Good morning! I'm mulching some if my borders with well-rotted manure. Where I have shoots emerging from spring bulbs, should I mulch around them or is it OK to cover them?
Example in the pic below.. snowdrops I think. I also have early daff shoots emerging.
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For more tender perennials (like salvias and dahlias) am I right to think I'm better off giving them a deep covering anyway to protect against frost? I'm taking a chance with dahlias, I've put some in the frost-free greenhouse and left a few outside in the ground to see how they fare. It's usually pretty mild down here.
I expect a layer of mulch might suffice with the dahlias - many people in mild areas leave them in situ.
I leave stems on perennials, so there's always a bit of 'stuff' there, and that means it's easy to avoid them if I put down any mulch.
We mulch our snowdrops, but more like a dressing - mulching all plants near them as suppose to normally , and then just gently brush some of the mulch from the edges towards snowdrops to make border look even .
Ditto. I now leave all stems on my perennials until the end of Winter, to the dismay of my OH who doesn't like the "untidy" look.
Very visible ones [from the kitchen window] might get a bigger haircut though
I can honestly say - I've never used four inches of mulch at any time, or anywhere. That depth might be a problem, but a couple of inches [which is probably what most people will do] certainly won't bother bulbs.
I probably mulch a couple of times a year, although mainly in autumn/winter, when there are gaps from perennials that have died back. I have a lot of ground covering planting because of 'unwanted visitors' using the garden as a toilet, and that means less mulching in those borders.
The other area that gets more regular layers put on it is the foot of the hedging.