Mulch Madness

[Chris McN]

Hi All,

Last year we had the landscaping in front of the house redone. I've tinkered with it a bit this year. I've been wanting to utilize black mulch instead of the standard red or brown. I figure it would make the plants pop out from the landscape. We just purchased 12 bags of black cedar mulch, but now I'm not so sure (my husband is ready to kill me!) I hadn't consider the debris that spews from the 3 maple trees and 1 birch tree that are planted close to the house. I'm afraid that it will end up looking just as untidy. You can check out what I mean here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/26214741@N05/2480693981/
I was only planning on mulching up from the house to the retainer walls and in front of the porch in line with the walls.

So...HELP!!...I need some guidance!

[opabinia51]

That looks pretty nice! I would mulch the beds with the shrubs in them but, you will have to rake the leaves and what not up that's a given. Do you not want a lawn in the front part. Looks like it gets full sun there as well so, you could put some more beds in front there as well. Maybe even some perennial vegetables.

Also, Leaves should not be thrown away just run over them with a lawn mower and work them back into your beds maybe with a bit of manure. Free macro and micronutrients that have been mined by the trees from deep within your soil.