Landscape Care Mulch

We have some unusual "spots" on our siding.  They are a little larger than a pin head, smell and do not move. They are on several sides of our house and our sidewalk.  They are hard to remove and have to be scraped off of windows with a blade.  Do you have any idea as to what these are?

What is the best all around mulch to use in the garden?

I always have a fresh-cut tree for Christmas and just hate the thought of tossing it out after the holidays. Do you have any ideas how I can recycle my tree?

I am planning on adding a thick layer of cocoa bean mulch to my perennial garden.  Should I plant the perennial seeds in the mulch or soil?

I have a mold that seems to develop overnight on my mulch.  It starts off as a yellow or orange semi liquid then becomes a soft foam-like substance and then hardens.  I usually pick it up and dispose of it, but it seems to grow again in another location.   I was wondering what it is and how it can be treated.

How long do you need to wait after you have a lawn sprayed with a weed killer before you can use the clippings as mulch in the garden?

Are leaves a good winter mulch for my perennials?

I planted my hostas and now need to smother grass around them with newspaper mulch (the lazy way!).  Will the hostas be able to spread and come up through the paper?

We have many large oak trees in our yard. I've heard that it isn't good to mulch the oak leaves because the acid from them kills the grass. Is this true? What can I do with the oak leaves?

I've heard mixed opinions as to whether it's okay to use pine needles as mulch. Someone told me the needles are too acidic for plant roots. This concerns me since my whole property is surrounded by pine trees.

We have a huge pine shedding lots of needles.  Is there a use for these?

We are considering using rubber mulch this year, but don't know the pros and cons.

The last three years we have used shredded paper from my office as mulch in our vegetable garden.  This year the tomato plants didn't grow much and we had very few tomatoes.  The beans growing in non-mulched areas performed better.  Could it be the paper?

We have several trees about 5 years old, and wonder if it is alright that we have put the plastic arbor edge around them and filled them in with small lime stone.

I have had several e-mails from gardeners concerning termite infested mulch coming from the Hurricane Katrina area. I want to thank the Wisconsin Green Industry Federation for forwarding the following information. Hope you find it helpful.

With all this great spring weather my beds are cleaned, my topsoil spread, and I have 100 bags of this year's cocoa bean hulls to put down. I know we should wait to give the sun a chance to work on the soil. Is NOW - late April - too early to put down my mulch?

I recently purchased a home that has wood chips around the trees and shrubs. The previous owner did not lay a weed barrier under the chips and we have grass and weeds coming through?  What product can I use to control them? Should I put weed barrier down before adding more chips?

I learned from your recent Great Lakes Gardeners show that, as soon as the ground thaws I must rearrange the mulch around my 3 year old apple trees to eliminate the "volcano effect". Beneath the mulch I have a landscape fabric to suppress weeds. Is that a good or bad idea?

What is winter mulch and what makes it different from what I do in the spring?

With our unseasonably warm winter, how are we to protect bulbs and perennials?  I've always heard we should not mulch (with evergreen boughs, for example) until the ground was frozen.  Now I'm seeing reports that gardeners should be mulching bulbs to prevent them from blooming.  Please help.

I know we shouldn't lay new mulch for winter protection until the ground freezes, how do I know when this is?

I have lots of white cedar shavings from making lures.  Can I use these as mulch in my flower gardens?

Can I put wood chips mulch around tomato and pepper plants in a garden to keep the weeds down and the moisture in the soil?