That is the question.....
There is no doubt that mulching benefits the soil and therefore the plants. If only we could make enough compost and leaf mould for the whole garden. Not a hope!
I tend to use the compost in the vegetable garden where it's most needed.
The leaf mould is spread in the borders containing the shade plants that like a rich soil and woodland conditions. And we never have enough......
The cost of buying in organic mulch for the rest of herbaceous borders is expensive - at least a couple of hundred pounds if done to the recommended depth of 3-4 inches. Can't really justify that .... it has been mulched for the last three years and the soil is much less like Montrose Beach than it was.
However after a general weed, prune and tidy-up the garden looks good. A mulch would have been the finishing touch (and kept the weeds down). But once the plants get going no-one will notice....
My vote is for mulching where practical to do so too, Janet. Yep... those growing plants do help us out ;-)
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