Question
I have a great stand of beautiful hosta plants in on older mulch bed near the front of my house. Unfortunately, i have a lot of big weeds coming up thru and around the hostas. they are very difficult to keep pulled due to the density of both weeds and hostas. I 've been thinking od putting a heavy layer (3-4 inches) of new mulch over the whole area in the fall when the hostas die down for the winter. My question is this--if i cover the whole area, will the hostas grow thru the mulch in the spring? They seem to be extremely hardy

Thanks

Carl Meyers

Answer
Hi Carl,
Thanx for your question.  You can mulch heavily and then after the last frost, pull some of the mulch away from the crown of the plant so the shoots can come up successfully.  Keep piling the much up around the plant to reduce weed.  You can also use organic Preen?to help keep down weeds.  The Preen?will not work against perennial weeds but it does prevent annual weed seeds from germinating.  I hope this helps.
Tom