Absolutely, positively I mulch. My mulch of choice is leaves - they break down and add organic matter to the soil, they are in abundant supply in the fall, and they're F-R-E-E.

In the side and back beds, I use whole leaves, in the front of the house I use finely shredded leaves (I just wait until the neighbors' lawn services set out the bags of shredded leaves and go down the street with my hand cart and collect them). Either way works fine for me.

During the season if I happen to need some mulch (which is rare) I'll run up to the nursery and buy bagged wood chips. This also break down and add organic matter to the soil so is an okay choice (though expensive if you need a lot).

Compost is great to use. Really, pretty much anything that will add organic matter to the soil is good such as grass clippings, etc. In my small vegetable plot, I use straw since I normally have a bale which I use to barricade my potted perennials against the house with - why waste it, it breaks down and is good stuff for the soil!

Can't help you with the dye issue, I don't know what the story is on that.

shredded leaves are the VERY BEST thing you can put down as mulch. they help add to your soil's friability and will bring in lots of worms- that do the same.
best,
mindy

I never used to mulch the gardens, but after my experience this year and last, will be doing it big time from now on. I keep adding new beds and this year realized how much less time was spent on weeding the areas which had been mulched.

If I have too much compost (make my own), I'll use that, but this year began using shredded leaves mixed with UCGs (used coffee grounds). I have a Leaf Hog so can shred my own if need be and collect copious amounts of UCGs every week.

I mulched the following area of the gardens earlier this year after removing a massive amount of crab grass. To this day, I've not had to weed this area at all. :O)

{{gwi:196914}}

I use mostly shredded leaves as mulch in most of my beds, but in the perennial beds close to the front entryway, I use cocoa hull mulch. It has a bit more of a refined look, IMO, and still adds organic matter to the soil.

I also use grass clippings sometimes in my vegetable and/or raised beds. But I worry about grass growing (I have a very weedy lawn) so I put a layer of shredded paper down first, and then the grass clippings.

But I do put a layer of shredded leaves on ALL beds in the late fall. Then I add the cocoa hulls in the spring, or more leaves to those beds getting leaves.

:)
Dee

I would leave my black wood mulch in place, it is already breaking down, and just put my new stuff over it.

I would use either a non-colored shredded wood mulch or the shredded leaves as other folks mention. I don't care for the sharp contrast of dyed mulch myself, gets color on everything, plus it costs more to buy. I just buy the cheapest kind of shredded wood, buy the bulk kind at my garden supplier. $25 the cubic yard and a yard and a half fills the back end of my small truck. They dump mulch in with the bucket of tractor. I just pull mulch off the truck with a rake, into the wheelbarrow to spread. I do spread a tarp on the ground for spillage, I am a messy worker!

I want mulch that is going to stay in place, so the thicker wood chunks in layer or a deep, shredded leaf layer work well for me. My problem is I usually run out of leaves before all the mulching is done. I got a leaf shredder at an auction, LOVE it, save bags of leaves. I can get most of my whole yard of leaves, into about 6 large bags. I only rake leaves up one time, get it all done at once. I do rake and shred again in spring, gets the left overs, cleans off any piles on the beds or fence corners. Gives me MORE to use! My neighbor LOVES to burn, can't get any from him. Everyone else either burns or mows up their leaves here in the country.

Leaf shreds are wonderful, but need to be replaced more often than woody shreds. I have mostly Oaks, shreds stay crispy, hard even when wet. Take longer to break down than other leaves might. They can wash off a bit in extremely heavy rain, or long periods of rain in spring or fall. The worms do love them. I always mix a couple handfuls in when planting shrubs or perennials. Lightens my clay dirt, tempts the worms over there to work the dirt for my plant.

I don't use cocoa hulls, since they are both expensive and poison for dogs. Some dogs seem to love the smell and taste, have chewed on the hulls with disasterous results. Some died, while others experienced very difficult recoveries. Cocoa hulls have the same chemicals in them that chocolate does. Chocolate is also poison for dogs. I know some folks feed it to their begging dogs with no problems, but other dogs react strongly to even tiny bits of chocolate, have to go get the whole routine of poison nuetralizing.

