What Type of Mulch Should I Use?
Question:I just bought my first home (Northeast Ohio) and I have been working on the landscaping. It is now time to put down mulch and I have no idea what kind to use. The bark mulch looks nice, but is it practical? I have noticed that some types say they "repel insects" - is that important? How important is it to go with a brand name in mulch? I don't want the kind that stinks either. Any suggestions?
Answers:
Cedar mulch is best.It repels bugs.
Don't use wood chips from trees being cut down.It attracts bugs which attract skunks and possums.It's okay to use it for a far away from the house garden.
Not red mulch YUK! that is a sure sign the person using it is not a gardener.Black mulch is not much better.
Yupper, cedar mulch is the best bet plus it smells GREAT!
depends on what "look" you are going for. the standard is shredded hardwood. you cant really go wrong with that. just don't place it in direct contact with wood that is attached to your house some say that it will bring ants and termites to your house. use a fabric underlayment or you can use newspaper to suppress weed growth. newspaper is good because by the time it degrades into the soil its time to do an overhaul on your mulch.
pine straw for large areas. bark for areas close to the house, small areas, and high visibility areas. buy in bulk
I always use hemlock which is a natural insect repellent. Mulch holds in moisture so don't put it against any wood or it will rot quicker.
Bark looks good for about a year. It fades and deteriorates faster than any other kind. Cyprus is o.k., but I don't like the red color we get here in Arkansas. Repelling insects wouldn't hurt, as many like to get into the mulch, including termites. But you can always spray, and if you have your house treated anyway, that's probably not necessary. We didn't like any of the organic mulches. We used lava rock in our flower beds out front. We put it in about six years ago and it looks as good today as it did then. We used half red and half black lava rock, our house is a dark red brick. It provides a nice backdrop for the green plants. In the back, we opted for a less-expensive option, and the one my parents used anyway because they have a sand-colored brick house, and that's river gravel. Not the small stuff, the smalled rocks are still an inch in diameter - one to three inches is about the size we get. You can buy either of these by the bag at a home store, but we are lucky enough to live near the Arkansas river, and a dredging company sells the river gravel by as much as your pickup will carry, for $5. (that's probably a savings of at least $100 a load). By the way, always use a week block no matter what type of bedding you put down. Otherwise you're going to have to contend with weeds and your landscaping won't be nearly as nice.
Benefits of rock/gravel over mulch:
-won't wash away
-lasts forever
-holds weed block down
-maintains color
The cost is not that much different. If you purchase the mulch you will have to replace or add to it at a minimum of every other year. Gravel - not at all, or very minimally over several years. I don't think I'll ever use the organic stuff again. (never say never)
I do my own landscaping and as this is your first home and you're also doing your own, may I mention:
1. Preparation of soil in flowerbeds is crucial. How? If your soil is poor (and I have heard, with much envy, that some of Ohio has that rich black dirt), add compost or organic matter. I use aged cow and horse manure. I get mine from a farm cowlot, although you can buy the "sterile" (no grass or weed seeds) kind from stores. My plants and flowers are huge. My tomato plants are now eight feet tall and loaded with tomatos. My cannas are seven feet tall. My morning glories have leaves bigger than my hand.
2. Wood mulch "pulls" nitrogen from the soil as it begins to decompose. Nitrogen is vital for plant growth. However, the nitrogen returns to the soil it decomposes.
3. I add rocks and boulders to my landscaping for contrast. I like rocks--you don't have to water them, they don't die, and you can move them around.
I use pink bark bits and, over that, pine bark nuggets, but I like a rugged, natural look to my flowerbeds. Pine bark nuggets last a very long time.
Whatever kind of mulch you use (you can even buy plastic mulch!) is up to you. You may even want to try different kinds on different areas of your property to see how they stand up to time and weather. Happy landscaping!
it all depends on the look your going for, I personally use a black die mulch, it keeps it's color easily for the year then a little raking brings it back to life. i always have this theory too, that the sun and the black mulch helps kill weeds coming up...i doubt it's true, but i have very few weeds that come up through my black mulch even with no weed block down.
First thing I would put down is weed barrier. This will keep the weeds out and save a lot of headache of weeding later.
Wood mulch looks really nice. I would get Cypress mulch because it decays really slow and you won't have to reapply as often. It also helps in repelling bugs. I would not get mulch the is chunks of bark, they tend to get blown away in the wind.
Rock mulch is nice too though it does not look as natural, plus it is a little more expensive. A benifit in having rock mulch is that you won't have to reapply it over the years. If you do get rock, river rock looks best. Don't get while marble rock. . in my opinion, it sticks out so much and looks really unnattural.
Hope this helps.
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