Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Organic “Muscle” mulch
I believe I made myself clear yesterday about my feelings on rock mulch! So what would I use?
In a former home, I used colored mulch. This was 11 years ago, then I used landscape fabric. I don’t do that anymore!
If I had to do it again, I would just cultivate and lay down the wood chips right on the ground. The weeds find a way no matter what. The landscape fabric ends up becoming a problem later anyway.
This is the front of my home now… at least one side.
The above is a gentle reminder to create a “donut” of mulch NOT a “volcano”! ? By the way, that’s a ‘Parker Pear’ tree that has delivered pears for a few years. It’s at least 4 times the size now. It’s planted next to a ‘Summer Crisp’ for pollination. Very tasty!
There are plenty of other organic options for mulch:
- non-chemically treated grass clippings
- shredded leaves
- pine needles
- pecan shells
- cocoa bean – some people think that this is toxic to dogs, I think they’d have to eat quite a bit of it
- aged corncobs (I tried to find a picture for you but no such luck)
Iowa State University has a good article on Organic Mulches.