Garden with Betty Cahill: Tree Stories Part II

We know that living in high, dry Colorado that using mulch around plantings helps conserve moisture, keep weeds down (and easier to pull if not using landscape fabric) and provides a finished look to the garden. I'm in the pro-mulch camp.

When it comes to trees and tree care there are additional reasons to love mulch. Tree roots are more vigorous than grass roots and in the end will win. So just lean in, use mulch around trees, forget trying to grow grass close to trees.

Keeping lawn trimmers away from trunks is healthy tree growing 101. Your newly planted trees will thank you for using a wide, 2-4 inch deep mulch ring to help keep foot traffic away while it is getting established.

Also, keep the mulch away from touching the trunk so that moisture isn't constantly in contact with the trunk.

I see lots of mulch no-nos on my daily walks with Ferris.

I'm beyond words on this mulch job. Rock kibble is much too hot to use in this location (it's west facing, near the street), it's too thick, not the correct mulch type in this situation and it's right up against the trunk. Why, why, why????

This volcano mulch is, in a word - horrific. And the tree wrap isn't any better. Do you actually think new tree roots will get any air and moisture from this thick catastrophe?

Ferris is intrigued and confused at this out of place hill of mulch in the tree lawn.

I'll give some points to this homeowner for trying. Unfortunately there are some errors. The edging looks new and could harm the tree roots from the pounding at installation. The ring isn't large enough for the size of the tree and it's too close to the trunk. The thickness is good and looks finished.

I'm not a fan of weed fabric in general. We have weed fabric under the rock pebble in the dog run and under the crusher pebbles surrounding the raised beds. The foot traffic in these areas keep weeds down and ones that make it through are quick to spot and pull. I touched on weed fabric in a previous blog, click here to read.

What is this homeowner's end game? I assume the river rock is taking the place of any turf that was growing. There probably wasn't much grass anyway, but that's a guess since I don't have a before picture.

Adding all this new weight in river rocks may not be the best idea for this tree and the fabric just adds another layer preventing air and moisture getting through to tree roots in this limited tree lawn space. We can argue that some weed fabric brands breathe and allow water and air, to pass down to roots. However, I challenge you to remove any weed fabric after a year or more from any location and dig around in the soil underneath. It will be very lifeless, compacted and unhappy.