To bark or not to bark

RoddersUK

Dug over a new border, mixed in bags of compost, but looks messy. Should I cover with bark, or just wait for the plants to grow and cover it

 What would you do, eventually these borders will be around the whole garden, so would be a lot of bark.

B3

It doesn't look at all messy to me. The plants will grow and hide the soil pretty soon.

Fairygirl

I wouldn't use chunky bark round perennials. A layer of the finer stuff would be ok, or another layer of compost would be better. 

RoddersUK

I used all my compost in the soil and have a bag of bark lying around lol.
I could go and buy more compost.

raisingirl

Bark will rot down and feed the soil organisms, so there's good reason to do it other than the look of it. But water the plants very thoroughly first if you do it.

februarysgirl

I have large bark chippings in my raised beds. I went for large as in the past, smaller ones proved more popular than I would have liked with the neighbourhood cats. Chippings make life so much easier as far as weeding is concerned as any germinating seeds don't root in the soil and can be plucked out no problem. The good thing as well is that when the weather is hot, they'll protect the ground from drying out as much but you should give the ground a good soaking first. 

Hostafan1

I'd use the budget for bark to buy more plants.

RoddersUK

Hostafan1 said:

I'd use the budget for bark to buy more plants.

I was going to let them spread out and fill any gaps with annuals next year.
I always plant too crowded and things squish up too much. 
Taking easy this time!
There is a hibiscus at the back, that will grow in time and I have some salvia cuttings to go in next year.

TheGreenMan

I went for Spruce Ornamental bark and it looks a lot better for it. I too am waiting for gaps to fill out. I thought in the meantime it looks nice and smells lovely and will improve the soil etc as it disappears. 

Also has been great for weeding as they are a lot easier to get out. 

Fire

I think bark or wood chip mulch is great for the look, keeping down the weeds and keeping in moisture.

Loxley

Bark would be fine since that's what you have, just don't pile it up around the crowns of the plants. I don't use bark or woodchip (which is apparently slightly better for plants) because I plant so densely and constantly dig up and replant things lol.