Oh, good. If I had to rake all that mulch away, I don't think I would ever get around to it. I have 14 8' by 4' raised beds full of mostly daylilies (blush), so that would be more than I could do. Thank you for your answers. I think I'll do that in the spring as soon as the snow melts. I better start buying the pellets now so I can stretch out the payments for a few months. No problem knowing where to buy them--we have horses, too.