Question
My wife planted her flower garden with seed this year. She does not want me to mulch the garden until the seeds sprout but I think that mulching at that point would smother the seedlings. I want to spread a light layer of mulch now. what should we do? I live in the St. Louis Mo. area.

Thank you

Answer
Hi Roger. In this case, I have to agree with your wife.

Mulch basically serves three purposes. One is to retain moisture; another is to maintain a constant soil temperature; and the final, and most prevalent, is to hold down weeds by preventing germination of weed seeds. The same holds true for flower and vegetable seeds. Therefore, I would wait until the seeds your wife has sowed germinate prior to mulching.

What I do every spring is spread a fine layer of shredded leaves over the planting area. Since the leaves are finely shredded, they provide a very porous mulch which will allow seeds to germinate. Once the seedlings are a few inches tall, I then spread shredded cedar or bark by hand around the plants. The leaves will decompose rather quickly, which in turn will provide nutrients for the plants. The bark decomposes very slowly over the growing season and does a great job of retaining moisture and preventing weeds.

I hope this answered your question. Please write again if I can ever be of assistance.

Regards,

Mike