Back when I was a professional gardener, I had clients who insisted on having me lay down landscape fabric then putting bark on top of it to discourage weeds. I hated this practice and tried to talk ...

A few years ago, a gardening friend suggested I place a layer of compost in my flower beds before mulching with my usual shredded bark mulch. As my garden seemed happy and required less care that ...

A desire to encourage local residents to dig into composting for themselves is behind the SCREC’s partnership with OC Waste & ...

Many folks are now improving new and established gardens with mulch, but be wary of where you get it. It is possible to spread insects like the coconut rhinoceros beetle, sugarcane borer and fire ants ...

A rose by any other name may still be a rose, but mulches need defining. There are 17 different materials considered on the University of California’s Statewide Integrated Pest Management website, and ...

Every gardener wants the best soil for their garden. How do you know if your soil is "good"? What do you add to make it good? When you go to a plant nursery or the gardening section of a big box store ...

One of the most commonly asked questions in gardening is ‘what’s the difference between mulch and compost?’ Both are usually brown and soil-like, both help nurture plant growth – so how come they are ...

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in ...

"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." Mulch is a great garden tool for so many reasons. It’s useful for insulating newly-planted perennials and ...

Every spring, we should take a look at our landscape to determine what clean-up or other preparations we need to do before the heat of the summer gets here. Cleaning up dead plant material, leaves, or ...