Mulches: Part 2 - The Myths: Fillers, Cubic Yards & Scoops

When shopping for mulch, most people don't ask pointed questions about what kind of product they're buying. Shredded or double-shredded hardwood? Shredded or double-shredded bark? Treated or un-treated? With what chemicals. What else is in the mulch besides mulch?

Most Garden Centers and Nurseries carry a single line of double-shredded, hardwood mulch; that is the heartwood of trees felled locally and ground-up by chipper-shredders into chunks. Mushroom compost is added by the manufacturers to give it bulk and black color. And the mulch is then treated with herbicides, pesticides and fungicides to reduce weed growth, insect infestation and mushroom spore growth. This is done because the mulch is not composted for 2 years and the cellulose wood fibers are still present, drawing termites, earwigs and fungus into your garden. All bad things.

When purchasing mulch, most people buy by the "scoop"; a term that really means nothing but what size (cubic feet) of loader bucket the seller has on the tractor. A true cubic yard is 27 cubic feet and will cover a garden bed of 20' x 20' to a 2" depth. Most tractor loader scoops are 17-18 cubic feet and people are charged accordingly, but don't receive a true cubic yard. Then when they are quoted a true cubic yard price, they are shocked at the cost. many people continue to be shorted this way all their lives, with the sub-standard Garden Centers and Nurseries making a bundle of money and never giving the correct amount of mulch. If you've bought $18 scoops from someone, you've never received a correct cubic yard.

Buying a hardwood mulch that has been composted for less than 2 years is instant trouble;

We don't carry treated mulch of any kind. Nor should you buy any treated mulch; it contains harmful and perhaps deadly chemicals that no one should have to deal with in any garden. If someone says they treat mulch, it's because it's cheap, substandard garbage in the first place, and you should simply hang up the phone and call us for the best, premium natural mulch available anywhere.

Now into our 5th Gardening Season, we've narrowed our offerings to a single line of Premium Dark Bark Mulch, which has no real chunks of hardwood, just the outer shredded tree bark as its only ingredient. This bark will not float away during a hard rainstorm, as is regular hardwood mulch pieces prone to do, nor is it apt to cause plant yellowing and demise, since pure bark contains no more cellulose fiber after 2-plus years of composting. It is the very best choice for use on slopes and banks, where "mulch travel" is a problem. Nor is it treated with chemicals which are potentially-toxic to living things.

In the end, there are no good deals on mulch. Buy only quality, well- composted mulch and avoid the problems first time around. When chemicals get into your ground and garden from cheap mulch, it's almost impossible to get them out. Fresh-chips and hot mulch are no bargains. Remember, if the deal looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Shop around before buying mulch and ask questions. Mulches are not created quickly. Nor is plain shredded hardwood mulch just mulch.

Pay the price for good quality, double-shredded dark bark mulch; you'll never be sorry you did. And neither will your garden.

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