[Halon]

Lol, didn't realize mulch was going to be such a debatable topic. Maybe I need to do a better job of explaining what we did, and our intentions.

We DID USE ROCK up against the house for 99% of it. And it DOES HAVE PLASTIC under it. We mulched around a couple trees because they didn't sod right against the tree because we don't want to mow/weedwhack right against those trees. So it was bare dirt there and we laid mulch to cover the dirt for now. It was cheap and easy. We may rock in the future around those trees, but we're pretty budget conscious at this very moment so mulch was the quick and easy way to get it done for now.

Then right next to the sidewalk, the intent of that area isn't for decoration, that is going to be our little garden where we want to grow simple vegie's like pea pods. Is it normal to plastic under your garden?

Again, I'm a newb. But if you understand our intentions for these couple areas, it probably makes sense why we didn't plastic/rock those areas right now, and just laid mulch.

Peter seeing what you did with mulch around the perimeter of the house, and planting trees/shrubs in there. I can understand why you'd put plastic under there because it's mainly for decoration.