Mulch fork
Wheelbarrow
Half-moon edger
Square shovel
In this video, This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook explains how to mulch plant beds.
Steps:
1 Rake dead leaves and old mulch from between shrubs and plants to expose the soil.
2 Pick up old mulch and leaves with a mulch fork and dump into wheelbarrow; discard debris in compost pile.
3 Cut back the grass along the front of the planting bed with a half-round edger.
4 Remove the grass cut from the edge with a square-edge shovel; discard debris in compost pile.
5 Dump new mulch into planting bed, and spread with garden rake to 1 inch deep.
6 Push mulch under shrubs with rake, but keep it away from branches and trunks.
7 Use rake to compact the mulch along the edge of the bed.
Pro Tip: This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook explains why just one inch of mulch is sufficient in an established bed: it’s all you need to moderate soil temperatures and hold moisture in. By adding only one inch per year, you can go two or three years before needing to strip the old mulch out of the bed entirely.
