A lot of people think that mulching before the cold weather arrives will keep the soil warm during winter, and so assist in the survival of the plants. In actual fact, this is not the case.

There may be some reasons to mulch heavily before winter (which I will go into later), however, mulch actually attracts frost, and can harm the plant more than if it was not mulched. A lot of permaculture gardeners go so far as to remove all mulch on their gardens before winter, and put it onto their compost heaps. While I wouldn't advocate doing this (too lazy!!), I would suggest that if you haven't mulched everything by early April, then forget it - it is too late!!!!

The only things that you might want to mulch heavily are some semi tender plants, such as Salvia leucantha, which you may be able to get through the winter by covering with about 1 metre of mulch to protect the emerging shoots under the ground. Another idea is to place a couple of tyres over a tender plant, and fill the tyres with mulch. The tyres will retain a lot of heat from even a winter sun.

Lots of herbaceous perennials have foliage which dies off in the cold weather. For those plants which can be slightly tender, the trick is to not cut back the top growth until frosts have stopped. The dead top growth will protect emerging shoots.

Happy gardening.
Kathy