As we rant throughout this web site, the key to a healthy landscape or flower bed is having plants growing in a healthy soil. A healthy soil only occurs if there is a year-round source of organic matter for the earthworms and soil microbes. That source is mulch.

We feel strongly that flower beds should be mulched for 365 days a year. We go into great detail in our file Mulching The Yard, the principles of which work in any flower bed.

Our recommendation is that in the spring, summer and fall, you will have 2 to 3 inches of any kind of organic mulch that you can find and aesthetically accept. In the winter we suggest you up the ante to about 4 inches of organic mulch to protect the root systems of the plants in your flower bed. It is wise to rake newly fallen leaves off beds in late fall because unchopped leaves can become a sodden mess that can smother plants as they sprout in the spring and encourage rot diseases. Instead collect those whole leaves with a leaf blower/vac and then return the chopped material back on to the beds.