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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Simple Garden Life Podcast, a program dedicated

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to keeping the yard of gardening simple, fun and always rewarding.

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Now Here are your hosts, Jim and Marycompetti.

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Speaker 2: Hello and welcome everybody. You are listening to the Simple

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Garden Life Podcast. I am your host, Jim Competty, along

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with my wife Mary Mary. Good afternoon here as we

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handle our third podcast of the season.

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Speaker 3: We're excited to keep going.

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Speaker 2: We are, we are. Today's topic is going to be

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a great one. We'll get to that in a second.

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It has to do with weeds and multing and flowerbeds

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and everybody's interested in. We have some great tips today

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and some big things to avoid. But before we do that,

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introduce ourselves. We have our farm here just in Quaker City, Ohio,

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just about an hour and a half east of Columbus.

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We've had our podcast going now for gosh, can't believe

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this five years. That's crazy, Hi, this is kind of crazy.

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You can always email us at the farm at Owgarden

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dot com. You can also check out all of our

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website and farm at owgarden dot com, and of course,

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our podcast is listed on this Simplegardenlife dot com website

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that we do all of a lot of our garden

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advice and everything, but boy, the podcast is really given

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us a chance to connect to so many more people.

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We get so many emails, and we really really do

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enjoy it. And this topic today Mary the three biggest

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mistakes gardeners make when mulching flowerbeds and how to avoid them,

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not just to avoid them, but avoid them for less weeds,

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less work, and healthier plants. And they really do make

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a big difference.

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Speaker 3: Right with the sun coming out last week and being

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the eighties here, everybody's jumping to the gun to get

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their flowerbeds mulched.

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Speaker 2: That's right. Well, you know, we talk about this all

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the time when it comes to healthy plants and weed

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free flowerbeds. There's one answer, and it's mulch. It's a

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good layer of mulch. But there's so many things that

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people do that really put them behind when it comes

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to multi They use a lot of effort, they do

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a lot of hard work, but it actually at the

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end of the day sometimes creates more weeds.

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Speaker 3: Right, Actually putting down that mulch can actually hurt your

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flowerbeds instead of help if you don't do it the

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right way and with the right material, and.

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Speaker 2: It's not just weeds. Mult helps to regulate the soil temperature.

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It keeps the roots of plants from getting too warm

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or too cold, and it helps retain moisture for those plants,

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which can be huge, keeping them hydrated through droughts, and

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also shed some extra water sometimes when there's a little

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bit too much rain coming. But let's face it, I mean,

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there's one reason that most people put down mulch.

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Speaker 3: That's to stop weeds from growing.

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Speaker 2: That's right, And unfortunately a lot of people go through

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that expense and the effort of moulting their beds every

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year and hopes to finally put it into their weeding chores,

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and that mulching process only helps their weed problems intensify

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and multiply.

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Speaker 3: Right, Sometimes it looks beautiful for the first couple of

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weeks and maybe even the month, but come month two

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and three, they're putting more effort into those flower beds

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and then necessary.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, when we hold our garden classes here, when we

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speak around this is always a big topic for us

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and people want to know. So how do I avoid

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all of that hard work, all the expense and that

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heartache of mulching in two weeks later, watching thousands of

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more weeds come up, and you're like, what would I

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do wrong? You know, I'm not going to spend this

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money anymore. A lot of times people get to that

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point where they think, well, I'm going to try a

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landskip fabric. In fact, we have another podcast coming up

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in a few weeks about why you don't want to

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use landscape fabrics. So that's not the answer. The real

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answer is mulch. And I think I don't know about you,

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but I think we just get right into it. Number one.

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I mean, these are all three big valid points. But

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when you're talking about avoiding the three most common multi mistakes,

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I think one, Mary, I mean, it's using the wrong.

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Speaker 3: Mulch, right. It plays a huge role in the fertility

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of your soil by picking out the right materials.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean when multing annuals, perennials, even shrubs, bushes, trees,

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even when you're in your garden. It's really a best

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to avoid all of these products that people think are

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going to be long term because they don't help your soil.

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They can hurt your plants. And what are we talking about.

