Bark....... is not just for dogs

Weeding is a major chore in any garden. Here at Quercus we have a lot of large borders, so keeping them looking their best is a huge task. I also have the nursery to run, all that propagation and so many other tasks that saving my time everyday is crucial to the operation of the business. So reducing the maintenance workload allows us to focus on other tasks. I've always been ambivalent about bark mulches as you often see them badly done, with thin patches and plastic sheeting poking through. Done properly they can look good and reduce the burden of weeding, reduce moisture loss from the ground and erosion of the soil. As a professional gardener I have seen this done to varying degrees of success, depending on colour of bark, depth and use of plastic underneath to suppress weeds. It was an interesting thought process to get round to thinking that bark could actually be a good solution for the really big beds at Quercus.

One of the large entrance beds in the nursery, the first to experiment with bark

There are a couple of ways you can put down a mulch. You can put it directly onto the soil as I have done, or put down a landscape fabric first, then the bark. I opted not to use fabric, mainly as the beds already had a few plants in, so cutting holes in the correct places can be a nightmare of a job plus as we do mainly perennial plantings the plants don't spread naturally, constrained by the fabric. I weeded and tidied the beds first, getting rid of as much weed as possible by digging out roots and surface weeding. It was then a case of spreading the bark over the beds, amongst and under the plants, covering as much of the soil as possible. Two to four inches should completely deter weed growth. If any weeds do have the nerve to put in an appearance they can be pulled out easily. The other advantage of mulching is moisture retention in the soil in dry periods.

Bark in the bag, ready for mulching

Using fabric underneath works better with new beds. Once the bed is dug and levelled you can lay the landscape fabric and spread the mulch over. A lesser depth of two inches is usually required as you have the landscape fabric to help in the weed reduction. The weight of the bark will keep the fabric in place without pinning it. Then cut holes in the fabric where you want to plant you plants, dig a hole and replace the bark around the plant once planted.

Bark amongst the ferns

In 2015 just after we had bought the nursery, one of the first borders we tackled was the large border just inside the entrance. Some internet surfing resulted in varying prices and types of bark, for this type of application the bigger the pieces of bark the better. We decided to go for bulk bags ordered from Scotbark, delivered to site. Although a cost effective way of buying it, it's a lot of work getting bark out those bulk bags, arm fulls into a bucket then placed in the borders to a depth of a couple of inches to ensure good coverage. Three bulk bags covered the big border on the right side of the entrance track right up to the top and most of the left side border. A good start to the gardens in the first month or so of buying the nursery and a positive visual impact to people coming through the main gate. I have to say I am impressed with the results and can cope with not being able to see the soil! These beds are also made up of awful, heavy clay soil, so covering it much better than trying get weeds out it and make it look good. A hoe doesn't even touch it! Over the five years to date this has saved hours of weeding. I only have to spend ten or fifteen minutes removing the odd dandelion of thistle compared to hours of work weeding the border. Every year the barest areas get a new covering, but so far that has only been one or two 100 Litre bales a year.

The Scented garden

When we created the scented garden two years later in 2017, I went on the hunt for the most cost efficient way of buying the next lot of bark and was amazed to find out buying in bulk was not necessarily cheaper! 100 litre bales of Westland bark bought from B&M stores is significantly cheaper! Who knew. I still have to equal that in my head with the amount of plastic waste this produces, it doesn't sit comfortably and I guess in that respect bulk buying is better. When we needed another lot of bark for the wildlife garden borders a year later I got it delivered on a pallet from an online seller. This was much more efficient than six bags at a time from B&M in the back of the car. Another advantage of the bales is they can be taken directly to the area being mulched and emptied, saving more time.

The wild life garden being barked

More bark on the wildlife garden

In 2019 we completed the two large borders in the railway garden and it's a natural process now to bark the big borders as we now know just how much weeding time it saves. Due to lock down it took a while to source bark and eventually we had a pallet delivered from Harbro in Peebles. This covered about one and a half of the two railway borders and now that we need more to finish this garden there seems to be a world wide shortage of bark, due to everything being shut during lock down, its taking a while for supplies to build up again.

Eventually the bark with disappear, working its way into the soil as it breaks down over the years and some topping up will be necessary from time  to time. Until then you can enjoy tidy looking borders and a lot less weeding.

Leaving a soil edge in the borders

This is an updated adaptation of the third blog I ever wrote back in 2013,  - Original post 

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