By Pam Sawyer, TAPP Master Gardener

To change a grassy (or bare) area into a bed, you only need two things - mulch and plants. Mulch is organic material applied to the soil surface to protect or improve an area. Organic mulch (leaves, wood chips, grass clippings, pine straw) keeps your soil moist, suppresses weed growth, stabilizes soil temperatures, and reduces erosion and soil compaction. While you provide a better place for your plants to live, you slow the flow and help to reduce stormwater runoff.

As the mulch breaks down, it enriches the soil by releasing nutrients that plants can use. This enriched soil is fluffier and more porous, and, like a sponge, it soaks up excess water easily. Mulch requires practically no maintenance - just add new mulch as needed and perhaps weed once in a while.

Tips for Forming Effective Mulch Beds:

 

1. Pile a 2" to 4" layer of organic mulch in a designated area. Plant your plants and, presto, you have a bed. If this seems too easy, you can haul in some mushroom compost or even better, use your own homemade compost from material that originates in your own yard. Leaves, wood chips, pine needles, grass clippings, chopped leaves from the mower bag, etc., offer a source of mulch that is an often unappreciated asset.
   
    
2. When you rake the leaves from the lawn, throw them into your beds. If you don't have enough leaves to cover the area with a two to four inch layer, you can find bags of leaves along the roadside. Many people are nice enough to bag them and leave them by the curb for you. If you still don't have enough, buy some pine bark mulch or pine straw. City residents can get free mulch delivered to their door by calling 891-5009, or you can pick up some free mulch at the Leon County landfill.
   
    
3. If your yard is more generous than you need, consider allowing the excess yard material to compost in a corner of the yard for later use, or you can share with neighbors and friends
   
    
4. One large mulch bed is better than several small ones. For beds that include trees, the current size recommendation from County Extension agents is two feet in diameter for every inch of trunk diameter. A tree with a 5" diameter trunk should have a ten foot diameter mulch bed around it. Instead of mulching around individual trees near one another, have one large mulch bed that protects them all. That goes for flower beds and shrubs, too. Group new plantings, shrubs, and flowers into large beds. Your landscape will look better, and you'll have less raking and mowing to do. Try experimenting with various outlines for your mulched areas.
   
    
5. Under trees, where it is too shaded for a lawn to grow well anyway, allow the tree leaves to collect and create their own mulch. Such a self-mulching area is easy to maintain, and according to one estimate, a tree canopy covering half your land can reduce runoff by one-fourth if the trees are self-mulching. Be sure not to pile mulch against the tree trunk. Leave a space for air to circulate around the trunk.
    

The main thing to remember is that mulching on your yard and beds is NOT optional - you must have it to make a good, healthy bed. Mulching keeps your yard at home, absorbs water and prevents your soil from running away down the street to the nearest storm drain.

 

Sources of Free Mulch

 

• Free mulch is available for pickup at the Leon County landfill (on U.S. Highway 27, 4 1/2 miles east of Capital Circle).
  
   
• Wakulla County residents can contact their County Extension Service office at 926-3931 to obtain information about suppliers of free mulch.
  
   
• Arborists and tree removal services also may be willing to provide mulch, particularly if you have a working relationship with them.

NOTE: The Florida Native Plant Society advises against using cypress tree mulch. Many valuable cypress trees are destroyed for the sole purpose of creating a mulch product, and debate exists about the effectiveness of cypress material as mulch. On the other hand, pine bark is a by-product of pine pulp production.

WORDS OF WARNING: Be careful with disposal of exotic invasive plants. According to the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission's Bureau of Invasive Plant Management, berries and seeds from such plants should be bagged as trash for the landfill, not used as mulch.

CAUTION: Never sweep or blow debris into a storm drain or a publicly maintained swale. These areas need to stay clear for water storage or drainage.