15 Different Types of Garden Mulches & Where to Use Them

Mulching is an integral part of gardening. Mulch is any material applied to cover the ground in order to provide a service, either functional or decorative. Mulches are most commonly used to prevent weeds, retain soil moisture, or simply cover bare soil for decorative purposes.

• Bio-Degradable: Yes
• Durability: 1-3 Years
• Decorative Value: Yes
• Cost: Mid-Range

Shredded hardwood mulch is readily available in large bags at garden centers and hardware stores. It is biodegradable and will need to be refreshed every few years. Hardwood mulch is attractive and versatile, has an appealing earthy smell, and makes a good decorative mulch for a variety of garden projects.

Hardwood mulch can be made of many different types of wood, including cedar.

This type of mulch is a great option for a perennial flower garden or around the base of shrubs. Spread it around your plants to help retain soil moisture and reduce weed emergence.

You can also use it to cover and protect perennial plants’ roots in the winter, but be sure to reduce the thickness in early spring so as not to smother newly emerging plant growth. For mulching around your plants, use a layer at least 2 to 4 inches thick.

Dyed Wood Mulch

• Bio-Degradable: Yes
• Durability: 2-3 Years
• Decorative Value: Yes
• Cost: Mid-Range

If you’re looking for a mulch with some bold color, you can try dyed wood mulch. Colored mulch is often made from recycled hardwood materials that have been dyed black, red, or brown, for a bold and uniformly-colored look.

Dyed mulch generally breaks down slower than natural wood mulches, but the colors also fade over time and become much less vibrant. 

Because of the unknown origins of the woods used and the fact that dyes have been used, dyed wood mulch might not be the best choice for use around your edible garden plants.

Dyed mulches may not be of much use for enriching the soil either because they have been chemically treated. Dyed mulches would still work fine for decorative purposes. Use colored mulch to create walkways or pathways, or along borders where you don’t intend to grow any plants.

Pine Bark Nuggets

• Bio-Degradable: Yes
• Durability: 2-3 Years
• Decorative Value: Yes
• Cost: Mid-Range

Pine bark nuggets generally come in two or three sizes: small, medium, or large nuggets. Pine bark generally lasts a bit longer than hardwood mulch.

This mulch is typically in the form of lightweight, flat chunks which can blow around in strong winds and will get washed away by any flowing water. Pine bark will not lower soil pH, so don’t plan for that when using this type of mulch.

Pine bark mulch is very useful for helping retain soil moisture. Unless you apply a very thick layer, weeds will still poke through and will have to be pulled.

Pine bark works well as a decorative mulch, however. Use pine bark mulch around annual and perennial flowers to reduce your watering needs. Use it around shrubs and trees for a decorative look. You can also use a thicker layer for creating attractive, weed-free pathways.

Wood Chips (Fresh)

• Bio-Degradable: Yes
• Durability: 1-2 Years
• Decorative Value: Somewhat
• Cost: Free to Low Cost

Many tree removal companies will happily leave you with a truckload of fresh wood chips from a recent job. If you or a neighbor have trees cut and chipped, ask for the wood chips if you want some free mulch.

You won’t necessarily know what species of trees are in your wood chip mulch, but it will be fresh and will most likely contain a variety of species, and will include all parts of a tree: wood, bark, and leaves. A truckload may also be more than you can use, unless you have a very large mulch project!

Fresh wood chips can easily be incorporated into a landscape. Fresh wood chips may not be best for using around annuals or garden vegetables but they have plenty of other purposes.

Use fresh wood chips for pathways or walkways through your garden, or spread them around the base of trees to help suppress weeds. Fresh wood chips will settle and break down fairly quickly but should last for up to two years.

Leaf Mulch

• Bio-Degradable: Yes
• Durability: 1year or less
• Decorative Value: No
• Cost: Free

If you rake or mow leaves each fall, you can make your own leaf mulch. Some towns and municipalities may also offer free leaf mulch to their residents. Leaf mulch is best when made with shredded leaves that have been slightly aged.

Shredded leaves make an excellent mulch and will help enrich the soil, attract earthworms, prevent weeds from sprouting, and help keep the soil moist. 

