HB and I attended the garden club meeting this week and the cooperative extension repesentative was the guest speaker (Jim Davis). In terms of rock vs mulch, some considerations discussed were:
- rock & stone retain heat and draw water from the soil, so any plants surrounded by rock would need more frequent watering
- mulch too close to a house is not a good idea because of termites.
- allow a 6" border of rock (no mulch) around the house foundation
- rubber also holds the heat
- mulch retains more moisture
- mulch needs to be replenished annually, and turned over as well
- pine bark and straw is economical and used by TV in their landscaping
- keep mulch 3-4" from the base of a tree
If any of you have specific gardening questions, you can contact Jim Davis at the cooperative extension office located on 466 and Morse in the sherrif's building. They have some reference materials as well. Some good websites suggested:
http://floridayards.org/
http://www.ufl.edu/
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/