A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Red Cedar Mulch is Annoying Me!

Whenever people talk about planting with mulch already in a bed, they just say that they move the mulch aside and then plant. It seems as if it's no problem for them. But for me it is such a problem! I try moving all the mulch aside, but then it's all over other plants, there's no room for just the soil to be stacked without the mulch envading, etc! I just planted a new Daylily plant that I got today and it was such a mess, with the mulch getting all throughout the soil! Is this going to hurt my plants? I really wish I hadn't put that mulch in now. I'd much rather just mulch with organic matter so I didn't have to worry about it mixing in when planting. How long will it take for this mulch to disintegrate? Will the buried mulch (there is tons of it!) disintegrate faster? If so, how much faster? I hope it will be a LOT faster. I can't stand having this stuff in my soil.

I've also heard people say that their cedar mulch always makes it's way back to the top after rain, and that doesn't happen for me either! It just stays throughout my soil.

Daylily, I understand what you're talking about because I've experienced that problem too when I tried to move the mulch aside. I've found it's much eaiser for me to have two buckets handy and I just scoop the mulch into one and the soil in the other. After I plant the flower or shrub I just put the soil back and then the mulch. This always works really great for me and there's no mess and no fuss. Of course, sometimes if I'm planting something bigger I have a large plastic tub that I use to put the mulch in and then use the two buckets for the soil.

Thanks for the tip, Patti! That's a great idea.

Do you guys think this will hurt my plants?

You're welcome, Daylily! I think you'll be amazed at how well it works and how much time it saves. When you're finished you can't even tell anything was ever disturbed.

Mulch is good for your garden. At least that made from organic matter like cedar. Yes the chips do decompost and become a source of nitrogen for your plants. The cycle works like this. As the chips breakdown they take nitrogen from the soil and once they are broken down they return it.

It sounds like you have really soft soil and that's marvelous. I never have to worry about the mulch getting in my soil because I have clay and it sticks together and doesn't easily let anything else in.