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Picked wood chips over bark mulch for my veggie beds this spring. Night and day difference.
Been gardening for maybe 5 years now. Always just grabbed whatever bagged mulch was on sale at the hardware store. Usually that dark red dyed bark stuff. This year I called a local tree service and they dumped a whole load of wood chips for free. I was worried it would look messy or suck up all the nitrogen. But man, the soil underneath is actually moist a week later instead of drying out by noon. Plus my wife said the chips look more natural. Has anyone else switched and noticed a big change in how often you water?
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jenny475mo ago
Did I make the exact same mistake for years? Guilty as charged. I used to think those bags of red mulch were the fancy stuff but my plants probably thought I was trying to grill them on a bed of dyed dirt. The free wood chips from the tree guys have been a total game changer for my tomatoes and peppers. How long did it take your chips to start breaking down and looking more like soil?
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avery_jackson5mo ago
You ever notice how we all have this thing where we assume something that comes in a bag with a fancy label has gotta be better than the free alternative? I mean, it took my wood chips maybe 6 or 8 months before they started looking more like dark soil, but that was only after I stopped dumping a fresh layer on top every spring. It's like we're trained to think paying money means better quality, but half the time the free stuff just needs time to do its thing. My tomatoes sure didn't care about the price tag on the mulch, they just wanted something that didn't feel like a chemical bath.
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