Leaf mulch has a rich earthy smell. It may not be particularly decorative, but it does have many useful applications. You can put it in your vegetable garden between crops as a soil additive. You can use it around annuals, perennials, shrubs, and trees.

It can also be used as a natural pathway substrate to delineate your path and help keep weeds away. Leaf mulch breaks down quickly so would need to be refreshed annually.

Grass Clippings

• Bio-Degradable: Yes
• Durability: 1 year or less
• Decorative Value: No
• Cost: Free to Low Cost

If you mow your lawn and gather your grass clippings, you may have wondered if you can use these for mulch. The answer is yes. Grass clippings can be used as mulch, but are not good for every situation.

Grass clippings are small and will form a dense mat, even if used in a thin layer. A dense mat of grass clippings can smother plants underneath and also prevent water from penetrating into the soil. Also, if your lawn has been recently treated with chemical herbicides, you probably shouldn’t put those grass clippings around your garden plants.

Grass clippings can be added to a compost pile and, once composted, would make an excellent mulch. Fresh grass clippings can be used around pathways, borders, or edges where you want to prevent other plants from growing.

A thin layer of grass clippings can be used as mulch around trees and shrubs to help prevent weeds and to help retain soil moisture.

Compost

• Bio-Degradable: Yes
• Durability: 1 Year or Less
• Decorative Value: Yes
• Cost: Free to High Cost

Making your own compost from kitchen scraps is very economical and generates excellent compost for your garden. You can also buy bagged compost, but the cost of this can be quite high. 

Compost is an excellent source of nutrients for enriching soil, and is quite versatile in the garden. Be aware, however, that your homemade compost probably contains many seeds from your kitchen scraps so you will be introducing garden veggie volunteers wherever you use it.

Add compost around garden vegetables to help retain soil moisture and enrich the soil. Add compost to a flower garden or herb garden for an extra boost of organic fertilizer.

You can also add compost around fruit trees for extra nutrients and soil enrichment. Compost itself is generally not very attractive so you can add a layer of pine bark or shredded hardwood mulch over the compost for a more decorative look.

Pine Straw

• Bio-Degradable: Yes
• Durability: 1-2 Years
• Decorative Value: Yes
• Cost: Low

Pine straw is sold in bales and can be found at many landscaping centers and larger garden stores. If you live in an area with many pine trees, you will probably have more free pine straw than you know what to do with. Pine straw is a popular and inexpensive landscaping mulch commonly used around decorative plantings. 

Pine straw is lightweight and porous, so will allow plenty of water to get through. It won’t prevent weeds from sprouting through, but not much likes to grow in a dense layer of pine needles.

Pine straw is a great choice for putting around trees and shrubs. It is also an excellent option for winter mulching to help protect and insulate plants from cold weather.

Wheat Straw

• Bio-Degradable: Yes
• Durability: 1 Year or Less
• Decorative Value: No
• Cost: Low

Wheat straw is most commonly sold in the autumn, alongside Halloween decorations and garden mums. You can find it at other times of the year as well because it is often used as a light mulch when planting new grass seed.

Wheat straw is sold in bales and is fairly inexpensive, especially considering how much you get in a bale. One bale of wheat straw goes a long way in the garden and has many uses. Straw breaks down quickly, however, and will need to be replenished every year. 

Use wheat straw to mulch around garden plants vegetables, flowers, strawberries, and blueberries. Use straw around your squash, pumpkin, and watermelon vines. Or use straw around shrubs.

Wheat straw is excellent for helping with moisture retention. It helps prevent weeds and adds nutrients to the soil. You can also use a thick layer of straw to create garden pathways. Just be aware that if the straw has mature seedheads mixed in, you will likely be growing a few wheat plants wherever you mulch.

Cardboard

• Bio-Degradable: Yes
• Durability: 1-2 Years
• Decorative Value: No
• Cost: Free

If you have extra corrugated cardboard boxes lying around, they can be used as a weed barrier mulch in a garden setting. Break down boxes so they are flat and lay them around trees or under pumpkin and watermelon vines to prevent weeds. Or use them as a weed-blocking base layer in pathways. 

