We have now been in our current family home for about 6 or 7 years, and I imagine that this home will be our home forever!

When we first moved in, the front of our house had a few bushes, but other than that, it was pretty sparse looking…

We decided that we wanted to do a large mulch flowerbed to give it a little more curb appeal. I’d never done a mulch garden before, but thought that I would like to give it a try.

Here we are, about 6 years later, and let me tell you, this mulch garden is still going strong! I only have to weed it about once, maybe twice a year, and maybe have to top it up with one or two new bags of mulch a year! (I actually only used half a bag this year!)

The first thing we did was layout the shape of our garden. Since the bushes were already planted before we moved in, we had to kind of work around/work them into our plan. We kind of ended up with a weird wavy shaped garden, but I think that kind of gives it a little more character.

After we had the layout of the garden, we then rototilled the area. I think that this step combined with the tarp that we put down, has really helped with the weed control over the years.

We used a black gardening tarp to cover the entire area of our garden, and then wherever we wanted to plant something, we would just cut an “X” into it, dig our hole, and then plant our plant! Really, so easy!

Next, we laid our mulch. We chose black, and we love it so much! However, we did find out that our local garbage disposal (aka. The dump!), has free mulch for the taking! It’s natural-colored, and I think it would look great too! We have been waiting to switch over, but since we only need to top our flowerbed off with a bag or two a year, we haven’t needed to re-mulch the whole thing yet!

We then edged our flowerbed with edging, and some pretty stones!

Like I mentioned earlier, I really only have to give my flowerbed one good weeding at the beginning of spring every year, and maybe pluck out the odd strand of grass that sneaks its way up between where the tarp meets the deck… And when it comes to weeding, the mulch makes it so easy!

Every spring, when I do my annual weeding, I take my mini rake, and just rake through the mulch, flip it over, and loosen it up. While I’m doing this, the weeds just kind of float up to the surface, roots and all, and I pluck’em and chuck’em! Again, so easy!

After I’m done weeding and “fluffing” my mulch, I just take an extra bag and sprinkle some new mulch onto any bare or thin areas, if needed.

Since this flowerbed is a little on the larger side, I have been adding a few new perennials to it each year, and each year they are expanding and filling it out even more!

If you are thinking of putting in a new flowerbed, or even just want to make your current flowerbeds a little easier to maintain, I would highly recommend using tarp and mulch! We are going on year 6 or 7 now, and I have not a single complaint! Oh, and if you are looking for perennial ideas, check out this Low-Maintenance Perennial Garden on a Budget, from over at The Creek Line House!

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