I just mulched mine with pine bark mulch. Pine bark contains lignins, which drastically reducing decomposition, thus not tying up nitrogen. For my garden, I plan to just use my bow rake to scrape the mulch off come spring, rework my soil with added compost, and reapply the mulch, and top off as needed. I think you'll get many answers as to what is "best" to mulch your garden with. I believe many people use shredded leaves, straw, and/or compost, and some also use things like cardboard and newspaper. All in all, stay away from wood chips, because the bacteria that decomposes actual wood chips, uses nitrogen, which robs it from your plants. Wood chips are far different from the bark mulch I described above. Certain types of mulch material like straw, hay, or compost from unknown sources may contain weed seeds, so be aware of that.

Joe

Pine bark mulch can be difficult to impossible to locate if you don't live in the right region.

For instance, the NW has both fir bark or hemlock and SoCal has redwood.

I love pea straw ( Warning: I'm on the other side of the planet)...If I have the option, that's my favourite mulch.
We don't have much in the way of deciduous trees here, or I think leaves would be my first choice.
I pretty much take what I can get: I'm on sand, so mulch just disappears. Grass clippings, pine needles, wood shavings (annoying avoiding mixing them into the soil though), hay sweepings, you get the picture: a pristine looking garden is not my thing. All that mulch = no weeds though. Hmmm. If I had weeds, I could use them as mulch...

The preferred mulch in my vegetable gardens is shredded leaves, followed by straw if I have to buy anything.
What is the soil like that you have mulched? A heavy clay soil that does not drain very well that is then mulched can retain too much moisture fro the plants to grow properly and you can see stunted growth.

kimmsr: Soil here is well drained loam.

Thanks to all who replied, but I should have made my preferences for an ideal mulch more clear. Although I've used them in the past & recognize their benefits; leaves, grass, hay, straw, cardboard, paper, etc. are not what I had in mind.

I want to use wood type mulches like pine bark or other wood or natural organic products. In the past, I've tried cocoa hulls but found they're expensive & decompose very quickly. I also tried shredded pine bark as a tomato mulch - it's a bit pricey but seemed to work quite well.

By the way, I'm in Michigan and find that many commercial mulch products are available from a variety of nurseries or garden supply stores.

Regards, Richard

benefits of using your own dried grass clippings (untreated)
free
doesn't heat up or spread weed seeds
decomposes in about 2 seasons & puts nitrogen back into soil
easy to pull back & plant next crop

start with about 1/2" & wet it down or let rain do it
add up to a 2" layer or so

Most nurseries and box stores have bagged wood chip mulch of varying kinds. They aren't usually "name brands", but as long as it only has wood chips in it, you should be okay, and you won't be paying a premium for the Scott's name. Unless you want to.

Richard, I would have to say then, that you go with the pine bark. Fir bark also works. I am kind of like you, in that I prefer to use the bark mulch over grass or leaves. For me, my grass gets mulched back into the lawn, because it is an important nitrogen source for my lawn, and I have some weeds in the lawn, and don't want to sow their seeds in my garden. My leaves get composted to be added to my soil in spring. The pine bark provides me a nice tidy look, as well as being beneficial to the soil. As for the clay soil thing, sure, it holds a lot of moisture, but if you don't mulch it at all, the top dries out too fast, causing problems with water runoff. It also makes it tough for germinating seeds. The pine bark will improve clay soil as it breaks down, and if you scrape the large chunks off in spring, and work in the smaller stuff.

Joe

My preferred mulch for veggies is either straw or hay. These keep the veggies pretty clean. Straw is generally better than hay because it contains less seeds. Salt marsh hay is good too.

In the new veggie garden this year I used some old half-rotting hay that was discarded at the town compost site (free). I mulched in between the veggies to smother the weeds and add organics to the soil. First laid down wet newspapers, then an inch or 2 of compost, followed by the hay on top.

For the paths I used a layer of cardboard, with a light mulch of aged wood chips (red pine) on top. These chips were from trees removed in my yard in December 2005.

Thanks to all who replied for your comments.

Joe: No clay here, my soil is a nice loam. I just picked up a bag of shredded pine bark mulch at a local Lowes store - 3 cubic feet for $4.38. I'm going to try it on a portion of my garden beds. They also had some nice looking, finely shredded cypress mulch but I thought I would just try the pine first.

Regards, Richard

If you have nice soil already, then just use a rake to scrape off all the mulch in spring, assuming that you will till the soil. If not, the leave it there, and just plant right into it. My soil is clay, so I need to ammend it in spring with the pine bark and compost. About the cypress mulch, just remember that the pine bark has the lignins that drastically slow the decomposition, others don't. But, that is more important if the mulch gets INTO the soil, as opposed to ON TOP of the soil. I'm confident you'll be pleased with the results.

Joe

Joe: It's good to know that mulch placed on top of soil decomposes slower. Good or bad, I don't till my garden beds anyway; especially since I started using landscape fabric under the mulch to help control weeds.