Cardboard boxes are not attractive and will blow around in the wind, so you will need to cover them with another type of mulch.

Another thing to be aware of when using cardboard is that it will prevent weeds from growing but doesn’t always allow water to penetrate, so don’t use cardboard too close to your tender garden plants.

An under-layer of cardboard with a top layer of wood mulch is also useful for killing areas of grass and weeds that you may later want to cultivate. 

Newspaper

• Bio-Degradable: Yes
• Durability: 1 Year or Less
• Decorative Value: No
• Cost: Free

If you buy the newspaper, you may be happy to know that you can recycle it in your garden. Newspaper breaks down fairly quickly but provides an excellent seasonal weed-blocking layer. Top it with another mulch to help keep it in place and you can use it just about anywhere in your garden. 

You can apply a layer of newspaper around garden vegetables or under vines. You can use it around shrubs and trees. A thick layer of newspaper can also be used to prevent weed growth in garden pathways. Cover it with a layer of more decorative mulch to hide it and keep it from blowing away. 

Gravel

• Bio-Degradable: No
• Durability: Long Term
• Decorative Value: Yes
• Cost: High

There are many varieties of gravel that you can use for mulching in your home landscape. You can buy tiny pea-sized gravel or more decorative river rocks and lightweight chunks of pumice stone. All varieties of gravel and small stones can serve as a mulch in the right setting. 

Gravel is of course very long-lasting, so use it in an area that you do not want to cultivate regularly. It will help retain soil moisture but isn’t very useful for preventing weed growth as weeds will readily germinate anywhere there is bare soil showing through.

Gravel makes an excellent and attractive mulch in a rock garden, emphasizing the dry landscape. Use gravel and small stones as a decorative mulch anywhere you want a low-maintenance contrast to your greenery.

Recycled Rubber Mulch

• Bio-Degradable: No
• Durability: Long Term
• Decorative Value: Yes
• Cost: High

If you have ever seen bags of shredded rubber mulch, you may have wondered, ”What, exactly, is that, and what does one do with it?” 

Shredded rubber mulch is made primarily from recycled car tires. It seems that turning old rubber tires into mulch is a great way to recycle these materials, but think carefully before adding this to your landscape.

Rubber mulch does not break down and will never decompose to enrich your soil. It will help retain soil moisture and can play a role in preventing weed growth.

But if you want to add rubber mulch to your yard, use it in an area with a well-defined boundary where you will always want it to stay, such as permanent walkways. The good thing about recycled rubber mulch is that you will never have to refresh it because it will be there for the long haul!

Landscape Plastic

• Bio-Degradable: No
• Durability: Long Term
• Decorative Value: No
• Cost: High

Landscaping plastic comes in long rolled sheets. Landscaping plastic is generally black and sometimes perforated with tiny holes to allow some airflow and water penetration.

Plastic sheeting is an excellent material to block weeds and kill areas of weeds and grass for future cultivation projects. Thicker plastics have other uses as well, such as a moisture barrier for under a house, or even as a pond liner.

Thin plastic sheeting helps keep the soil warm and can be used around seasonal crops or strawberries. It will definitely prevent weed growth but won’t enrich your soil in any way.

Plastic mulch also can make watering a challenge, so you must be very careful to be sure your plants get enough water. Just remember that whatever plastic you use will eventually become ripped and punctured and will ultimately become plastic waste material. 

Landscaping Fabric

• Bio-Degradable: No
• Durability: Long Term
• Decorative Value: No
• Cost: High

While not differing much from plastic sheeting, landscape fabric tends to have greater water and air permeability. Landscaping fabric is generally black and comes as a long roll.

It effectively blocks weed growth but allows some water to reach the plant roots. It will not help enrich your soil in any way and generally does not look very attractive. 

Landscaping fabric can be used around garden plants, trees, and shrubs and lasts a long time. It can be especially useful as a base layer under a pathway to help prevent weed growth. Just keep in mind that, like plastic sheeting, when landscaping fabric wears out and gets ripped, it becomes plastic waste and will need to be discarded.