There are about a gazillion types of ants known to science and probably about two gazillion types they haven't noticed yet. But for the sake of a simple answer, I'll divide them into the three most important types: ants who love wood chips, ants who love plants, and and ants who don't care about either. The ones in the first category love wood chips and/or other dead vegetation for food and/or housing. They may be attracted by wood chips, but most ants in this category are beneficial in breaking down dead vegetation for your vegies to get the nutrients. The ones in the second category use plants for food and/or shelter. Some of these guys "farm" aphids. They may be attracted to your garden by the vegies themselves, regardless of the mulch. The third category will be there regardless of the vegies or mulch. Some of these ants are beneficial hunters of other insects. These categories overlap a bit, but are generally true. The science guys are a lot farther ahead with describing and naming insects, than they are with figuring out how they live and what they eat. If you look in a real deal scientific book on insects, they identify all those tiny red and black ants by things like what their mandibles (jaws) or antennae (feelers) look like when magnified. Just watching them gives you more practical info than going through all that to get a Latin name and no details. Wood chips near the porch may be bad for two reasons. First, the wood chips will shrink a lot as they decompose. second, I've read that they attract termites and carpenter ants, which you don't want damaging your house. My personal experience is that they are only interested in larger pieces of wood that they can create a nest in, and not chips or saw dust. It may be an old wives tale from people seeing carpenter ants in wood chips and/or saw dust where trees were removed and not realizing that they were really living in the stump or underground roots. In your area it may be different though. Ziggy

We use fresh wood chips for our pathways. It makes for a nice bright yellow pathway which then weathers to a nice grey and finally earthy brown once it's broken down. Breaking down takes about a year and then we use it as a soil amendment. Sometimes we screen it, and sometimes not. We lay down 4 to 6 inches of wood chips in the pathway. Sort of a pain in the neck, but we live in a triple decker neighborhood and a lot of folks look into our garden and this makes for a nice "something's alive" look in the midst of a dreary New England winter. Note: In our community garden the Fire Department was once called to put out a steaming pile of fresh wood chips. They had a bit of a hard time understanding the pile wasn't actually burning, but was getting digested by bacteria.

BIOREMEDIATE your soil! Paul Stamets - Bioremediation with Fungi "In 1975, a military jet fuel leaked over 80,000 gallons of kerosene based jet-fuel into a lake in the suburbs of Charleston, SC. Many people tried to manage the oil spill but it was to no avail. It was almost impossible to stop all of the fuel from being soaked up by the very permeable sandy soil and reaching the ground water. Soon all of the ground water became contaminated and had many toxic chemicals in it. The ground water then began to reach all of the residential area and everyone in the surrounding area knew they were faced with a serious environmental hazard. It was almost impossible to remove all of the contaminated soil and ground water so the only other option was to introduce microorganisms and fungi that could consume all of the toxic chemicals and turn them into harmless carbon dioxide. Because of this introduction of the microorganisms it allowed for any further contamination to come to a complete halt. It even helped to remove 75% of the pollutants that harmed the soil and ground water. This introduction of microorganisms and fungi to an ecosystem or specific area is known as Bioremediation. What is Bioremediation? Bioremediation is a process in which indigenous or inoculated micro-organisms (e.g., fungi, bacteria, and other microbes) degrade (metabolize) organic contaminants found in soil and/or ground water, converting them to harmless end products. Nutrients, oxygen, or other amendments may be used to enhance bioremediation and contaminant desorption from subsurface materials. Bioremediation also allows polluted drinking water to become safe enough for humans and animals to drink. It allows for us [humans] to have a safer drinking source and not be too terribly concerned with the toxins that could be potentially be harmful. Bioremediation is usually classified under 2 types of conditions. Those being aerobic and anaerobic..."

annpat, I'm not sure anyone was referring to mulch as a single material :-) The question here was is it safe to use wood chips as a mulch and that answer is yes! Of course you can buy 'mulch'......many places sell a product labeled as such, although what exactly it is will vary from place to place :-) But the intent is that it will be used to topdress garden planting beds. I DO understand what you are saying.....really any product or material, from grass clippings to shredded bark, to hazelnut shells to compost or wood chips (or even recycled tires and gravel or river rock) IS a mulch when used in that manner........there is no generic material known as 'mulch'. And they will all achieve pretty much the same thing - weed suppression, soil insulation and moisture retention. And the organics have the added bonus of improving soil conditions and soil biology over time. I am also not sure I would be so bold to say that "real" gardeners only use leaf or compost mulches :-) After 50 years or so of gardening both professionally and personally (and with a couple of degrees attached) and growing everything from Asparagus to Zantedeschia, I would like to think I qualify as a "real" gardener and I have used all manner of organic products to mulch with, including wood chips. What it all boils down to is a matter of personal preference, not that one type of organic mulch is the best. Doug, the nitrogen tie up or depletion only occurs when the wood chips (or bark or sawdust or any other wood product for that matter) is incorporated into the soil. When used as a mulch or top dressing, that is of minimal concern and adding a high N fert source to offset is not necessary.