Compost is a perfectly acceptable mulch - in fact, it is MY mulch of choice for any application. And there is no reason - other than a preference to adhere to organic practices - that clippings from a fertilized lawn cannot be used as well. You just want to make sure that it was not a 'weed and feed' product that was used to fertilize the lawn, as that could have an impact on plant growth. And I encourage everyone to avoid using any 'weed and feed' products anyway for a variety of reasons - they are just not good stuff.

I save my fall leaves in a wire fence bin, and in spring I get some grass clippings and mix them on a tarp with the leaves and use that to mulch the vegetable garden. Sometimes I add wood shavings or sawdust because I have a shop. It's fluffy so it lets air and water in but keeps the sun and hard rain off the soil. It's degradable and nutritious, and by fall it's mostly gone. Whatever is left could be turned in if I wanted.

In poor soil areas I sometimes put down a layer of compost or half finished compost first and cover with the mulch. The worms will come up and get into that compost first and till it in. By that time the mulch is breaking down so they will go after that. I sit in a chair with an iced tea and say to the camera, "I'm feeding my garden right now!"

You could also use newspaper sections, depending on the layout of your garden. You would have to weigh it down somehow - I have used branches, but unless you live in a wind tunnel, it'll stay down once it's wet.

There are universal mulch products, but I see mulch as a very local/regional thing. I've been gardening on and off for a very long time and in different areas. I guess from just having that interest, I'm always looking around with an eye toward, and an attitude of - "One man gathers what another man spills." [break into song...]

If you're in a suburb, or outside a city, look for tall grass for example. All you need is a small weedeater and in 5 mins you can make a homeowner happy and have enough mulch to cover 5 beds. I let sections of my own lawn grow tall for that very purpose. I use a swing blade to harvest it, and it works perfectly. If you find a field and do it before seed set, you'll get a nice, healthy mix of vegetation. Just stop and be friendly with a few homeowners and before you know it, you'll have plenty of resources.

I keep 2 garbage bags in the back of the car for gathering grass clippings and leaves. If you need to check on whether it was sprayed... again, most people enjoy you taking an interest. My neighbor has a large lawn, doesn't spray, and is a bit OCD about how it looks. So, to keep things friendly, when he mows I go over and rake up the clippings for him when they don't mulch-in properly. He's happy, I'm happy, and the garden's happy.

Anyway... depending on where you live, you might be surprised at what you can find...

Oh, and my local home depot lets me clean up under their pine straw and hay bale trailers. They don't let you get what spills inside, but they don't pick up what spills outside - they wash it away when a replacement trailer comes in. Every year I get enough pine straw to mulch my blueberries. Again, those garbage bags work great.

I always mulch my vegetable garden(and everything else) with shredded leaves that I've picked up from around my neighborhood where they've been bagging them. I think I would be sorely disappointed if they stopped bagging them up.

I am thinking of buying a leaf shredder. What do you all think? I am tired of losing seedlings because a leaf blew on top of it. Which model do you recommend (portable or fixed) and can it handle the shredding of, say, about 40 bags a year?

I don't have one but there are a lot of threads on them. Search for 'leaf shredder' and see what people are saying.

My raised bed is a mixture of compost and top soil. Do i need mulch in that case? Or is the compost alone somehow significantly different when it's on top?

I guess those who use compost as mulch consider the advantage of covering the seed bank with a layer of something dark. IMHO, a driving rain - big thunderstorm will soon uncover those seeds, which will then germinate in a fertile environment. Earthworms, too, will churn it and make seeds below emerge. A mulch, IMHO, has to be the lowest form of organic matter, so that it lasts and suppresses vegetation as long as possible. Hence, wood chips or leaves. Your raised bed, like all soils for vegetable production, most likely needs more biology. add mulch, but add biology too.

Does anyone use pine needles? Can they be mixed back into the soil in the fall?