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Speaker 3: Number one is stone or pebbles, or rocks.

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Speaker 2: Stone and synthetic rubber. You know there's a lot of

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synthetic mulches out right now. Yes they last, and yes

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stone can last too, but there's a lot of downfalls

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we'll get into and there's no nutrients in those none whatsoever.

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And so when you put stone down or you put

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that rubber down, a lot times people put the fabric

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underneath it. There's your soil is never going to get

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fed again unless it's through a fertilizer, and that's it.

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Speaker 3: And they can actually harm your plants than rather doing

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them good.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you talk about stone, let's cover that first. I mean,

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mini gardeners like it because it's permanent. We do use

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It's kind of funny. We have some beds with stones

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for like ornamental grass areas, things that are very durable,

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but when it comes to our perennials and high powered

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plants and all of that, we just don't do it.

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Why because stone it's not just permanent, it won't break down,

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but it's also a bad choice because of how much

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heat it can draw in For most perennial plants in

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the summer.

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Speaker 3: Right, if just touch that stone in the midsummer, went's

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super hot out and you can tell that the stone

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produces heat and that heat is going to go to

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the soil below it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that can help a little bit in early spring

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and late fall and keep your plants warm, but the

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rest of the time it's working against you. And on

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top of it, it can also help dry out the

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soil that much quicker because those stones get hot and

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they hold that heat. So when it heats up quickly,

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sun beats down on it, and as it does, it

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heats that soil temperature sometimes so much that not dries

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it out, but it hurts the roots of the plants.

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And then in addition, it doesn't break down. So the

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soil we've talked about this, there are zero nutrients. I mean,

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I guess if you garden for one point two million

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years and that's still and broke down, you'd get a

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little calcium and other things. But let's face it's not

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going to happen in our lifetime. So if that's not

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the answer, Mary, what's what's the next question? Obviously, the

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best mult for stopping weeds? What is the best mulch?

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And so for us, you know we have one one

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go to multi more than anything else, and that's hardwood

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shredded mulch.

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Speaker 3: Yes, and luckily we live close to a saw mill

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that we can get it in bulk. But it is

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it's the hardwood. The shredded hardwood mulch is the best

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to use in your flowerbeds.

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Speaker 2: But not all hardwood mults are the same. So Mary said,

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a great question. Now we have and if you live

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near sawmills that have hardwoods, this is a great way

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to save big on your budget. But even if you're

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buying bag mulch, that's fine. But there's a couple of

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things you want to avoid. You know, I used to,

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way back in the day have a landscape business on

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the side. For many many years, peop would always say,

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I want that real fine multch that it almost looks

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like dirt. You plant that and you put that in

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your beds and you're going to have hundreds and thousands

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of weeds, right.

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Speaker 3: You know, that's been the big trend here the last

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ten years, is you know that very finely triple shredded,

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and a lot of times the black mult is what

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a lot of people buy. And it looks gorgeous, it

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looks pretty, but that is not the best answer if

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you want to keep your work down and your weeds less.

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Speaker 2: No, not only is it expensive, it breaks down super

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quickly and soil and now that's great for your soil.

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It's going to add some some nutrients pretty quickly. But

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you're going to be putting that on two to three

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times a year if you really want to try to

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get it to work. And really, when it's triple shredded

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or what they call super pine, it's already in a

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soil consistency. Well, when we say soil consistency, what happens

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to that? I mean it's going to germinate seeds, not

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just seeds in your garden, but weed seeds that blow in,

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and that's really where it becomes the biggest problem. But

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shredded hardwood bark is the way to go. It gives

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the most nutrients as plants break down. But we like

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a single shred it's a little but boy, it forms

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that really nice thick matt in there and it comes.

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It just makes such a difference as to other mulches.

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Speaker 3: And it makes it nearly impossible for weed seas to

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penetrate through the different layers of the mulch, versus a

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finally shredded where it could go right straight down to

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the soil.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, and those weed seeds find their home. So let's

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talk about some other ones. Let's cover it. You can

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use some other mulches. Pine bark and shredded pine mulches

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are okay to use. The only issue with them is

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they don't add the same levels that a hard wood

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mulch will. You know, it's not going to break down

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and give those ingredients of everything that's really really good.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And one thing we want to mention is when

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you're getting especially if we go to a sawmill and

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you're getting the hardwood mulch, there are certain trees that

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should not be used in your flower beds for best results.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. My first question is are there buckeye or walnut

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trees in our area because they can actually harm plants.