My son had to do that when their dog got into the trash, found the disposable pan they had baked brownies in. Over $400 for Miss Lucy to get treated with charcoal, IV hydration, etc. She went into shock, and of course this was all at weekend, emergency rates. Tiny dog, only needed a little bit of chocolate to get into trouble. I have two dogs that race around the yard and gardens. If they can get into trouble chewing cocoa hulls, OF COURSE they will!! Too bad, I hear the smell is WONDERFUL after rain, Chocolate aroma everywhere!!

I leave my grass trimmings on the lawn or put them around trees. I have compost bins, but don't work at it enough to have good compost. I have heard that compost addition to garden is good, but compost doesn't make good mulch. Washes away, turning back into dirt, pieces are too small to protect like wood or leafy shreds.

This is a really good thread! I love the idea of shredded newspaper, Dee, and goodhors, you gave some great info too. I second the motion for tarps. They are one of my most valuable tools ever. They save so much time on clean up.

In answer to your question, shelli, the only bad thing about mulch is that it pretty well supresses volunteer seedlings, but on the years I don't want to water alot or weed alot (:) I mulch with pinestraw. I think the key is to use whatever is abundantly available and inexpensive. But, this year, I am going to try using more leaves since I have used the straw for more than five years running. It seems to me that a change of material might add some good stuff to the soil that is lacking in the pinestraw. Just a thought.

How do you shred the leaves? Im interesting in doing that. Can you do it with the lawn mower?

I have a Flowtron leaf shredder that my mom bought me for Christmas. I love it, although it is difficult because I have a ton of twigs, sticks, small branches, etc., and it doesn't handle them too well.

Some people mow over their leaves with their lawn mowers. Last year I had my son try that, just as a time saver - he could mow while I shredded. But it didn't work well for me. Perhaps because my husband set the blades somewhat high due to many rocks in our yard, or perhaps because we just have too many leaves, but it didn't really shred them or even break them down enough for my liking.

Also, some people put the leaves in a garbage can and then stick the weed whacker in there and shred them. This is pretty much the theory behind the Flowtron, so I would think this way would work pretty well.

Donnabaskets, I don't use shredded *newspaper* - I save newspaper to layer under mulch and under new lasagna beds. I shred all my junk mail, old bills, school papers, etc., and this is the paper I use. It works well as a mulch, but I have to warn you - on a bright sunny day you can be blinded by the whiteness of it, lol! Another reason why I cover it with grass clippings or leaves!

:)
Dee

Here, nearly everyone mulches to cool the roots and keep the moisture in. It's not just for weed control or aesthetics.
I spread several dump truck loads every year and mulch about 4" everywhere but right next to the plant only two inches.
I use double ground wood/bark.
I hope someday I have the funds to have all my leaves vacuumed up and my mulch spread with a tube but manually is great exercise!

Everywhere I've used our shredded oak leaves has now turned into the best soil I have. It also seems to do a great job of keeping weeds from sprouting. Hubby and I'd love to be able to wait until all the leaves are down and shred all at once, but oak trees are notorious for not dropping their leaves until almost winter and never all at once, so we shred most of them and haul the rest out to the woods. I hate doing that but there's a limit to how long 2 people are willing to stand there and feed a shredder machine.

I have a Black and Decker Leaf Hog which does handle small twigs quite well. It also deals with cones from evergreens. It became four years old as of the end of September. Wouldn't do without it.

"...oak trees are notorious for not dropping their leaves until almost winter and never all at once,..."

Amen to that! What a pain!

"...so we shred most of them and haul the rest out to the woods..."

So Andrea, do you go into the woods in March or so and start raking the leaves *out* of the woods, lol? Boy, have my neighbors given me some weird looks with that one, lol!

