Mulch Madness

We've been enjoying an early spring here in Iowa. Of course this means that my perennials took off WAY earlier than usual. By the time I got my mulch, spreading it was somewhat tedious. But it was a necessary task, and over the past couple of couple of weeks I've spread 20+ bags. Whew! And there is one large garden that I haven't even touched. Actually, it's more like a weed patch at this point...

Here's a BEFORE picture on one of my mulching days. I do have a wheelbarrow, but it somehow seems easier to lug bags of mulch around by hand. Good exercise, I guess!

This is a BEFORE picture of the front garden which I reworked a couple of years ago. As you can see, I still had fall clean-up to do before I could put on the mulch. Why, oh why didn't I get that done?

 And here's an AFTER picture, actually a week or so after I spread the mulch. My ground cover is coming back nicely.

I recently tackled the areas around the side and back of the house. This is a BEFORE picture. 

And this is an AFTER picture of one area. I'm really hoping this bed fills in more completely this year. I added several plants last year hoping to fill in some gaps.

Oh, look at this adorable bird bath! Clean, filled, and ready for business! I FOUND IT FREE ON THE CURB ON LAST YEAR'S NEIGHBORHOOD CLEAN-UP DAY! It weighs 200 pounds, as I discovered trying to hoist it into my SUV.

Here's a BEFORE picture of the area behind the garage, another bed I recently reworked. Once again, I had to do all of my fall clean-up before I could mulch. Look how large the plants were in early April! 

And here's and AFTER picture of the same area, looking a little tidier.

The bed near the patio (not pictured) has given me fits for years now. I added quite a few plants last year, so we'll see how it looks in a couple of weeks. If I STILL have spacing issues, I may have to seek professional help!

Here's to another year of gardening adventures!