Playground mulch is actually designed to standards that have mostly to do with impact (and liability to those who specify it). The knock on cedar mulch, as I remember it, is that it is very fibery and can give you little tiny splinters if you contact it a lot (refering to western red cedar). Pine mulch is a widely varying thing as there is no standard, there are lots of species of pine, and then there is the whole thing between recycled wood, wood chips, and actual bark (won't even go into dye).... and in the south they use pine needles as mulch (usually called pine straw). Pine mulch can mean a lot of different things. My mulch of choice is finely ground pine BARK. The problem is that it is more often than not "cut" with other crap (recycled wood or wood chips) these days and you wind up with a bunck of wood chips on top after about a month to the weather.

I've read a lot on the topic of mulching and, over the years, I've tried just about everything. I've tried no mulch, black plastic mulch, landscape fabric, paper mulch, wood chips, compost, chopped leaves, and hay. Here's my observations over the years on the subject. 1.) Any mulch is better than no mulch: Yes, you should mulch. It helps keep moisture levels more consistent which helps reduce occurrence of BER and other plant stress symptoms. Any mulch should slow the release of moisture through evaporation. 2.) The type of mulch you use depends on your style of gardening. I prefer to stay organic and to make use of materials available to me so I use hay I get from a farmer friend in NJ and chopped leaves put out to the curb by neighbors in the fall. The benefit to organic mulches is you can either go no-till and just layer every year (what I'm trying again this year) or you can leave the mulch in place and till into the soil in the fall. 3.) A good mulch can save you a lot of time and headaches. Any mulch should suppress weeds and soil borne diseases which should allow you to spend more time harvesting, and less time spraying and weeding. Using a good mulch will help keep weeds down (if you're busy like myself, this is a must) and should minimize soil splashing onto the leaves of your plants, which will reduce the occurrence of certain foliage diseases. 4.) Mulch can feed your plants; These are called "feeding mulches" appropriately enough. The idea is that these mulches break down over the course of the season and release nutrients to the plants. The benefit is obvious here, but if you want a more controlled release of nutrients or do not want to do organic gardening, you may be best with plastic or landscape fabric. I personally have switched to no-till organic mulching throughout the year - based on the results I've seen from a small experimental bed. With a little asking around I've been able to find good mulch material in the quantities I need every year and generally for free. As mentioned above, grass clippings, if layered in finer layers will do a good job of blocking weeds and won't stop the penetration of rainwater, etc. Just make sure the depth of your mulch is sufficient to both slow water loss and block weeds. Moral of the story, use what you have available that works best for you (money-wise, time-wise, etc.), but just use something. Naked soil is a big no-no.

Ann I'll add my 2 cents worth... I'd say, forget about the mulch when you are planting. Plant all your plants at the ideal level, so that the potted plant soil-level is even with the ground level. Once that's done, add your mulch. Remember mulch is not soil or compost. So it can grow around the plant. SInce it breaths, it won't interfear with the plant as long as you don't cover the leaves. WHere as with soil or compost, it would cause a problem around the stem. Lastly, sounds like you will have a lot of work ahead of you to keep weeds back. I would recomend covering your beds with newspaper or cardboard before adding the mulch. That'll give you a nice weed barrier that should last a good while. Happy gardening!

Mint can be invasive so be careful adding the roots and runners because they can re-sprout. If your compost is hot it will kill them, or you can pull any sprouts that come out of the pile. Another way with any kind of aggressive root spreaders is to leave them out in the sun till they're good and dead, and then compost.