I've spent the last few weeks designing and building a garden in my back yard. Currently, the paths or walkways between my raised beds are grass, but I love the way mulch looks, so I have been leaning that way.
My dilemma is this - I have flood irrigation in my yard... something I'm not willing to give up, as it is great for my trees. Will the flood irrigation wash away the mulch? Has anyone had experience with this?
Take some of your desired mulch and place it in a bucket of water, if it sinks you will most likely be okay, if it floats you will have a hard time. Some mulches sink and some float so the answer is it depends on your test.
We mulch cut our grass clipping in place and each flood irrigation they float up to the front yard. You will probably get some movement in the mulch but won't know until you try it (Chris' suggestion is a great one). I know Diann has mulch all over her yard and has flood without problems. It will just depend, you might eventually move toward gravel type mulch for some pathways if your irrigation moves too quickly along those paths, or raise the pathways. I've been keeping our walking areas grass, but my dogs are wearing grooves into the yard...so I'll need to look into something like that soon!
Pine bark mulch does float away in my experience. I have a rose garden that gets irrigation and I needed a cover to prevent weeds. I ended up using landscape rock on top of landscape fabric, which isn't ideal because it gets hot; but it does stay put. You can get quarry gravel in a wide assortment of colors and textures and could probably find something in a dark brownish shade that could substitute for the mulch look. Paving or stepping stones might look nice on a path too.
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3 Great 45-minute Sustainability classes offered at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix:
9am - Gardening in the Desert - Savvy tips for sustainable gardeners
10 am - Rainwater harvesting - Simple steps to use and capture the water t…