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So great, great calumary to talk about that. You know,

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you're looking for maples and white oaks and things like that,

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and they just stay away from the harmful trees like

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we talk about. But overall, when you buy it in

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the store, it's gonna it's gonna be those good mulches.

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So we talked about pine bark and like I said,

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they're usable. One one missed one mystique about pine bark,

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and everybody's like, well, it's gonna make your soil acidic

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pine bark when it's older, and pine needles once they're red,

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they have very little acidity. People don't realize that, so

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you can use them. It's the real problem with them

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is they don't grip together fine enough to really make

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a weed barrier, and they don't add much nutrient levels

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at all to your soil as they break down. So

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those those are good My least favorite. Do you want

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to say it?

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Speaker 3: Cres?

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Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, it's just avoid it. First of all, it's

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not a good mulch. It doesn't break down. It tangles

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to the point where nothing can get through it, not water,

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not nutrients. It's just not good. It's that that orangish

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cypress collar and it turns to that really really ugly bround.

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Can you tell I don't like it. I mean, it's

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just it's just not a good mult to use it.

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If we if we leave here anything today, I just

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have to tell you hardwood is the absolute best option

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for flower beds. And you know, we'll talk about later

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it's how you also put it on. But hardwood mulch.

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Speaker 3: Is the way to go that's either single perfectly single shred,

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but also double shredded would be okay as well.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you can use double shred. I think if you

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use double shredded, you've got to put a little bit thicker, thicker.

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Level one or what some people do. I love this

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is use a single shred for your first four to

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five inches and then put that double shred on if

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you like that little bit better, softer, softer look. Yeah,

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but don't go too far with that. Some people say, well,

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why can't I do that? And then put down a

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half an inch or an inch of the ultrafying Because

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Mary said it. When you put ultrafying down, you're putting

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soil right there, and it's gonna wiggle down between that mulch,

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and it's gonna have the weed seeds Germany without ever

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touching the real soil. It's gonna go right in your

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mulch level and then you're really gonna be frustrated. So

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that's common mistake Number one. We have two more big ones.

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We're going to take a break and we'll be back

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right after this to talk about number two and number three.

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So that this year, when you mulch, you're multiing to

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stop those weeds for good and keep your plants healthy.

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And we are back talking about the biggest multi mistakes made.

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And you know number one was the type of mulch,

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But number two is, boy, if you were trying to

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get rid of weeds, don't make that mistake. So many

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gardeners do. They think, well, I'm gonna go out and

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put three to five inches and mulch down right over

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top of those weeds. And that's the end. And what

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does that cause Mary?

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Speaker 3: More weeds, more bigger and stronger weeds. Actually, yeah, it's a.

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Speaker 2: Plain simple fact. If you're not going to eliminate those

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beads or those weeds excuse me, that already exist in

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your flower beds, they're going to come back.

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Speaker 3: I wish that would work.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And you know, I watch people try to say,

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what if I trim them down? What if I do? Look,

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take the time one time to get those weeds out. Now, listen,

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if you have big expanse of bad areas and there's

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not a lot of plants in them right now, yes,

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you know you get in there. You can. You could

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till once. I hate that to do that, but get

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dig those roots out, dig the weeds out, get them

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out strong, and start fresh. Once you do that, trust me,

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it will be amazing what will happen. Because if you

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dig them out a few seeds that are in there

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and you put it on a stick as you need to,

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and that's the number three. We'll get to number three

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in a second. It's going to keep those suppressed. But

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a strong taproot of a dandelion or a thistle, it's

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going to come right through there and be stronger than ever.

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So go through there. I mean, mulch is expensive and

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it takes so much time to keep mulching year after year.

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So that's why you want to take time one time

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to do it right.

