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*sigh*...I thought we were supposed to use mulch to help conserve water?

I think mulch has a place: to reduce watering needs, to help desired plants out-compete weeds, and, to lesser importance, to increase aesthetics. Of course, too much of a good thing is always a problem, and I don't support the idea of chopping down trees just to make mulch. I think there are plenty of opportunities to acquire "recycled" mulch and consider that a better idea.

We are supposed to use mulch, be it rocks, wood chips, straw, compost. In the southwest, it's pretty essential, even for drought resistant plants. Synthetic mulch sounds about as yucky, however, as putting a layer of plastic down before covering with mulch.

On a somewhat related note, I sent the following note to the parks commissioner earlier. I'm ignorant when it comes to the parks policy but would it be possible to claim the wood of a dead tree?

"The tree in Cuyler Gore Park (Fort Greene, Brooklyn) fell in front of me last night; I passed by it this morning and saw how far up the tree it had snapped. Rather than cutting down the entire stump, would it be possible to commission a local artist to carve a sculpture out of it at its current location? I think most trees are just converted to mulch correct? If it's not feasible to carve something out of the dead tree at its current location, I'm sure some artists at 3rd Ward (Bushwick) would love to come by and take large chunks of the tree away to work on."

I know that in our community you can get free mulch from the city. They just shred what they collect from homeowners lawn refuse. Seems like a pretty environmentally friendly way to go about it, don't you think?

I live in the southeast and with super hot temps mulch can be a necessity. But I learned something on NPR the other day -- it was a discussion of fuel costs -- and a plant nursery owner was talking about a particular mulch they sell that is very fine and requires being run through a deisel-powered wood chipper three times. Fuel v. water?

Typical "environmentalists". Those idiots give everybody else that cares a bad name.

Sounds like people are ignorant of where bark dust comes from.

Forests are not cleared to make bark dust. That's just silly.

Bark dust is a by-product. It is basically sold as scrap by the mills.

Now with the housing industry in trouble, and new housing starts way down, mills are closing.

http://www.portlandtribune.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=121078368282451300

Bark dust is now very expensive and peolpe are using compost as mulch in some places. In fact my neighbors and I paid for a dump-truck full of compost mulch this year.

Premium hemlock mulch is over $30 a yard here.

Much has good uses. Bark dust prevents weed growth. It retains moisture which when used with low volume watering (drip) can save water and money. As it decomposes it enriches the soil.

By the way, trees are a crop just like lettuce.

There are almost no virgin forests in the US so lets not get our knickers in knots over logging. Companies are required to replant anyway.

I don't like clear cuts any more than anyone else. Especially living where I do. But I live in a wood house and use pencils and paper and realize they have to come from somewhere...

I use cocoa shells from a local chocolate factory. They look really nice and smell good!

That sounds heavenly! How do I get my hands on some of those cocoa shells? Does the place you buy them from sell online?

Cocoa shells aren't a viable option for people who have dogs. They are toxic to canines.

We use pine straw here. Like everyone above has said, mulch tends to conserve moisture in the soil and in the case of my gardenias, provide them with a happy acidic environment naturally.

The mulch is also serving to make my beds look more finished until the plants fill in.

I second the cocoa hulls. As mentioned above, they are a waste product with a bonus. They look so wonderful, a neat refined look - you can kind of rake them like a rock garden (and the smell is dreamy). Very rich, dark brown at the beginning of the summer mellowing to a lighter brown by fall. I use mulch to keep weeds down (I put it over a layer of newspaper) - it really works for me and tends to make those that do get started easier to pull. I tell myself that it decays and acts to improve the clay soil here over time.

Two notes on cocoa hull mulch: 1) It is poisonous to dogs. It contains theobromine - and at a much higher level than plain chocolate. One estimate is that as little as 2.2 oz can cause poisoning symptoms in dogs (I don't know if that is by volume or weight). Many bags contain warnings about this issue. I would like to put some in my front yard, as well as my back yard, but I'm debating the possibility of a neighborhood dog getting into it. 2) It is light and can wash away. I do not have this problem but one of my friends no longer uses it because it won't stay put for her in the rain.

Just keep in mind that cocoa mulch, when ingested, is harmful to dogs.

I can get cocoa hull mulch at most of my local garden centers.

Too much mulch can cause plants to heat up and rot away. Critters hide in it and eat the plants, as well. The mulch also rots away, all too soon, in my experience.

