I started another thread on replacing soil after I removed all of the old shrubs back in the spring. I recently placed an order for different bushes and shrubbery to replace. Major sticker shock. I got over the prices of the shrubby but not the mulch.
Most folks like to use pine straw which until spring when I cut down all of the pine trees in the front yard I had all that I needed. It is unreal how much they sell it for. Any mulch that you use gets bleached by the sun. The cheapest way is to try to pick up bags on the curbside but that is a gamble. Never know what is in the bags.
The problem is that I need it now. It’s hard to accept the fact that I will need a few hundred dollars worth of mulch. 300 square feet
The price of everything is up. Try buy nitrogen fertilizer or urea. The price has quadrupled. Apparently there is a problem getting the natural gas that is needed to make the urea. The urea is used for a lot of things even as a supplement to animal feed, yuck!
It may raise already skyrocketing transportation costs as well. Urea is used in part as an additive to diesel fuel to meet emission standards. Diesel trucks don't run well without it. U.S. truckers are also finding it hard to find DEF fuel additives they need for their trucks, just adding to the supply chain woes.
I know this is a shot in the dark and may not help. But, mulch is really hard to find here. Tropical plants are not deciduous, so there are very few leaves around, unless you trim your trees and save them. I have gone to the feed store and bought a bale of straw and I have also gone to the pet store and got the bales of cedar and pine that is used for pet bedding to use as mulch. I used to use bark chips, but they are even scarcer now.
I switched to newspaper as mulch in the garden years ago. It is what is easily available to me and it is free. It keeps down the weeds at least until the plants can get established and then it breaks down. I use the bags from the potting soil I buy for weeds, but they are white on the inside for the most part, and they are thick. I cut them open and use the bag to mulch the tops of my pots where I have tomatoes, eggplant, and pepper, and other single plants to keep the weeds down in the pots and to help them retain water in summer.
If you look around you may be able to find some alternatives that might work. You may be able to find bark chips, straw, nut shells, or some other alternative that might work.
It may raise already skyrocketing transportation costs as well. Urea is used in part as an additive to diesel fuel to meet emission standards. Diesel trucks don't run well without it. U.S. truckers are also finding it hard to find DEF fuel additives they need for their trucks, just adding to the supply chain woes.
I know this is a shot in the dark and may not help. But, mulch is really hard to find here. Tropical plants are not deciduous, so there are very few leaves around, unless you trim your trees and save them. I have gone to the feed store and bought a bale of straw and I have also gone to the pet store and got the bales of cedar and pine that is used for pet bedding to use as mulch. I used to use bark chips, but they are even scarcer now.
I switched to newspaper as mulch in the garden years ago. It is what is easily available to me and it is free. It keeps down the weeds at least until the plants can get established and then it breaks down. I use the bags from the potting soil I buy for weeds, but they are white on the inside for the most part, and they are thick. I cut them open and use the bag to mulch the tops of my pots where I have tomatoes, eggplant, and pepper, and other single plants to keep the weeds down in the pots and to help them retain water in summer.
If you look around you may be able to find some alternatives that might work. You may be able to find bark chips, straw, nut shells, or some other alternative that might work.