How to lay red mulch?

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I have red mulch beds all around my front yard. I first dug down 3", installed drip irrigation to 40-50 plants using the 1/4" tubing, added a flexible border to keep the mulch from spreading outside the planter areas, then dumped and leveled 50 bags to make it a nice, thick planter area. Now, whenever a holiday pops up, and they sell the mulch for 4-5 bags for $10 at Lowes and Home Depot, I buy 20 extra bags and dump occasionally to give it a refreshed look.
 
I have red mulch beds all around my front yard. I first dug down 3", installed drip irrigation to 40-50 plants using the 1/4" tubing, added a flexible border to keep the mulch from spreading outside the planter areas, then dumped and leveled 50 bags to make it a nice, thick planter area. Now, whenever a holiday pops up, and they sell the mulch for 4-5 bags for $10 at Lowes and Home Depot, I buy 20 extra bags and dump occasionally to give it a refreshed look.

Is there a material I put at the bottom of the 3" hole that I dig? What thickness? How do I get the membrane material around the bushes that are already there? What kind of flexible border are you talking about?
 
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The border I am referring to is the professional landscape flexible border. It is about 6" tall, and once buried about 3" in the ground, it becomes a great mow edge. Weed cloth can be cut and places around existing plants, but if you convert to a drip watering system, you won't have weeds pop up everywhere and you could omit the weed cloth.
 
The border I am referring to is the professional landscape flexible border. It is about 6" tall, and once buried about 3" in the ground, it becomes a great mow edge. Weed cloth can be cut and places around existing plants, but if you convert to a drip watering system, you won't have weeds pop up everywhere and you could omit the weed cloth.

I don't plan on putting in any irrigation.
 
Then, with the addition of the black weed cloth, you should be good, but remember, the thicker, the better.
 
I would save the fabric for the rocks. Mulch turns to dirt weed grow removing cloth later is a pain in the --- . Make the mulch deeper for weed control.
 
Mulch evolving to soil is an evolutionary eventuality and largely depends upon the moisture it's subjected too, as is the discoloration of the mulch from the chemical composition of that which the irrigation contains.

Refreshing can therefore, be scheduled.
 
What are the basic steps?

Roundup/ snow shovel /rake in that order.

We are not trying to win the garden club award.

Around here they grind trees and skids up into chips and spray them with dye. They have single ground and double ground. Then they ether let it sit for a year or two and turn the pile to get it composting or they sell it right away as red mulch or black mulch. You can buy it by the bag or by the dump truck. The dump truck is about half the cost. I take my pickup and get 2 yards at a time. that’s the cheapest way to go here.
 
I would save the fabric for the rocks. Mulch turns to dirt weed grow removing cloth later is a pain in the --- . Make the mulch deeper for weed control.

What rocks?

Some tell me use fabric, other's say don't. I'm not sure who to listen to.
 
What rocks?

Some tell me use fabric, other's say don't. I'm not sure who to listen to.

Fire fuel is kinda frowned on near the house now. We put down gravel of all kinds as well as red lava rock, black lave rock, limestone gravel. Now we are seeing used tires being mulched and painted and used that. But that is back to fuel again although much harder to start a fire.
 
Fire fuel is kinda frowned on near the house now. We put down gravel of all kinds as well as red lava rock, black lave rock, limestone gravel. Now we are seeing used tires being mulched and painted and used that. But that is back to fuel again although much harder to start a fire.

The craziest think I see used all over the southeast is pine straw. People pile it up a foot deep around these 500k houses and then they bury crappy lighting cables about 2” under that in the clay and then run sprinklers causing shorts in the wires. Once the pine straw catches fire electrical or a careless smoker the whole house is ringed in fire in a couple minutes.

Just like you buy bales of wood mulch down there they bail pine straw.

I agree stone is nice and put the fabric under it. I put fabric under wood mulch years ago and I fought it for 30 years and once the mulch broke down it didn’t help with weeds at all.
 
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