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Speaker 3: From the start, right and you know, trying to get

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to those weeds, and I know sometimes it's so frustrated.

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You go get a dandelion and you almost think you

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have it and it snaps off. That's okay, you know,

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you try to get through it if you can do

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the best you can. And my biggest device when weeding

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is do it when the soil is lightly moist, yes,

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not overdry, not overwet, and those weeds roots come out

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much easier.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. And we have a couple of articles on the

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site and if you just go to you know, either

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Simple Garden Life or any of our sites, this is

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my garden or old woral garden, and you put in

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like vinegar or horticulture vinegar or thistles. Thistles are the

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big ones for most people, and you can actually use

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that on them to kill them before you put them on.

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You just got to be careful how and where you spray,

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because it's going to kill anything it touches. But you

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want to get those out, as you said, before you

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ever start it. And the best thing is use a

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weed fork or something like that. When I talk about tilling,

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that's like a last resort because your bed is completely overtaken.

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The more the less you disturb your soil when you're

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pulling weeds out, the less likely other weeds seats are

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gonna get planted.

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Speaker 3: I think it's probably important Jim to tell us what

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is a weed fork, because not everybody might know what

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a weed is.

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Speaker 2: That's a great question. So we'ed four because you probably

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remember if you've ever watched your back in the day,

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your commercial grandparents. Yeah, do it. It's just a long

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metal rod on the end of like almost like a

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screwdriver and it's got two little prongs. They also make

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stand up ones which are fantastic. It's it's more like

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a shovel handle with the prongs and you can actually

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rock it back to get big weeds out. You can

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go to any of your home and garden stores. Are

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also on Amazon you can find them. But boy, they

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can be great for your back, I mean taking taking

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a lot of weeds out quickly. They're wonderful.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think the big thing about when you

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take out the weeds is you have to be really

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careful not to use a big shovel and bring up

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that dirt to the surface because all you're doing is

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replanning the weed seeds that.

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Speaker 2: We're right there eight to twelve inches. You're absolutely right.

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So okay, so we've covered one. We've covered two, which is,

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you know, using the wrong mulch and then mulching right

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over top of weeds. Here's from my mind. Once you

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have anything set, this is the biggest of all. It's

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not mulching deep enough. Don't skimp on your mulch because

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you're going to end up in the long run, having

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a lot more mulch put down in subsequent months years

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because you didn't do it right the first time, so

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people always like, are you serious. It really needs it

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has to be has to be at least four inches

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stick to work. If it's not four inches stick, weeds

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are going to find their way through and gonna we'd.

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Seeds are going to find their way into the soil.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and you have if you have the resources too.

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I mean I would go even to go up to

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six inches to help get those weeds out of your

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flower beds.

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Speaker 2: Six inches by far the best. It's enough to stop

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weeds from finding the home below and also deep enough

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to conserve the moisture for plants regulate soil temperature. And

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everybody's like, that's that's half a foot of mulch, and

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you're absolutely right. That is the way to eliminate weed.

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I mean, we have large beds, and other than the

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springtime in the fall when we're just cleaning them up.

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When we do, we don't really have to touch them

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a lot. I mean it's a few minutes here and

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there to keep because of how thick that mulch is.

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Speaker 3: And I think the key is using that hardwood. You

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have the hardwood mulch, it's not going to break down

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as quick or as fast of commercial mulches that you

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get in the triple shredded bags. Therefore, after you have

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your beds established, you're not going to have to continually

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add mulch NonStop.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, a great point, and that leads right into what

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I wanted to say next, which is perfect. It's like

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we know how to talk to each anyway, but it's

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topping off that mulch. So people say, well, you know,

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I mulch in the spring. That's what most people do, right,

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They go out, they buy their bags, they mulch, they

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forget it until the next spring. That's another problem. It's

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not the biggest mistake, but it's a big mistake. So

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you want to keep that six inch layer so we

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may go out in August or September when that starts

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to finally break down a little bit and put a

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few more inches on. Here's the key. Don't rake that

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old mulch. Don't touch that almultch. Just put it right

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on top, because if you rake it, you're doing the

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very thing we talk about with tilling. You're pulling all

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those seeds and loosening them and letting them fall down

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in between you.