Mulch is a good thing, though, on balance, when used judiciously. It keeps the soil moisture constant and it smothers the weeds (for a while) or at least makes it easier to pull them out.

There's no substitute for hand weeding, however, and the way things are going, it is going to be more economical to pull weeds by hand again than to pour chemicals on them and ruin the environment.

I don' think it makes too much difference what mulch you use.

Yeah I pull weeds by hand, too. I worry that if I spray them that I might kill the "good" stuff too.

One weed I almost pulled, I decided to leave because it had tiny flowers I thought were cool. Turned out to be hardy geranium. Now there's a nice big clump of it, and it was free. Who knew? ;->

http://melaniesoldcountrygarden.blogspot.com/2007/05/hardy-geraniums-secret-stars.html

spossberg - AMEN!

I just wish that the contradictory info would stop coming from the enviro-nazis. I'm all for not abusing the land we come from, but for heavens sake, who are we supposed to believe when every day there is a "thou shalt" or a "thou shall not" that is the opposite of what was said yesterday?

Sometimes I get the sense that they'd all be happier if we just went back to living in grass huts and gathering berries in our loin cloths. Except the minute we do that, the jungle drums will beat out a message that clearcutting grass for our huts is harming the buffaloes and berries are endangered. Sigh.

We have a garden plot that we cannot attend to during the week -- mulch is essential to keep it from drying out and/or becoming overrun with weeds. We have used the cocao shells - but they are very expensive this year. Have switched to black cedar mulch -- but also plan to use straw in some areas. Don't see any harm in using straw.

While I am all for using mulch, one kind of mulch I would suggset avoiding is cypress. Cypress trees help protect the coastline against hurricannes and errosion and more area is being cleared every year for mulch.

The cocoa shells I bought were $6 for a bag but I only needed two to cover my flower garden area - it's about 10'x10'. I don't know if they sell them online but I'd check with local gardening stores - I've seen them from time to time.

jinx -

Your comment startled me. I wasn't aware that trees were cut just for mulch.

So I googled...and was shocked. I agree - never buy cypress mulch.

http://www.saveourcypress.org/

We just had a bunch of 40 or so year old trees removed from our yard. The previous owners (the original owners of the house) had a bad habit of planting inappropriate trees too close together. Not good for the trees or for our yard. The tree service who did the work brought a chipper and mulched the trees and all the other removed shrubbery on the spot and re-used it on the yard. The trees never left the property and the mulch covered yard looks nice and tidy until we figure out what to do with it. The tree service apparently has a surplus of mulch from the trees they remove and will provide it to people at no cost. Seems like a good thing to me.

MULCH FIRE!! MULCH FIRE!!

http://www.nbc4.com/news/16572594/detail.html?dl=headlineclick

Recycled mulch/mulch from the city around here means negative bugs and God knows what else. I use cedar and it's not for decoration.

Hand-weeding is the way to go. If you let it go too long, I highly recommend hand-pickaxing, too. :0)

Wow, I had no idea about cocoa mulch being poisonous to dogs! Now I'm thinking of returning the two bags I just bought... I don't think my Jack Russell would be interested in it but you never know...

I use Buckwheat hull mulch. Not only are the hulls a byproduct from the food industry, but they're also not dangerous to animals, and look really nice. I've used them short term with garden vegetables, and long term with a raspberry bush, and in both conditions they hold up well, and keep the moisture in the soil.

I'm not a fan of mulching everywhere, but in small areas, I think the buckwheat works great.

SisterRae - return it. I can tell you some horror stories about what my ex's Jack Russell has swallowed. The balloons were no problem (LOL) but the earrings required surgery (and they were way up on a dresser, go figure).

I think mulch is really important for helping to conserve water from excess evaporation - I live in a semi-arid climate, and I don't want to waste water that could otherwise be used for drinking.

We use a variety of types - I like cedar for the look and smell, but we get some pine mulch occasionally as the city provides it free every year (made of recycled Christmas trees).

I also use pistachio shells, mainly because my husband loves pistachios and we go through a lot of them. They have to be boiled first to get the salt off, but that only takes about 5 minutes and they look kind of interesting in small containers. Couldn't cover big areas with them, but it's a good way to use a product that would otherwise be wasted (or composted, really, but the shells take a really long time to break down).