need protection too against harsh winter conditions.
According to our experts, late fall – near Thanksgiving – is the best time to lay mulch for the winter! This is so that the plant stays dormant, kind of like keeping a bear asleep all winter. Mulching after dormancy has set in will prevent occasional warm spells from allowing the plant to “wake up” too early. So when it comes to mulch, lay it late! You want the ground to have already gone through a good freeze before you start tucking it in!
If you’re applying mulch to a perennial or garden bed, leaving the old mulch on and just adding to it can result in rot and nutrient starvation. Fungal diseases and insect eggs can overwinter in the old mulch/debris and move on to your veggies and perennials in the months ahead. Remove as much of the old mulch as possible before you add more.
We recommend about 3 inches of mulch on beds, and especially around any plants, trees or shrubs that are newly-planted (that is, planted this year). It takes this much to adequately insulate the roots and reduce loss of moisture.
For trees, take care not to put the mulch right next to the trunk – keep it a few inches away. If you pile it up right next to the tree trunk, too much moisture can gather there and cause the bark to decay. Extend the mulch as far as the drip line of the tree branches.
Our brand new Cedar mulch tends to repel a lot of insects and it’s very long-lasting too!
We also offer Pine Bark Premium Mini Nuggets and Premium Large Nuggets. The “Premium” aspect is that both are larger pieces and both have very little “filler” or small mulch particles, which makes them more attractive. The Mini nuggets are about the size of a half dollar coin and the nuggets are huge. With these Premium products, we advise adding a layer of Pine Bark Soil Conditioner on the soil first, before adding the Premium mulch nuggets, for extra protection against the cold.
