A new homeowner living outside St. Louis, Missouri recently posted on the r/gardening subreddit asking for advice on how to revamp a flower bed that the previous owner had covered with landscaping fabric and rubber mulch.
After removing five and a half yards of trash bags worth of rubber mulch, the poster wanted to know if all they had to do was “add some more soil, plant some local wildflowers, and water regularly.”
Photo credit: Reddit
Photo credit: Reddit
Other members of the subreddit were happy to offer advice.
“Depending on how much sun you get, it's the perfect size for an herb garden. You could plant rosemary, lavender, sage, oregano, lemon balm, etc. in the back,” one commenter suggested.
“I don't know what your budget is, but I would suggest planting a perennial or two that you really like. That will save you a lot of hassle in the future!” another user wrote.
“It looks really nice after you redo it. Instead of adding more topsoil, maybe you should add some compost on top. It will add nutrients,” someone else interjected.
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Nearly every commenter suggested different plants, but there were some commonalities: native plants are best, be careful not to plant invasive plants that will take over the entire space, and most importantly, the work of removing landscaping fabric and rubber mulch has already been done.
As the original poster points out, rubber mulch made from shredded tires is supposed to help suppress weeds, but it's not all that effective. Plus, it smells bad, leaches toxic chemicals into the soil, and is difficult to clean up. In short, it should be avoided at all costs.
“Oh these ideas are great! Thank you for the very informative answer. The house faces southeast and gets lots of sun. [not] “There's very little shade in the late afternoon and early evening,” the original poster replied. “At this point I'm just going to do something simpler this year, see how it goes, and then expand it more next year.”
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