Sammamish sits on a plateau above Lake Sammamish, and most of it was built out as subdivisions in the last thirty years. Under a thin layer of topsoil is glacial till, a hardpan that water barely soaks into, and many lots back onto tall stands of Douglas fir. Shade beds want bark. Shade lawns often want to become bark. We mulch the ground that has already quit as turf.
King County · ZIP 98074
The right floor under trees
Under firs and maples we bark after the moss and the worst of the roots’ litter are dealt with. The depth hides the thin soil and keeps the mud off the house. We do not pile it against the trunk, and we do not smother the surface roots under half a foot. A few inches, refreshed, is the maintenance.
Ferns and salal can come through a normal layer. That is fine. The point is to stop the bittercress and the grass, not to sterilize the woods.
The ground in Sammamish
The till is the reason so many yards here stay soggy in winter and dry out fast in summer. Water sits on top of the hardpan, so a new lawn or patio needs drainage planned in from the start. We put in French drains, grade the yard away from the house, and build patio bases deep enough that they do not heave.
Many neighborhoods have HOA rules for fences, front yards, and plant choices, and we work to those standards. Lots along the greenbelts get heavy shade and needle drop, so we use shade-tolerant planting and bark where grass has given up. Larger backyards here are a good fit for a full redesign: a paver patio, a low retaining wall to level the slope, and irrigation on a timer for the dry months.
How we do the work
Bark is a blanket, not a cleanup. We pull the weeds and the old matted layer that has turned into soil, edge the bed so the bark has a place to stop, and put down enough depth to block light. A sprinkle that still shows dirt is not a bark job. It is a way to pay for the same weeds in June.
We keep bark off the crowns of shrubs and off the trunks of trees. A volcano of mulch against the bark of a tree is how the trunk rots. Two to three inches across the soil, pulled back at the stems.
What we look at first
- Whether the old bark has composted into a weed bed
- The edge against the lawn
- Plants that are buried already
- How far the truck can get the load
Depth
About three inches after it settles, less against the stems, none against the trunk. One inch looks like a lot in the wheelbarrow and does nothing by July. We would rather do a smaller bed correctly.
Color
Natural bark fades to gray. That is normal. Dyed product holds a color and also stains concrete when it is fresh. We tell you which load you are getting. We do not promise the color in the photo will survive a winter.
Old fabric
Landscape fabric under bark is where weeds root in the dust on top, and where water sheets off. When we find it, we take it out if the bed is weedy. We do not sell a new layer of it.
More from this crew
- Beauty bark across the region
- Lawn weed control in Sammamish
- Yard cleanup in Sammamish
- Landscape design in Sammamish
- Tree and shrub pruning in Sammamish
- Beauty bark in Mercer Island
Sources for the climate and the water
- USDA plant hardiness map for choosing plants that can take a King County winter.
- EPA WaterSense on watering less once a lawn or a new planting is established.
- EPA Soak Up the Rain on keeping roof and yard water from becoming someone else’s problem.
