What do you use for mulch?

bpiela

bpiela

Hello all,
 
I have never mulched my garden before.  On my glog, a member recommended that I mulch so I went out and picked up the cheapest mulch from my local nursery.  My local guy recommended that it didn't really matter what I use for mulch so I purchased some natural uncolored Cedar mulch and placed it all around the garden.  It has been on the ground for less than a week.  The plants look fine, no negative changes.  The reason why I mention this is that today I visited a large pepper nursery (ChilePlants.com in Stockton, NJ) and I mentioned to the master gardener there that I was mulching with Cedar mulch and she kinda winced.  She wasn't sure it was the best mulch for peppers.  She recommended that I use Straw.
 
So, I was hoping the forum could enlighten me as to what you folks use for mulch and if you think the Cedar mulch should be replaced.
 
Thanks very much!  You folks are the best!
 
I have been using what my city claims to be free "compost". It is basically just chipped trees mixed with a small amount of soil. Looking at it, there was little to no real compost action happening, so I sift out the big stuff and use it to top mulch, and I use the finer stuff in my real compost barrel.
 
I use chipped branches - from invasive alien plant eradication programmes - mostly Australian Acacia (Acacia saligna and A. cyclops) as well as Australian myrtle (Leptospermum laevigatum).  Basically they cut the down at almost ground level, any wood thicker than about 7cm diameter is removed for firewood, the thner stuff is left in big piles to dry out a bit and then they bring a huge chipper in and reduce the brushpile to a heap of chippings.  These are then left to naturally decompose.  I collect it when the finer stuff has turned into a leaf mould of sorts but the larger twigs are still intact but some are decomposing through dry rot.
 
This stuff has been my go-to for years - it is a brilliant soil conditioner - I have plinthic lithosols on my property and through sifting the larger rock out and adding a good layer of chippings I have produced a fantastic soil with good organic content and full of critters.
 
Straw, bark and "fresh" wood chips (not somewhat decomposed) I would avoid because of the massive nitrogen deficit it causes in soil - the decomposers take nitrogen out of your soil in order to decompose these highh carbon low nitrogen food source.  In order to ensure that the same is not happening with my mulch I always sprinkle LAN (limestone ammonium nitrate) over it - just to make sure the critters have a good nitrogen source.
 
I'm using small sized, organic pine bark from the past season.
Although is not going to provide the same benefits of RCW is working good and the soil underneath feels always soft and rich.
 
Cya
 
Datil
 
Grass clippings, fresh. They spread easier fresh to make a mat and they dry out quickly. The only issue is I only use it a few weeks after I fertilize, or not at all after I apply a broad leaf killer like 2,4d. I tried salt marsh hay and it didn't make an intertwined mat at all. It was a waste of money compared to the free grass clippings.
 
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