Gardening and Landscaping Stack Exchange
Gardening and Landscaping Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [mulch]

Mulches are gardener-applied ground covers.

The term refers to a ground cover artificially applied to mimic natural leaf cover. Mulches are usually applied to provide nutrients, retain moisture, reduce erosion, for visual appearance, and/or suppress weed growth.

A range of different materials can be used for mulching, including wood chips, pine needles, leaves, cardboard, manure, compost, grass clippings, and gravel. Note that most of these are organic in origin and will eventually break down. Some will provide nutrients (e.g. compost) whilst others will change the soil chemistry and deter the growth of particular plants (e.g. pine needles).

Use these tags for all questions about applying mulches. Questions about specific mediums (e.g. "how to create compost") should use the appropriate tag instead. Use the mulch tag for questions about applying these mediums.

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How do I create my own mulch?

I have a pile of small wood chips from felled trees. I want to create black mulch. Can I do it and how?
Marinaio
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Can I use dried broad bean pods as mulch?

I had planted broad beans last year, and kept some pods on the vine until they dried out and turned black. I shelled them so now I have dried beans for planting later on, but this left me with quite a number of dried broad bean pods. I've noticed…
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Does the type of mulch you use matter depending on where you are or the type of climate you have?

I plan on using mulch for the first time starting next year so I've been looking up you tube videos regarding the topic to get me started. So far, wood chips is what tops the list of all the people that I've watched. However, there was this one…
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Is Sawdust good for flower gardens?

So I live in Phoenix, AZ in a house neighboring my grandparents. Today we had to cut down a huge pine tree in our front yard because it had died from bark beetle (or some other parasite). I mentioned that I would probably have to go to the store to…
Katelyn Olivier
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Do I mulch now or later?

I have already planted, or scattered the seeds, for what I plan to do this year. (Unless the other half has more ideas, that is.) The soil was turned, but not treated in any manner. One bed has impatiens, lots of seeds and about 2 dozen seedlings.…
user17965
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Using grass clippings for clearing the area of existing plants

I did first mowing this year, and have extra grass clippings. I would like to use the clippings to cover some areas, currently dominated by grass and weed, where I want to plant and sow some other plants this year, hoping that the clippings will…
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Should I use weed block for a tree mulch ring?

I'm considering adding mulch rings around my trees. I really don't want to spend all summer every year picking Weeds out of the mulch though. Would adding the black weed block cloth be problematic? I would assume this would negate some of the…
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Will mulch on top of exposed tree roots cause rot?

I've been planning on adding a mulch circle around my trees for a while now and have time to do it this weekend. I've been reading that you shouldn't butt the mulch directly against the tree, as the humidity can cause rot in the trunk. Looking at…
Sidney
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Red Cypress Chips and their effect on soil

I'm currently using a red cypress chip on my garden. Does anyone know what their effects would be on depleting the soil and such? I've tried Dr Google but of course all I get is advertising.
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Mulch that doesn't wash away

I have mulch from last year that seems to wash a way a lot on my slight hill. There are other homes I've seen that have a similar slope but their mulch doesn't appear to wash away. The mulch I got was the Home Depot Earthgro brown mulch which is…
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How long should dyed brown landscape mulch keep its color?

Question for you all out there. We have a grey and white house and chose to have dark chocolate brown mulch placed around it with our landscaping bushes and flowers as contrast against the house. This spring when the snow melted it is no longer…
Pods
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Mulch become soil, how many years till soil becomes too high that must be removed?

About 4 years ago, I put down 4 inch deep of wood chip mulch (cheapest kind bought at Home Depot), and then 1 inch every year after. I noticed lately, grass and weed have been growing much more than before. I suspect that the 4 inch of mulch is now…
user3108698
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what to put in center of mulch ring around trees

So I recently put down 4" of double cut down around my yard. I moved the mulch back away from the tree trunks by a few inches because I know that's bad for them. Should I put anything in that gap so the mulch doesn't fall back in? Basically it…
tjcinnamon
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Can I buy mulch in the fall and keep till next spring

Would mulch be good if I were to buy it this fall and save till next spring or would it get moldy in the bags. I was just thinking if I could get a good deal and it would keep I may do this.
Kimberly S Little
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Counteracting Black Walnut or Cedar mulch

I heavily mulched both my garden and food forest with mulch and later learned that the mulch contained Black Walnut and/or Cenar chippings. As a result, I can tell you exactly which plants are susceptible to harm from it. Is there anything that I…
Traveler
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