Rough mulch vs fine mulch

[Wolf-Kim]

We would like to mulch our vegetable garden for the first time this year to discourage weed growth that may lead to handweeding. ( )

What is better? Fine/screened mulch or just rough cut?

I'm personally thinking that fine mulch composts faster, where the larger particles in the rough cut mulch would take longer to break down. I just figured that I would ask first. LOL

 

[patandchickens]

Fine mulch will give you marginally better weed suppression, IME, but coarse mulch lasts better, be it aboveground or as an eventual soil amendment.

If it is *super* coarse, like what you sometimes (not always) get from a tree-trimming company, it can be a nuisance if you are going to till it in before next year (and if you aren't, it can start looking like you've got sticks and logs all over the ground, lol)... but that is not likely to be an issue with anything commercially labelled as 'mulch'.

JMHO, good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[vfem]

I like the thicker stuff as it looks so pretty in the front beds. (And I buy about 2 yards which is only $50 to do the whole property) This year their mulch (the landscape supply place nearby) had some great thicker chunk mulch with the finer mulch mixed in and called it a medium grade. Maybe something like that is available near you?

Buying truck loads in bulk is MUCH MUCH MUCH cheaper then the bagged stuff. Some places also deliver by the yard purchases. I usually pay about $20-$30 a yard.

 

[Greenthumb18]

!! I bought some really nice mulch for my garden, i'll post pictures of it maybe tomorrow. It really goes well with the green of the plants. I would go with the coarse mulch it will last longer than fine mulch.

 

[boggybranch]

The idea of mulch is, first, to suppress weeds and retain moisture. The course mulch, I believe, is better because it does all this, plus, it doesn't mat like fine mulch...which allows the soil to "breath" better.

 

[obsessed]

Never thought of buying mulch my the yard.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

It will be purchased by the pickup truck load. Both the fine mulch and the coarse is $10 a load.

I was just trying to see what the pros and cons of each are before deciding which. We did course last year for the flower beds, since it was cheaper last year. But, some of the pieces are so thick that running the tiller through there would be aweful. So I thought that maybe the fine mulch would break down more thoroughly over the year and most could be tilled into the soil next year. Hopefully the fine mulch won't break down too quickly and cause us to purchase another load this year. Not like it's terribly expensive for the size vegetable garden we have.

The main purpose of the mulch in the vegetable garden is to prevent weeds first and foremost. Soil improvement is the second priority.

Thanks everyone.

 

[vfem]

I rake mine up in the winter and add it to the compost. Then I cover in straw for the winter and turn that in in the spring.

Its a lot of work, but I don't do that to my perennial beds, which I just add more mulch in the spring to match.

Just ideas!

 

[Catalina]

I use grass clippings in my raised beds as mulch and wood chips in between the beds.
I don't like to use wood chips in the beds, because they use up a lot of nitrogen when they start to break down. The grass clippings look nice, keep the weeds down and are a good fertilizer.