Any kind of organic material that's not visually offensive and of an acceptable size/texture can be used as mulch. I quit buying mulch many years ago, and instead put leaves, yard trimmings, pine needles, coffee grounds, grass from mower bag, whatever presents itself, when it presents itself. Green grass turns brown and mulch-y looking in a couple days, and the mixture of materials provides a wider range of nutrients for plants and the microbes that decompose materials into a form plants can use. More frequent additions of fresh materials keep the soil food chain alive. Here is a link that might be useful: Brief but extemely informative lecture about soil microbiology

You can avoid this step(sifting) with pit composting. You dig a pit, maybe 5 feet diameter by 18 inches deep. Fill the pit with material to be composted. When the pit is full, keep adding material until you have a heap, maybe 5 feet high. Now, leave the pile to sit over the winter months, and in the spring, around May 1, fork the "cap" to the side, and there will be finished compost in the pit. When the pit is empty, fork the cap down into the pit, and begin building a new pile on top. The material in the pit will sit there, undisturbed, until the following spring. This method works well if the pile contains some brush, and sunflower stalks, or similar, to help maintain air circulation. Once in a while, there might be a small stick or a chunk of something in the finished compost, but these are few and far between, so they can be picked out by hand. There is no sifting involved. As you can see, I only remove compost from the pile once a year, in the spring.

LOVED this thread, if it wasn'tfor the fact my parents are dead, I wold have thought it was them writing it, my mum used to put all types of "waste" into stock and I do the same, I hate reading receipy that call on you to use the "good stuff", then discard it such as a lot of stock/soup receipy have! I am in family of 4 and we rarely buy the cooked chilcken in store, but we do buy raw, Sunday roasted, I remove the legs as none of us like them, giblets on to boil with carrot and onion peel (sometimes I save the livers by freezing until I have enough for pate) after it is cooked me take the fleshy part and give to our cats. I use the gilbet juice and chicken juice to make gravy. whilst the chicken is cooking I put on my slow cooker and toss in the chicken legs, with storks of brocoli, carrot & onion peel outer leaves from cauli or cabbage. after the meal chicken striped and bones added to slow cooker. Sunday tea is chicken sandwiches, toms and chips. monday is Monday pie! this is not really a pie it just the chicken in white sauce and left over veg. also sandwiches for hubby tuesday is another roast this time just sliced meat reheated in gravey in the oven (stove) VEG GALORE! MORE SANDWICHES FOR HUBBY! Wednesday, maybe enough for sandwiches, but the soup phase arrives! from the freezer! IT IS SO EASY! I am not as you can tell vegaterian, and never will be, but I can not tell you how much it annoys me to waste meat! so I am frugal with it and I let my children know! I cried the day they opened the fridge just as we where going out last summer as meat was ruined, it wasn't the cost, it was the fact, that I try to get them to understand, an animal died so you can eat don't waste it, don't increas the numbers! I worked on farms and have seen slaughter, I have killed a chicken and a rabbit, not put me off eating them but made me look very hard at my useage of them. My boys are 4 ane my hubby get upset when they ask whats this and I say "its a pig/chicken/cow/lamb" ect but honesty is the best policy I think and if they want to be vegaterian I will support them whole heartedly, but I personal like meat, but will never waste it if I can help it.

That depends on 1) what's available, 2) what you can afford, 3) the look you are going for, and maybe 4) the type of plants you are using the mulch around. I would try to use organic mulch when possible. That way the mulch will build your soil as it decomposes. Most of the time, I use shredded hardwood mulch. It's not always the best choice in some aspects, but it is readily available and much less expensive than some of the alternatives. It also holds together well (prevents wind and erosion issues) and gives a good finished look. Pine bark has many advantages (lasts long, repels insect, doesn't rob surface nitrogen, and looks great), but also some drawbacks (expense, isn't always available in large quantities, can be displaced by wind or water). If you use pine bark nuggets, use the smaller variety unless you have a really large bed and large plants. I think the big nuggets look bad in small beds. I love pine needle mulch, but, since Ed McMahon never came to visit me with a check before he died, I can't afford enough of it to cover my beds. I've used pea gravel in some beds. It looks really nice if well maintained. The two big issues with pea gravel is heat buildup in sunny locations and dirt/debris getting into the crevices. I spend a few minutes every week cleaning out my relatively small amount of pea graveled beds. It's been worth it, I guess, but I don't think I would use it if I had to do it over again. The one thing you should never use is white rocks. Why do people like this look? I have never understood it! I think a slab of concrete or blacktop would be more attractive.