Mulching and Gardening Tips
Spreading mulch on your gardens, flower beds, and around your trees and shrubs not only adds beauty to your landscaping, but the mulch also discourages weed growth by blocking sunlight while reducing your need to water by retaining moisture.
Mulching material varies by geographic location, but in the Florida we use a lot of cypress mulch and pine straw. Pine bark and other wood nuggets are other possibilities.
The key to spreading mulch is to use the proper thickness -- don't skimp, or the weeds will come right through -- and proper placement around trees and shrubs -- spread to within an inch around the plants; do not push the mulch up against the bark, as it will often cause the bark to rot.
In order to discourage weeds even more, you'll notice in the pictures below that a layer of weed blocker -- porous plastic film -- is added before the mulch is applied.
Go back to Mulching and Gardening
Dr. Randall S. Hansen 
Department of Marketing Stetson University
421 N. Woodland Blvd. Unit 8398
DeLand, FL 32720
Web Home Page:
http://www.stetson.edu/~rhansen/
Phone: 904-822-7495 FAX: 904-822-7393
Email: randall.hansen@stetson.edu