pull it out by hand or with a rake and just mulch over whats left. nugget muclh has to be replaced most every year anyway, it degrades and disappears. i had 5 inches of mulch in my beds last summer, right now there is less than 3 and in many areas none. what is left is broken into small peices. a blower would probably blow much of the mulch out as well.

Compost, no matter what the inputs are, most often ends up with a neutral pH when finished. I have not found, on the occassions I have tested my compost with a reliable pH meter, that my compost even with the large quantities of Oak leaves and Pine needles tested, when finished at anything other than 7.0.

I don't know how peat moss came to have a reputation as something you'd want in your garden. Not only is it a water-sucking dryness factory, it also has so much tanin (tannin?) in it that the Vikings used it to preserve fish on their long voyages, & a number of strikingly preserved human bodies have been recovered from Irish bogs (google bog bodies). Some of the bodies, 800 or so years old, are so well-preserved that you can see the pores in the skin. Preservatives *stop* organic action; doesn't sound like anything I would want in my garden or soil. I live in what must be the alkaline soil capitol of the world, north central Texas, & it's a lost cause to try to change the Ph of the soil on any kind of long-lasting basis, because... the water is alkaline. Every time we water, we're raising the Ph. I once read an article on how to grow azaleas in the Dallas area in a Highland Park Garden Club magazine from the 1940's. The technique involved digging a 6' deep flower bed & putting layers of straw, manure, soil, then a little sulphur, etc. & the last sentence said that this was for a 20-year bed; at the end of 20 years, you have to dig it all out & start over! My experience with pine needles in my pla-doh-like alkaline clay soil is that the needles do decompose, & they improve the tilth of the soil. I generally ignore the ph, since there's not anything I can do about it anyway, short of moving to Tyler. Some plants are "ph adaptable"; even if they're advertised as acid or alkaline loving plants, they can adjust. If your plants need a more acidic soil, maybe you can just apply some rose or azalea food. I'd use the autumn leaves/pine needles mixture as a mulch & let nature take its course. They'll eventually all rot together. but if you want to use your composter, go ahead & toss them all in there; Not every material decomposes at the same rate, but, again, they'll eventually all rot together. When you harvest your finished compost, if there are identifiable pine needles remaining in the tumbler, just toss them back in, just as you would any other material that you can still identify. There used to be a poster on this forum who composted a thick city phone book! but she had to pitch it back in the compost pile a few times. Have fun! Here is a link that might be useful: Peat Moss as a Food Preservative

Thanks for the input! In the past we always ordered the shredded bark mulch, 25 yards or more, in early May. That was really a labor intensive job. This year, being that we waited so long to apply the mulch; the gardens are filling in with ground cover, the Shrubs are larger, the Perenials are larger, at last...the plants are taking over. I remember my Grandma telling me "First year they sleep, second year they creep, third year they leap!" If it is easier (less work) to spread the pine straw then I am all for it. We will be grinding it all up again in the Late Fall, Early Winter with the leaves from 14 large Oak trees...and reapply as winter mulch to enrich the soil. I think we are "Crazy" To work so hard!.........But it seems to be paying off!...........Dianne