Ryan Lawn & Tree
Natural Mulched Borders
Natural mulched borders create the perfect environment to grow your trees and shrubs. By placing most trees and all shrubs in the border area, the lawn becomes an uninterrupted island of turf in the middle of the yard. (Mowing time is reduced and mowing is simplified.) The mulch creates an artificial forest floor and breaks down into nutrients that provide much of the food needs for your plants within the border.
Follow these steps below to design your back yard mulched border:
- Design the border's edge with long, flowing curves. Visualize a stream slowly curving around a field. Use a garden hose to help visualize and lay out the border. (Make the mulched area no larger than necessary. A long term goal for most mulched borders should be shade gardens.)
- Once you have determined the bed outline, fill the inside of the bed with mulch about three inches deep. The mulch will smother most turf. Kill the turf that pokes through the mulch with Roundup.
- Plant trees and shrubs in the border. Use shrubs and low growing trees close to power lines. Make sure larger growing trees are at least twenty feet from a point directly below any power line.
- Plant a ground cover in the mulch. (It will eventually cover the mulch and reduce the need for re-mulching in the future.) An excellent ground cover is the solid green, large leaf vinca major.
- Recycle your leaves each fall. Use your mower to chop them into fine particles, then spread them over the border area.
- Enjoy your environmentally friendly landscape.
A low cost "green" alternative to purchased mulch are tree chips from pruning operations. They are coarse and need to be about 6 inches deep initially because they compost quickly. Let these chips sit in the border for at least 6 months. Remove any volunteer trees before planting groundcover. You will love the composted material that you plant into.
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