Mulch for flower beds?
 

(spoiler - I have no idea what I’m doing) I’d like to clean up the neglected flower beds in our back yard and put some mulch in them for now while we wait for the right weather to plant. Is this a bad idea for any reason? A couple of spots have perennials - will they still come up if we put mulch tbere too? Any suggestions on what type of mulch to buy?

Re: Mulch for flower beds?
 

If you are putting down mulch, I would put down that black stuff - it's a sheet underneath. I don't know the name, but it's very common. We use it.

Then you get many more years of not having to weed your landscaped area. The problem is - the perennials won't come through it. We did it in the spring AFTER the plants bloomed and just cut holes around it.

That's my $0.02 on how we have done it.

Re: Mulch for flower beds?
 

Yes, landscaping fabric will kill the perennials unless you know where they are and cut holes for them.

You can put about 2-3 inches of mulch down now and perennials can still come up through that. If you want to use landscaping fabric underneath the mulch, you need to wait until the perennials are up. Layers of newsprint also work under mulch and it's biodegradable.

Annual weeds will have a hard time germinating under 2-3 inches of mulch. They need sunlight. Perennial weeds will still come up but, if you pull them early, you'll be good.

I don't like landscaping fabric but I'm an oddball, most people prefer it. I use mulch and pull weeds early on. Then I don't have weed problems and I'm not fussing with the fabric when I plant new things or split my perennials.