I use hay--have for almost 50 years.

Pine needles work for me and they are plentiful and free here. I use them for mulching several veggie varieties. I avoid woody or barky type mulches, or any similar store bought bagged stuff that can be infected with unwanted pests and questionable fillers.

I use chopped up leaves i gathered up at the end of Fall. About 3-4 inches deep. My main reason is to keep the moisture even so I don't get BER.

Thank you all! I'm in Calif., so saving water is at the top of my list too. I appreciate all your suggestions!

The only bad point about bark in CA is that it tends to allow snails a lot of places to hide. However, as long as your tomatoes aren't tiny seedlings, I've never had snails bother them (and they are easy to control with Sluggo if they do become a problem). I use some small piece bark mulch around my garden with very little issue.

Personally, I use red plastic. Last year I didn't, and was the first time I dealt with early blight. This year going back to the plastic. If I deep water, I generally only have to water once per week in my dry climate. I also use free burlap coffee bags from a local roaster for my other plants and pathways. If I had access to free straw that was weed free, leaves or grass, I may try them. But my garden is a community plot and part of a larger urban farm. The wind usually blows straw off for a while, and the one time I bought it was definitely not weed free.

IMO bark is out of the question for several reasons. First because it is the least effective at controlling weeds and retaining moisture. Second because it is costly since it requires such deep layering to be effective at all. Third because as it is mixed in with the soil it binds up nitrogen the plants need and no matter how careful you are it eventually gets mixed in rather than just remaining on the soil surface. Fourth because it does little - far less than any of the alternatives - to improve the soil itself. Fifth because it makes tilling that much more difficult. Sixth because of the slugs and snails it attracts.

Straw, hay, shredded leaves, dried grass clippings, pine straw, even landscape fabric is better than wood chips.

Dave

The problem in my part of CA is that it is extremely difficult to get hands on things like leaves (deciduous trees are RARE here, my avocados keep their own leaves for their delicious purposes) and now grass, with the drought (I don't have a lawn, most of my neighbors don't either). Straw and hay are easier to get but I ended up with horrible weed issues the last time I used straw and don't want to go through that again, on top of the normal weed issues we already have. Landscape fabric without a mulch cover just heats up the top layer of soil to hardpan in the summer, especially in the areas of my garden which tend more toward clay than loam.

*edit* And snails, like gophers, are just a fact of gardening life. Give them water and shade and they'll come, bark or no bark. I don't believe we have slugs, or at least I've never seen any. *edit*

I just haven't had an issue with it, or found a better alternative yet, but am open to suggestions. I should also mention I am not using the big ole chunks of bark that you'd use to mulch paths or whatever, I use clay "soil conditioner" type bark, that has some other whatsits mixed in.

Never tried it myself, but probably shredded brown paper? The one they overuse in Amazon packages?

This is a hotly debated topic...

What is far worse for your garden than whatever mulch you choose, is no mulch. Weeds take up far more nutrients from the soil than any mulch could.

The most easy solution, but probably not for this year would be composted wood chips. Place them in a pile, buy some urea(most cheap all nitrogen fertilizer). Every week dilute it in water in good concentration and wet your wood chip pile. In a year you well have a half rotten wood chips that will not do much harm to the nitrogen in your beds.

When wood chips are used for mulch they don't rob the soil. They will be aged enough in the fall to turn under if desired.

I've used them frequently when I was in AZ with excellent results.

If you can get shredded citrus tree cuttings or even a delivery of wood chips from a landscaping company (often free), that would also be nice.

I got some half composted wood chips from a landscape company for my flower beds. I'm afraid to put them near my solanaceous crops as who knows what is it in, could be black walnut or weed killer. I'm sure 99% chance it is safe but I'm paranoid.

I've started using shredded leaves, and really like the result. I made up about 5 barrels of shredded leaves (that corresponds to about 15-20 barrels of whole leaves) leaves this winter and spring, so I've got a big supply for the summer. I just pile it on and make a thick layer around the plants. I used to just layer whole leaves on, but they would break down slowly and be more likely to blow away. If you have leaves that fall, they are a precious mulching resource. My back yard is heavily shaded with cottonwood, cedar elm, and live oak. Thanks to the latter, I get leaves falling though spring! I've been shredding for many months. Of course, the leaves that get shredded early can be dug into the beds well before planting, and they're all composted by that time. I have a friend without trees who drives around in his pickup and collects bags of leaves that are set out for the city to collect. He takes them home and shreds them.

I would use the leaves, but we have major tick and lyme epidemics here, so I keep them away from the garden. The ticks love leaves.

I've heard that about ticks and leaves. (Ticks aren't a big problem around here.) But I've also heard that shredding the leaves actually makes the leaves much poorer habitat for ticks. Of course, applying ticks with either good or poor habitat might not be desirable. I have to wonder whether putting aside shredded leaves (as in, in closed barrels) for a season gets rid of the ticks in those leaves. They need blood to survive, and there isn't any blood in those barrels. It's not about "composting" shredded leaves. Just "aging" shredded leaves.

Like many, I collect my leaves, shred them and cold compost them for 2 years. The second year they turn into this amazing, fluffy, half soil, half mulch material that is incredible. When i run out of that, i use what an old timer taught me to do. Collect your grass clippings and lay them on a tarp in your driveway in the afternoon sun. They will dry right up and turn into a wonderful mulch. It breaks down slowly and works very well. About 50% thickness remains in the beds i put it in last year. I lifted it up and was happy to see hundreds of worms happily living bellow the grass mulch in my raised beds. I have been using dried grass clippings for several years now and have been pleased with the results.

My preference is spoiled hay. I have no probs w/ seeds sprouting from it. & it seems to help prevent diseases better than any other type of mulch I've used. I put it on very thickly - 3-4 inches @ least.

I buy a bale & leave it to weather & turn grayish. I have used it fresh too & as long as it's very thick, I've had no weed probs @ all. I make sure it's matted down, not loose & fluffy - it comes off the bale in compressed layers & I use it like that w/o breaking them up.

Here in FL, we have what's called 'coastal hay' @ the feed stores.