As I said above, I use the pine needle 'straw' on my blueberries. I can't get them in excess without purchasing them, so I don't use them in my garden. This is why mulch is a local/regional thing. There just aren't enough of them around this area. If they were here, I would have no qualms about using them as mulch - especially mixed in with other mulch products like grass, hay, leaves, straw, etc...

@toxcrusadr my main concern is with a heavy rain splashing the dirt/mud onto my plants when they are still relatively small. Is that a concern I need not worry about?

Can leaves obtain a fungus if the rain splashes soil on them at some point?

Mulch is any type of organic material put down on soil to 1) aid in suppressing unwanted plant growth, aka "weeds", 2) aid in soil moisture retention. 3) aid in soil temperature regulation, and 4 ) aid in adding organic matter to the soil. Compost is one type of organic material that can be used, but many of us have found that getting enough compost to us as a mulch can be a problem and can be costly if we must purchase all we need.

One thing some types of mulch material will do, shredded leaves, straw, and similar materials, is keep soil from being splashed on the plants growing where that mulch is. Compost is quite fine and can be splashed up onto plants just as soil is.

There are many types of fungus in the garden most beneficial such as those that form that mycorrhizal relationship with plants, while others can be disease pathogens. Generally, if you get the soil into a good healthy condition that will grow strong and healthy plants the plants will be better able to ward off those disease pathogens. For most plants a good healthy soil is one that is well endowed with organic matter that stays evenly moist but is well drained and has the pH in the range for the plants growing there and balanced nutrients. Other plants, Cacti for example, may have other soil requirements.

kimmq is kimmsr

"Mulch is primarily for weed suppression, keeping soil cool and moist in
hot weather, and preventing erosion and compaction from driving rains."

And compost used as a mulch will do all of those things. Plus, it does not need to be worked into the soil to be of benefit although if it is, the benefits will be realized much faster. But it will need to applied in the same manner and at the same thickness (2-3 inches at least) of any other mulch product. And it will protect just as well as any other type of mulch in the splashing up of potential fungal/disease spores laying on the soil surface. In itself, compost is a pretty decent disease suppressor so likely even more effective for this purpose than other mulch products.

btw, there is no single generic product considered as "mulch". Mulch is any sort of covering, either organic or nonorganic, applied to the soil surface to protect it, whether it be from erosion, weeds, temperatures swings/insulation or moisture evaporation.

As for fungi, one thing we have a big problem with here in MO is tomato blight due to the wet clay soils and driving rains. At least one type of blight lives in the soil and is splashed up on the bottom leaves, from which it works its way up the plant killing leaves. I always mulch my tomatoes immediately upon planting to try to slow this down.

I live on Cape Cod, use eelgrass (seaweed) as mulch, and it's worked very well for me. Around here it's available in the fall for the cost of pitchforking it into a pickup.

Seaweed? How interesting

Can newspaper be used?? Just a few sheets circling the base of the stem. Maybe use a few rocks to hold the paper down?!

Or will that restrict too much water from getting into the soil?

Newspaper can be used as a base under a thin mulch layer to aid in blocking the sunlight all plants need to grow, but newspaper can keep moisture such as rainfall or sprinkling from getting into the soil, although the newspaper will aid in keeping the moisture already in the soil there.

I have used newspaper often in the past and while I did see water flowing over that paper and not going into the soil underneath I did not notice a moisture deficit in that soil covered by the newspaper.

kimmq is kimmsr

Kimmq, am I understanding that paper alone won't work? Mulch is still necessary? Thanks

The newspaper, or cardboard, is an adjunct to mulch, an addition. If you could find a good way to hold the paper in place without a cover it would work quite well in aiding in unwanted plant growth suppression, but the problem most of us have is keeping paper in place without some kind of covering material. Newspaper, or cardboard, will allow a gardener to use a smaller amount of material to mulch an area, like a 2 inch thick layer instead of a 6 inch thick layer.

kimmq is kimmsr