But after noting the results of the past two years, I'm now beginning to question the value of using landscape fabric in vegetable gardens. It's a P.I.T.A. to maintain & plant but yet it doesn't eliminate weeding; even when there's mulch on top it. It does however appear to be worthwhile on mulched pathways that don't routinely get fertilized & watered.

Richard

Pine Bark Mulch is the best .

The problem I have with landscape fabric is when weeds intertwine their roots into the fabric, you can't get them out. You can pull them all you want, but those root pieces keep resprouting. You're basically stuck using an herbicide, which I don't do in my veggie garden. When I bought my house, our entire landscape was fabric with lava rocks on top. My wife and I both hate lava rocks, so for weeks, we put on gloves, and removed ALL of the rocks, and replaced them with mulch. It looks far better, and our landscape plants have thrives ever since.

Anyway, with the pine bark mulch, any weeds you have should be quite easy to yank out. For my pathways, I use patio bricks to walk on. But, I don't garden in rows, but rather in blocks, so I divide my blocks with the brick paths. The block gardening makes for less wasted space, and it makes crop rotation a piece of cake. And about your tilling, if you have a good loamy soil, I don't see the need for tilling. I am forced to till in compost because of my clay soil, although it's not all THAT bad.

Joe

Joe: Boy, do we think alike. I hate lava rocks & any other kind of small stones, gravel, etc. in garden beds. We went through the same scenario removing them when we moved in our house as well.

About herbicides in veggie gardens. Have you ever tried vinegar? It's organic & doesn't appear to affect the soil. I'm reading about it in the attached link. Sounds like it's worth exploring further.

Richard

Here is a link that might be useful: Vinegar Weed Killer

Re: landscape fabric. BTDT, 25 years ago when first started gardening and it quickly became a PITA. I haven't used it since. The problem is that organic debris, soil etc will accumulate on top the fabric and weeds will sprout. They'll sprout in the leanest of places. Then you're left with a combined mess of landscape fabric, weeds, roots and sometimes desirable plants all stuck together. Not to mention, you can't move plants around!

I have large gardens (the veggie one is on the small size), and don't use herbicides anywhere in them. Control weeds through mulch, on going hand weeding, and a scuffle/stirrup hoe.

There are some good threads about vinegar on the organic forum, IIRC the vinegar that works best as an herbicide is stronger than the household white vinegar, but it's dangerous to work with.

All my vinegar gets used up in my pickling activities. When it comes to my vegetable garden, I am in there putzing around just about everyday, so the weeds never make it more than an inch or two high before I yank them. I am one of those impatient gardeners who has to check progress everyday, in hopes that things has changed drastically since the day before. But, as you know, I am usually disappointed, although my tomatoes are finally progressing just about everyday, so I got that goin for me.

Terrene, I get the PITA abbreviation, but the other ones lost me. I guess I've lost my hipness with the internet. I'm only 31, and let me tell ya, I am just now finally realizing that I am not "cool" anymore, and have lost touch with what's in & what's not.

Joe

Compost,leaves,pine straw & burlap bags.

Joe, I get frustrated with some of the acronyms too - Hot Topics is terrible for that! The ones I use are pretty common. You must be out of touch, hehe. But I can relate - I have an 18 year old son. He tells me I don't know anything.

BTDT - been there, done that
IIRC - if I recall correctly

Thanks for clearing up the acronyms Terene. I'm 77 so I'm really out of touch with the ones used these days.

Joe: Regarding your clay soil. A common clay soil amendment here in the Midwest is gypsum. It loosens clay, is cheap & is easy to apply. Although I don't have to deal with clay, I've used it as a lawn & tomato plant nutrient supplement for some time now with good results. It appears to green up lawns and stimulate tasty tomato fruit growth. See the link for more details - also note the references in the link.

Richard

Here is a link that might be useful: Gypsum for clay soil.

Got clay?
Get some expanded shale. Enough to make 4" on top of your clay.
Then till it into 6" of your clay soil.
Why?
It's porous and durable. It is half air. It holds water.
And here's what sold me - - you only have to do this once.
ONCE.
Your clay will keep unlocking all its wonderful nutrients and releasing them, for a long long time.
And yeah, without tilling, the worms and mycorrhizae have a better chance of survival and longer time of working for you.
Beats adding compost every year, and it's pH neutral, which gypsum isn't (though gypsum is my second favorite amendment, like for long-term container mixes).

You're welcome!

Rick

Here is a link that might be useful: Expanded Shale - A new Possibility for Amending Clay Soils

Beats adding compost every year... Other amendments/activities in addition to adding compost are good, but not instead of. The link you provide recommends adding 3 inches of compost after tilling. This amendment is intended more for the function of the soil in regard to holding the roots and providing water, and not as much for the nutritional value that comes from compost. Sounds like an apples'n'oranges comparison to me, but it's an interesting-sounding product I'd like to try in containers.

The books/bookworms say no more then 25% compost.
But when I was in my teens, I knew little about OG or Mr. Rodale.
I planted tomatoes & other veggies in pure rotten manure & decomposed hay.
I have more in my garden now,but never a better garden, then that one.
I picked tomatoes the first week in Nov. that year, just hours before the big killing frost.