Mulch preference

[Nrcheek]

What type of mulch do you prefer on your garden and why?

 

[Beth_B]

Wood chips. Or straw.

Both noticeably break down and improve the soil after just one season. Both retard weeds; I think the wood is a bit better though.

This year I'm doing all wood chips; I had a huge ash tree taken out recently

and have a mountain of mulch.

 

[Nrcheek]

Hmm. Do you think like shavings for bedding (I have a bunch for my chickens) would work ? Not the composted shavings, but fresh

 

[Durgan]

Hmm. Do you think like shavings for bedding (I have a bunch for my chickens) would work ? Not the composted shavings, but fresh

I used the shavings since they were easy to work with one year for surface mulch. But found them to be too fine and they matted and inhibited water flow from rain. I eventually gave up on them. However they are great worked into the soil as a conditioner, particularly after being used as bedding for animals.

I make my own seedling and potting soil and sometime use the small chips in the mix as a marker, since it is easy to see and one can determine if mixing is sufficient, also it acts as an aerator sort of like perlite.

 

[roadrunner]

I like all types of yard waste; I see it as increasing biodiversity by using a multitude of materials. I don't use wood chips, because I don't have a chipper, but I have tons of twigs/logs in my mulch (the logs I bury into the ground), so in essence I do have wood chips. The seed pods from my magnolia tree is very good mulch and the worms eat thru them like apples.

 

[Tetters]

Here I always use spent mushroom compost for mulch. It needs to be applied every springtime, but the worms working with the mulch improve the soil very well and so it does two jobs for the price of one.