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Speaker 3: It's a very common thing in midsummer, your mult is

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starting to look dull and faded, and you're having a

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big party your Father's Day, celebration or birthday, and what

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you want to do. You want your flower beds to

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look nice. So you know, if you go out and

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you take that rak and you start mulching it, you're

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really hurting yourself and putting the weeds that will be

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coming up in the next time.

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Speaker 2: You go out and rake it, and you think to yourself,

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why I haven't I doing this? This looks brand new,

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and then two weeks later you have a weed explosion instead.

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If that's the case, and if someone's like, you've got

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to make it look nice, it's it's dalling out. Just

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put a quarter inch or half inch of mulch on

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top fresh, don't rake that and disturb that soil, and

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then you know. We have a couple bonus tips. Mine

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is this, I'll get to yours. Second.

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Speaker 3: Yeah good.

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Speaker 2: My bonus tip is this. People talk about, well so

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much mulch, and that's this. This is just something we've

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subscribed to a long time. Flower beds were not meant

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to look like a lot of mulch, not having vast

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expanses fill your flower beds with plants and not mulch.

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The thicker your plants are, the better the canopy is.

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The less weed seeds can find at home, the better

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your beds look. And look, we're talking perennials here. For

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the most part. You can divide these. You can keep

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dividing and thicken them up. So don't make the mistake

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of when you're designing a new flower bed in your

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front yard and you're like, I want it to be

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forty feet long, and I have nine plants to start,

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and I'll put more in it, keep it small and

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keep expanding it, and then it becomes manageable. You're not frustrated.

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Your plants look great, and as you divide or as

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you get more, you can expand the bed. But again

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my tip is member more flower beds or more flowers

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in your flowerbeds, less mulch meaning less space for mulch,

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not that thickness.

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Speaker 3: And less expense as well, and less.

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Speaker 2: Expense and okay, so your bonus tip as well, Yeah.

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Speaker 3: This is you know, we always get the spring fever

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of let's put our mulch on early so that way

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we can help those weed seeds go down or suppress

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the weeds before they get out. But you have to

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be careful and where you live, you can't put mulch

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down when your flower beds are frozen or have a

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chance of freeze, not a frost, but a freeze, because

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all that mulch does is trap the cold moisture in

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the soil below, and your plants aren't going to thrive.

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Speaker 2: Could That's an excellent point. And you know what, even more,

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what happens in the spring so much we're experiencing this

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right now. You get tons of rains, all that mulch

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just traps all that moisture in, and you get down

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to dig your soil two weeks from now and it's

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still soaking wet because it never had time to dry out.

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So great point. Don't mulch until that soil temperature warms up.

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You know, we like to see it fifty five sixty

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before you're ever really starting to mulch heavy. But okay,

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so there you have it. The three biggest mistakes when mulching,

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and now you can avoid them. Okay, you can avoid them.

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You can get the right mulch, you can put it

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on the thickness you need, and you can also make

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sure that When you're doing that, you're eliminating all those

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weeds beforehand, and you're waiting long enough so the soil

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warms up. And that's right. You're also going to put

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more plants in this flower buds to keep them good.

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So look, it's common sense for us, right, Gardening should

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be fun, don't make it harder than it is. So

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what do you think of that? Absolutely, that's right, Keep

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it simple, all right, everybody. For Jimcapetti and my wife Mary,

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we thank you for listening again. We'll be back next

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week with another podcast, Happy Gardening, Happy Gardening.

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Speaker 4: We hope you've enjoyed this episode. Subscribe to the Simple

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00:18:14,079 --> 00:18:17,960
Garden podcast on iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or most of

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00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:20,480
your favorite podcast apps. You can also head over to

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00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:23,359
simplegardenlife dot com where you can listen and read all

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00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:25,160
of the show notes to every episode.

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Speaker 3: And if you have any questions, any ideas for show topics,

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00:18:28,759 --> 00:18:30,599
or if you want to share your favorite garden tip,

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00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:34,480
email us at the farm at owgarden dot com.

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Speaker 4: Until next time, Thanks everyone,