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Carolina Gardening

Mulch question

16 years ago

What places do you folks deal with when yuou need fresh mulch. I've been buying cedar mulch from HD, but that place is too high. I talked to Ogburn's and Stephenson's and they're about the same price. Got to have it delivered too. Any ideas, folks?

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Comments (8)

zigzag
16 years ago
Try Mulch Masters ...... www.themulchmasters.com ... or just google mulch masters raleigh. They're on Durant and deal in lots of differing mulch types and more, pick up and delivery. I live nearby and find myself constantly in line at a light behind a MM truck, so they're definitely on the road in force!

Their rotted leaf stuff is tops. My yard was initially done professionally and mountains of the rlm was tilled in to amend the soil. Every spring my 'garden elves' re-mulch with the same and my yards have thrived (I prefer to let them do the heavy lifting!). Compared to the bagged stuff some of my neighbors use, the rlm has staying power thru the seasons and makes for super rich soil as it breaks down.

Ok, commercial over :o) ...... no, I don't work for them! Just the humble opinion of a satisfied customer/user!
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karen__w z7 NC
16 years ago
This doesn't answer your question because it has to be picked up, but does anyone know whether Durham is doing their usual Mulch Madness free compost giveaway this spring? Did I miss it? I just found out that I missed the Duke Forestry pick up days and would hate to lose out on them both.
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True comments. I bought some cheap compost that looks like dirt, because I wanted to use it on the top of my soil where I am working on a lasagna gardening terraforming project (it's not intended to be the top most layer eventually, but it is for now, so I just wanted it to help hold moisture). But because it was mostly dirt-like, it isn't really holding the moisture I expected, even though it is advertised and sold as compost, and I had expected "compost" to do this. So lesson learned but at the same time, it just means pick and choose a particular compost if you want it to act as a moisture-holding mulch.
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I'm afraid I might be a bit more confused now than I was before. Lazygardens, that idea sounds wonderful and very easy. This project was started in the spring and my husband has weedwhacked the area several times already when he thought I'd have time to follow up with my newspaper/mulching but then didn't. I've also gone out and dug the roots and weeds up a couple times, but none were so bad as it is now, and the job was a touch easier then. Floral-- yes definitely oxalis, and there some w reddish leaves too that I assume is a different variety of oxalis because it's the same size and shape and it's roots really hold on like the green one. Out lawn is full of it too, along w like 10 other kinds of weeds (we had a lawn company come out for a report and estimate, sheesh--nothing we're going to be able to afford for quite some time so I'm going to work on it myself but that's for another post). As for turning it all over, we did that too. In spring my husband removed 6 40-year-old yews that left gaping holes and the area was full of large roots and rocks so we turned it all over best we could to get out the biggest stuff, then I leveled it out. I even sprayed it all w vinegar before posting for help here and then felt like an idiot when I learned I killed all those "valuable nutrients". Well I didn't have to fret because they came back, about 3 weeks later. Then I watched a video recommended by someone here on another post, that made me question how much turning over I want to do. I have to admit, when I first started this I spring there were a lot of earthworms out there and now I barely see any. Maybe that's because I'm not digging down far anymore but I didn't used to have to-- hope I didn't kill em all off w the vinegar or too much turning over. Anyway now I'm trying to avoid stupid mistakes by asking here first but it seems like there are conflicting ideas so I don't know what to do. The area may be small compared to most but it wraps around the house on the other side and over that way there's a good bit of lawn I'm pulling up first still to enlarge the bed and the truth is, whether it's small compared to most or not, it's more than I have time for. The luxury of spending even a few hours out there all at one time isn't something I have often with the little ones around. The other day when I posted was the first day I was able to stay out there that long in almost 2 months! So what I'm beginning to think is, maybe those nutrients aren't important enough to warrant chancing all these weeds coming back. The soil must be good enough if it keeps growing them back so fast right? And as another poster commented when I was beating myself up for the stupid vinegar mistake, good enough to grow 40-year-old yews? Perhaps removing the weeds and tossing them will suffice. After all I'm still laying down a little lime and the bagged compost/eggshells/coffee grinds. Sigh.
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nope I'm going to say that they'll probably be ok because they are well established. I have a friend who told me to plant them one foot deeper than they were in the pot, and since I did that, I never mulch mine anymore. zone 5 Indiana. I've lost like two in the last 3 years. That being said, I have one basjoo I planted over the top of the septic tank where the soil is real shallow and for years I've said I'm going to move it because it only grows like two feet tall every year but it has around 15 pups that come up each year. I didn't plant it deep, at ground level and quit mulching it 3-4 years ago and it's been fine. So stop likeing them and then they do ok every year...lol...
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I have a bunch of this "desert gold" granite, 1/8-3/8" in the pic below. I'd be happy to fill a flat-rate box with it for a few bucks plus postage. I use it in my gritty mix but it makes a good top dressing too. Where are you located? Typically you'll find this kind of stuff at a landscape supply or construction supply company.
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jimtnc
Original Author
16 years ago
Funny thing. I called around to several mulch suppliers and got prices, etc. Well, I got to doing some figuring, and the mulch I want (I use cedar for several reasons) cost just a little more if I buy it bulk from one of these guys than if I buy the bags from HD/Lowes. Of course, the overall bulk charge includes $30 delivery which I don't incur when I pick it up at HD. So, really not much in the way of savings at all by buying bulk.

Additionally, I don't have to find anywhere to store the bulk 2-3 yards if I buy bags, but I have to distribute and mess with the bags...which isn't THAT big a deal. And, I don't have to buy it all at one time (can't haul that much anyway).

So, unless someone can come up with with something I've missed, I think I'll but 2cuft bags.
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mrsig
16 years ago
I've found the same...it's a wash economically between the bags at the big box stores and buying in bulk. Personally, I think the bags are easier to manuever/get-around and you can easily save any leftover bags you have and use it later as good as new. The only downside is the waste of all the plastic.
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gbirds
16 years ago
I've had the same experience with compost. Had a truckload of compost delivered last year and figured out that with the delivery charge, the bulk cost was actually a bit more than buying bags. It's a matter of cost versus convenience in this case, where the convenience of bulk and delivery costs more. In my case, there's no way I could've fit 8 cubic yards of compost in the Kia! Probably won't be needing such large quantities again, so from now on I'm just buying bags.
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dawgie
16 years ago
Bradsher's off Gresham's Lake Road in N. Raleigh has various mulches, rock and soil comparable to Mulch Masters and their prices are less. I don't know what they charge for deliver, however, since I've got a pickup truck.

Also, the City of Raleigh yardwaste landfill has leaf mulch, compost and bark mulch for very good prices but they don't deliver. They are having a 2-for-1 sale on mulch during the month of April.
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bluesgarden
16 years ago
Be careful buying mulch at from landfills. They are mixed with all sorts of things you may not want in your yard. I once got mulch from the local landfill.It was suppose to be pine bark mulch, I had to remove all sorts of debris as i spread it. That fall I was growing large and stinky fungus. I say get the bags of mulch and know what you are getting. Happy spring
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lsst
16 years ago
I agree with bluesgarden.
One time, We tried the mulch from our landfill.
It was full of trash such as cigarette wrappers as well as weed seeds. Ours also grew a weird fungus.
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