Tiffy, I'm going to look into that B&D Leaf Hog. Hope it's not too much $$$.

:)
Dee

Many good tips. I use several sheets of newspaper under any mulch for better weed control. Earwigs probably thrive in mulch but first thing-are they doing much damage? If not, leave them alone. If so, you can control them by leaving out damp rolls of newspaper overnight and collecting them filled with earwigs in the morning. Also, I would not throw away the old, dyed mulch but just add new on top.

I have a B&D Leaf Hog as well. It grinds up the leaves to an oatmeal texture which can then be used as mulch or put into the compost pile. It is noisy, so hearing and eye protection is a wise precaution.

Hmm, that B&D Leaf Hog is much smaller than I expected. I've got just under an acre with about 50 trees - can it handle that? Just curious at to the amount of leaves that those who have one of these shred with it...?

Thanks!
Dee

I use whole leaves, shredded leaves, and compost for mulch in most of the gardens. Under the veggies, I use straw. In the garden paths and a few other areas, I use aged wood chips.

In the fall, I let the leaves that fall or blow into the gardens stay there. I'll even rake a few more into the gardens to create a nice cover for the winter.

I use most of the shredded leaves in the front gardens - where it's more formal and ornamental. Shredded leaves look a little more tidy than whole leaves. I shred them using the lawn mower and use the bag on the lawn mower (for this purpose only) to catch the shredded leaves. Otherwise I leave the grass clippings on the lawn.

There are 2 large piles of wood chips piled in the yard leftover from tree work in 05 and 07, which are aging nicely and I use as needed.

Dee,
It will handle your property and even more if you don't do it all in one day. I bring leaves home too. The north winds actually take our leaves into the surrounding woods and I don't like messing with that ecosystem since there's a lot of birds, and woodland animals relying on that.

I'll just do a bit one day, then some later on. The dryer the leaves, the finer they shred. I have an area under our veranda where I keep a lot of bagged leaves and in the summer I will take some out, spread them on the lawn, let them dry really well, and then take out the leaf hog. If the gardens don't require any at the time, I'll bag the shredded stuff again after mixing it with the UCGs. Right now I have a few bags I did in August and it's great stuff! :O)

So I guess for me, who has about 2/3 acre and who brings home no less than 50 bags and usually more (some already shredded, some not), it's an ongoing thing.

Thanks for that info, Tiffy. My concern was burning out the motor, but like you, I do my yard in batches. Don't have much choice, actually, between my schedule and the way the oak leaves fall.

Thanks!
Dee

I don't formally mulch my garden. In the backyard, it's a shady woodland garden dominated by white pines, a huge green ash and a red oak. Leaves and needles that fall in the beds are left where they are. Whatever falls on the lawn is chopped with the lawn mower and spread on the beds. As others have mentioned, the oak leaves are late to fall - in fact about 1/3 don't fall until new growth starts in the spring! DH uses a leaf blower on the vacuum setting to vacuum them up (which also shreds them) in the spring and they get added to the beds in the spring. One problem with leaves as mulch - in my garden at least - is there is a lot of seed keys mixed in so a regular patrol is required, particularly in early summer, to yank tree seedlings as soon as they appear!

In the front garden, there is not a ready source of leaves. All the trees there are young and still too small to produce much of a leaf fall. I use feverfew in the front beds as a filler plant. In late spring/early summer I cut back all the feverfew by at least half and leave the cuttings on the ground as a green mulch. Also, I don't clean up the garden in the fall - other than anything diseased or disease prone. In the spring I just remove any tough stalks that are still standing and pull any dead stuff away from crowns if it looks like something is being smothered. Other than that, all the previous year's dead foliage is left to compost in place. By mid-May new growth has covered everything so there is no visible mess. The garden (and the soil) seems happy with that approach and it sure is a heck of a lot less work! (And, no, I don't have a problem with pests of diseases. I suspect that the feverfew, with its scented foliage, may work a bit as a deterrant.)