I'm using a thick layer of shredded palo verde trees - basically coarse sawdust and chopped twigs produced by my chipper shredder - over a thick layer of compost. They are loving it.

Just throw down a thick layer of anything you can afford, like straw (doesn't need to be heat treated), shredded paper, hardwood chips from a cabinetry shop, or pine needles (no, they won't make the soil "too acidic"), or last year's leaves.

Weed seeds are not much of a problem even where I mulched with a thick layer of compost that was never really hot enough to kill weeds. A weed or two sprouts and it's easy to pull.

Well, its not so much about price as it is locating what I can use. I don't know of a place to buy straw, and I don't know of a cabinetry shop. I rake up a million leaves every year, but those are all bagged up and gone, so that does me no good. (what should I do with the leaves this fall for next year?)
I was hoping I could use something available at the big box stores, but I get the feeling they don't have anything of use. (do they?)
I guess I can walk into some local woods and collect pine needles. Is there any reason not to do that?

Kim

Straw - call "tack shops" and stables
Big box stores - basically useless
Shredded paper ... any office

This fall, make a bin of wire mesh and dump the leaves in it. Next spring undo the wire and use the leaves as mulch in your garden. They will settle a lot over the winter.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cheap Wire Compost Bin

Every fall I pick up bags of leaves set along the curb for the local trash collectors. I store the bags all winter and in the spring run the lawnmower over them and use them for mulch. It's free, retains soil moisture, effectively keeps weeds down and improves the soil. Leaves stored in plastic bags overwinter will often break down into leaf mold which is excellent.

Bean Counter -
I'm one of those people who have the leaf bags on the curb waiting for pickup. I'm also one of those people who have 50 bags of them out there! No joking. Leaf pickup is never ending where I am. Fall AND spring.
I guess I'll have use for a few of them this year!
Kim

Yep, no reason to bag them, mulch mow and leave them on the lawn for food, put some on the garden as a winter mulch if you don't cover crop, and save some for mulching next year.

I still see bags on the curb even this time of year. We call them OPBL other peoples bagged leaves over on the soil forum.

Thinkstoomuch, I am a newbie to tomato growing, and did a lot of research about mulch. I read about Mainely Mulch and tried to find it as my first choice to use for mulching my tomatoes. But I could not find it here in North Carolina. I read really great things about it, although I cannot recall my sources. Wish I had some here!

will scotts red mulch help or hurt my tomato plants when they are planted in a mixture of regular soil miracle grow veggie safe top soil and sand?

RJ......I now plan to mulch mow some of my leaves for mulch next year. But there is no way i can use all of them. I literally end up with close to fifty bags. And yes, in spring we're STILL bagging up leaves...... from the neighbors houses. They aren't very diligent about picking up their leaves, so inevitably throughout winter they all blow into MY yard. I can't even begin to tell you how frustrating it is. I feel like I'm raking leaves for six months out of the year!!!!!!!!!!

ditnc - I'm assuming Mainely Mulch is mostly in New England. I do not know anyone who has used it. I just came across it at a local nursery while searching for straw. This was all they could offer. I believe it was somewhere in the $20 range. I passed, hoping to find something else to use, but have not. Maybe I'll use it and post my experience with it?

Kim

Why can't cedar mulch be used over landscape fabric? That is what I was planning to try this year.

Sue