What's your favorite organic mulch?

[IEatMyYard]

I'm planning on scrapping my usual black plastic mulch for something that may actually eventually amend the soil. What do you like to use for a mulch?

[rainbowgardener]

grind up the brush cuttings to wood chips; grass clippings if I have any, fall leaves, straw...

[garudamon11]

Excuse my lack of knowledge, what is mulch? And what is it useful for?

[rainbowgardener]

Mulch is stuff, usually organic, that you put down in a layer to cover your ground. It suppresses weed growth, helps keep moisture in the soil, and (except in the case of plastic and rock), eventually breaks down to feed the soil. Mulching with organics is an important part of organic gardening.

[IEatMyYard]

Here's my issue:

1. My lawn service uses "mulching" mowers; there are no collected grass clippings.
2. Trees here seldom go dormant and drop leaves. My trees are green pretty much all year.
3. I don't have many trees on my property to begin with.

I wish such was not the case. When I lived up North, I would have had more than I'd known what to do with. I've considering pine needles. There are some pines not far from my property. Would those work? Would they screw with the pH? I noticed that weeds seldom grow below pine trees.

[farmerlon]

Yes, Pine Needles are a great organic mulch. You will find some conflicting information as to whether they will tend to have an Acidic effect on your soil; but the majority opinion seems to be that Pine Needles will usually make the soil more acidic in time.
That's usually no big deal though; as you can add Lime or Wood Ash to "correct" the pH if needed.

[CharlieBear]

Don't worry about pine needles lowering ph unless you deposit a tonne of them per 1/4 acre for 15 years or more.
Compost is a good mulch as well. Ground up coconut shells (coir), Sea weed as long as you rinse off the salt clinging to it.
As for the pine needles be sure you aren't trespassing.

[PunkRotten]

Try contacting a tree removal business and ask for their wood chips. I found a company giving away wood chips on craigslist, but so far I have not gotten any from them. They tell me to call every few days cause it goes really fast. I am hoping monday I can get some.

[rainbowgardener]

If you have any trees / shrubbery on your lot, invest in a wood chipper. You can get electric models or 2.5 hp gas models cheap used...These are the smaller ones that won't grind up big branches, just stuff up to 1 to 1.5" diameter. I see them on craigslist all the time for $200 or less. It is a one time cost. My lot keeps me supplied with all the wood chips I could want just by grinding up all the shrub and tree trimmings. It pays for itself many times over compared to buying bags of wood chip/bark mulch.

[lorax]

I get coarse saw-leavings from my local mill (they give it to me in large sacks); this ends up mostly being tropical red cedar and cinnamon, which suppress both weeds and insects. Lucky me!

[Gary350]

Peat moss works great and it is not much work.

Anything you can make smaller with your land mower works great too, grass, brush, etc.

Manure works good to.

Where I live the city has trucks that drive around town and put up all the trees people have cut down, tree limbs from storm damage, bushes, brush, tree leaves, grass clipping along the city street. They take it to a recycle center and grind it all into very tiny pieces. They turn it into mulch for anyone to come and get free. I am going to get about 10 trailer loads and pile it all in one corner of the garden for about 3 years. After about 3 years it should be ready to till into the garden.

[Tilde]

I have the same issue with my lawn service - but I employ them only to cut, I do organic fertilizing and manage the bushes myself.

In this bit of Florida there are places you can buy mulch from lawn services delivered, though there is no guarantee there aren't pesticide residues on them. Some counties also (show proof of residency) that mulch will let you haul away your own.

I'm a bit further south than you - trees do actually drop their leaves eventually. I just keep my eyes open and collect them a bit at a time.

Other alternatives might include a natural pet bedding or simply ripped up newspapers.