Definitely YES to mulching! In my gardens there is no shortage of weed seeds, so I mulch to keep them down. I also find that if a weed tries to get started in a perennial bed that is well-mulched, it's much easier to pull it out of mulch.

Yes I mulch, no I don't use weed cloth or plastic.

Weed cloths vary in their effectiveness at suppressing weeds. I once used a really thin type that weeds poked right through. All it did was make weeding more difficult. Then I used more heavy weight stuff. The package said water would pass through it, but it sure didn't look that way to me seeing all the water ponding on it after a rain.

Plastic simply ends up killing everything under it for ages.

What I like to use is newspaper 5 or more sheets thick or cardboard as the first layer. This smothers all but the most pernicious weeds (and there are some). Then mulch on top. Over a few months the paper/cardboard breaks down and disappears.

Weeds are gone. Only weeds that come in are from the air and these usually root loosely in the mulch and can be easily hand removed with the whole root.

If you will be mulching a perennial bed one word of advice. Mark each plant while they are growing. Once winter comes they die below ground. In the spring there will be an early, temporary warm up that will ignite the gardening bug in you. You will go look at the 'empty' garden and get the urge to plant something. You will have no way to know where the plants are. You will plant something way too close to something that hasn't emerged yet.

Also, while most perennials will emerge through mulch, some won't and in the wet springs it is always a good idea in northern climates to rake the mulch away from where plants will be so the soil and warms and dries faster. You can't do this if you don't know where the plants are so do mark them now with something that will last the winter.

Thanks, Buckhill and username_5. Like the newspaper idea, as many times as I've heard that way, I have yet to remember to try it. Few more questions if you both don't mind:) Or anyone else who might know.
Approximately how thick of mulch do you put on? Any certain type mulch you prefer? What about doing it to the berries? Or is straw better for that?

Username5 answered the perennial question well, so I will take on the berries...

Strawberries work well if _initially_ planted through black fabric mulch, with straw (or other additional mulch) added as plants begin to grow larger. Just lay out the cloth on the bed, cut holes at the correct spacing, and plant right through the mulch. For established plants, the newspaper method might work best to choke out weeds; but if weeds are not a serious problem, I would use grass clippings or hay (not straw). Alfalfa hay, if you can get it, has the added benefit of being virtually weed-free. They all feed your earthworm population, and provide nutrients as they break down.

As Username5 pointed out, not every "black" cloth will work; some can actually allow enough light for weeds to grow (and seed) beneath, sight unseen! When searching for cloth mulch, touch it, and try to look through it; if it feels more like plastic than cloth, or allows too much light to pass through, look elsewhere. Fleet Farm carries a very dark, water permeable cloth that has worked well for me... but I still advise applying a layer of mulch on top of the cloth, for additional light blocking.

As for the raspberries, they tend not to stay where told... so cloth might not work, because it could block the young canes in the spring. Though I think the canes might win that one... you might end up with a raspberry tent (LOL). The best mulch for them is autumn leaves, as much as you can gather. If you can shred them, so much the better; you can just throw them into your patch, and they will settle easily.

I mulch most of my perennials. I don't do the daylilies and hardy geraniums. They get so full they keep the weeds down and don't let the soil dry out fast after a watering or rain. On most of my gardens I use cocoa bean hull mulch. It really keeps the ground from drying out fast and in Spring I turn most of it back into the soil. It breaks down much faster than wood mulch, which I want it to. I like the looks of it too. On one of my gardens that's on a slight hill, I use grass clippings and a light layer of shredded wood mulch. The cocoa bean mulch tended to slide down too much when I watered it in that area. But the wood stays good. I had tried the black fabric stuff by my roses, but I tore it out after 4 yrs. Weeds still grew thru and I could see the water didn't go thru as well. Then the soil can't breathe well either. I put the newspaper down, then some cow manure/compost mix then the cocoa bean mulch. That works great for the roses.
If you have a clay type soil mixture, you may want a lighter type of mulch like grass clippings, shredded leaves, hay or others like that. They're a lighter mulch that won't keep the soil damp all the time. Plus you can turn that back into the soil the next year and improve the soil. I never put mulch right up to the bottom of the plant. Depending on the size of the plant, I keep the mulch up to several inches away from the plant. I don't put any mulch on heavy. The thicker the mulch, the longer you're going to have to water to make sure it goes thru well to the ground.
Enjoy your garden!

Kat

I also use mulch. Free woodchips from our city or from tree trimmers. Usually about 3 or 4 inches. This is for my perennial beds and all my tees, shrubs, etc. Really helps the soil as it breaks down.

Lee

We use a mulching mower, but my neighbor bags his grass clippings. Free mulch for me! Very heavy clay, with a slight slope, so I mulch a few times a year with it, turn it over in the spring. What doesn't go for mulch, I toss in the compost pile.

Thanks all for the response. Is gonna be to hot this weekend to do anything outdoors. Finally got a little Much needed rain this morning. Gonna try a few of the things mentioned and see how they each work.

gardeningmomof3,

I add lots of coffee grounds and compost to my gardens. I just pull back some of the woodchips, dig a hole, and bury wet coffee grounds with filter, then cover it back up. Same with household fruit and vegetable scraps. The dry starbucks coffee grounds just get flung around on top of the woodchips, as do alfalfa pellets. Plants love it!!

Lee

I am trying cardboard in my rasberry bed-that will get those weeds I hope....also in my asparagus