Using it as a mulch would not cause a serious problem with N availability. However, it can, over time, work (and be worked) its way down into the soil. Be sure to rake any appreciative sized pieces back whenever you work your soil.

If you are aware of what you need to do, and some gets down into the soil, don't sweat it, it's not a catastrophe. In the long run it will be beneficial.

If you get a lot of it, and have access to 'greens' (grass clippings, green leaves, food scraps, coffee grounds, green pine needles... etc...), you can pile it up and compost it before adding to the garden.

If 'fine' means saw dust, then be a bit more careful how you use it. Saw dust can breakdown faster, but if it compacts, it can take longer because there is little oxygen. It also has more surface area than an equal volume of larger particles, thus more opportunity for reactions, therefore the need for more of what fuels decomp. So, if it's very fine, and you pile it, you will need to turn the pile. If it's used as mulch, just use it in extremely thin layers and/or mix it with larger mulches.

Wood chips used as mulch don't cause any nitrogen issues except at the very uppermost level of the soil that the chips touch. If they get mixed in, and they will in a vegetable garden, that's when they can become a problem.

I wouldn't hesitate to get the chips. Good for using around trees, shrubs, flowers, pathways, to cover large areas of garden where you can grow vining plants. But I wouldn't use them directly in the main garden.

Rodney

Agree with Rodney - not in the garden. You have to use it so thinly that it isn't an effective weed barrier anyway so the potential problems aren't worth it in the long run. Use them as decorative mulch in paths and flower beds. Or better yet let them compost for a year in a pile somewhere and then add them to the garden - will be a great amendemnt then.

Dave.

I think I will try to compost them first. Once I find a way to haul them. I need a truck!

What if you were to put a layers of newspaper down around the plants and use the chips as mulch on top? You could then rake the chips off in the fall and pile or compost them. I am using bark chips around my tomato plants (to cover the holes in the black plastic that I am using as a mulch so it's not very much and I don't worry about it getting mixed in with the soil in the fall. I am also using them on top of my container tomatoes to keep the moisture in. If I could get lots of free bark chips, I would definitely find a way to use them!

Linda

Bark chips are very different from wood chips.

I have a load or two of mixed wood chips delivered by one of our local tree companies every year. There is no discernable nitrogen deficiency in my ornamental beds (woodies, herbaceous perennials, and annuals) nor in the veggie/herb garden.

In winter, during the short fallow period, I often apply a second layer to the vegetable garden area to give the earthworms and essential microorganisms something to do. I don't till my garden but the chips are eventually taken into the soil (red clay stuff, were I live now). In my ornamental beds, a two/three inch layer pretty much disappears in a year's time.

All to the benefit of the soil and any plants growing in it.