Another Mulch Question

[Vaughn McMillan]

I didn't want to threadjack Matt's mulch question, but I've got a couple related questions...

I've got areas of bark mulch on non-woven fabric. The bark's about 2 years old and ready to be refreshed. Is there any reason not to simply place more bark on top of the existing stuff, of should I remove the old bark first?

Also, I've got a couple hundred feet of redwood bender board edging between the grass and planter areas. Much of it is broken from foot and paw traffic, and it's getting time to replace it. (A job I'm not looking forward to.) I can't afford to build a proper masonry mow strip right now, but want to replace the bender board this spring. Any suggested replacement materials? Rubber? Plastic? Wood again?

Thanks

[Bill Lewis]

Gosh Vaughn, I wish we had your problems, our mulch basically disintegrates over time requiring additional applications. We do have to fluff it once in awhile so that it doesn't "mat" and prevent moisture from penetrating.
I don't see why you'd have to replace it, but you might try just turning it to freshen the appearance. On the other hand... Last season I was in Lesco, a lawn care store for lawn and landscape professionals, and they had a product that you could spray on mulch to freshen its appearance. Pretty sneaky I thought, but might be what you need.

BTW we just used up our first truckload of mulch, about 10 cubic yards. Sure is alot easier to do with a tractor with a loader bucket.

[Jim Becker]

Some folks say to remove (as it's already composted to soil..) and other say to leave it (as it's already composted to soil...)I tend to leave it, except in our veggie garden paths where we really don't want any soil.

[Christopher Stahl]

I agree, we tend to leave ours as well. I breaks down quite a bit over the year, so I usually fluff it up a bit for circulation and prevent suffocation of plants and bushes. We usually add and additional thin layer. Usually because I get a different color of mulch each year.

chris

[Joe Chritz]

Back about 13 or 14 years ago I worked for a landscaper running a crew. We did tear out and replacements as well as new construction and yearly maintanence.

Pluck out the weeds if any, suck or blow out the leaves, sprinkle some pre-emergent weed killer (we used Preen) and put down new. If the mulch is still mostly in place (such as cypress or cedar) just rake it around and replace what is needed in places. The cypress or cedar bark doesn't break down as fast but does fade.

We used heavy duty plastic edging for almost all jobs. Be sure to buy the thickest you can find and use stakes on both ends and every 6-8 feet. We made our own stakes out of 3/16 round steel but tent stakes work well. Just be sure to cut for the edging with a flat shovel or better a manual edger. (just a halfmoon shaped flat piece of steel on a shovel handle.)

My personal favorite is to lay down crushed concrete and put a brick paver walkway in. It was my specialty.

For the other answer (to Matt) we always tried to talk people into edging but if they insisted we would do mulch without. If you are planing on changing to something else in a year or so it will do fine. You will get grass growing in the mulch easier but worse is the mulch likes to migrate out easier.

Reminds me I have a bunch to do at my place this year.

Joe