Adventure in Mulch

I have purchased mulch. This is really over simplifying it. 

I planted about 126 bulbs this past fall. I threw leafs over them thinking that all would be well and that I had no need for mulch. As time went on I re-thought this because it looks like just bare dirt and if there is nothing covering it then the weeds will take over.

By weeds I specifically mean ragweed. one of my garden beds was full if it last year and I don't know why. So I made the impulse decision to put down some mulch.

The mulch was in nice neat little bags. 1.5 cubic feet each. They were also wet from the rain and said rain was also frozen. I got 4 to start with because I thought that would be all I needed. Yeah, No. That was not all I needed. It barely finished off the small front bed.

Now after I had done one bed I called my dad for his opinion on the mulch. Because I have heirloom bulbs and 100 other bulbs of mixed whatever. He said two inches should be enough to stop things from growing through it but that one inch should still be ok. I'm just going to have to keep an eye on it and push the mulch away as needed from the bulbs.

There are some super tiny bulbs that I think might be Glory-of-the-snow. They are bright blue star-like flowers and they are in the front bed and a little in the grass on the other side of the sidewalk. I dug up so many of the little bulbs that before I put out the mulch I have been checking the surface of the bed to see if I missed putting any back. I have found about 10-15. They are in pots inside and I'll be planting them back outside when it's a bit warmer.

So! Today I went out to a local place that is a bit pricey.

The guy very kindly helped me out and the price wasn't too bad. This place was 7 minuets from home and totally worth it for that alone. They apparently will also do deliveries in the summer. The bags were, to me, much much larger. They were just 2 cubic feet. Don't know why they looked larger.

Well... it only took 6 bags for the front. I don't know how this math worked because there is so much more mulch that I kept re-checking the labels to make sure it wasn't 3cubic feet or something. I don't know how this happened but I an not going to complain.

I think I might be able to get most of one side of my lawn covered. I need to remember to put down newspaper to help smother the grass.

This will leave me with one bag to put around my 4 hostas so that the weeds won't compete with them. Then next year I can split them and have more hostas. All the hostas.

While putting down the mulch I did find that the red echinacea survived and there are a few seedlings near it. Then I found some normal pink echinacea seedlings hiding under my Japanese split leaf maple. Thats going to be a fun adventure to transplant.

I also picked up some green twister echinacea. There were two in a pack and I got two. The first pack had an extra little plant in it and the second had two large plants that I was able to split. All seven are in pots in my florida room so they can get their roots established. This will also make it easier for me to have them survive when I plant them.

Next will be organizing the seeds. Then once it is warm and the bulbs have bloomed it will be drawing up a plan of were to put things. Because I don't remember were I put the peony. I really need to uncover it more because if it's more then 1-2 inches deep it won't put out flowers. Also I got plant markers which might not help.

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