mulch is mulch is mulch .... how any given mulch will work on your soil will only be known to you ... all mulch will need annual care .... usually adding more in certain areas that it disappeared ... i know people who use each of what you list ... all are good .. bottom line... is your aesthetic.. and what you prefer ... what looks good to your eye ... and in my world .. which is the cheapest .... i personally have a more utilitarian view of mulch .. it has a job to do .. i don't really care about its look/texture ... my only caveat is color. .... go with a natural color ... stay away from 'colored' mulch ... it just isn't in harmony with ma nature IMHO .... but ..... if you like it.. go for it .... good luck ken

Dummy me, I had to go and look up pine nuggets to find out what they were.!! lol One definition I found referred to them as being dyed shredded boards from tearing apart old pallets. If the material you are using is dyed, I would be concerned and would check to see what they were using for dye as many of those are toxic. When I had my big garden I used the lasagna method which is very similar in that the top layer is always a type of mulch and when I ran out of stray and pine needles one year I saw that the country had just chipped the brush in the ditches of one of the county roads so I asked the land owner if I could collect them and he said go for it, so that is what I used. It is important for good break down to make sure that you have a good combination of brown..dead...and green material and most wood chips fit in that category. Paul, at the Back to Eden garden has a heavy clay soil and for years he used all different types of mulch until he by accident or God's design, stumbled upon the wood chips and started seeing better results with them than with anything that he had used previously. Check with as many tree companies as you have to, also check with your municipality as many of them have sites where they dump their shredded material from their street maintance crews and often they give that away. One of our towns actually has added mulching worms to the pile. They are tiny red worms and some people I know go to the mulch pile just to get a free scource or worms to go fishing with ...lol ...although in my opinion they are too small. So, check for dyes, add as much green material to your mix as you can...lawn clippings, etc, and whatever you do will turn to gold. One of the great things about the shredded wood, is that it gathers the moisture from the dew and feeds it to the plants as they need it, it does not blow away like top soil does, and it feeds the soil nutrients from the compost tea it makes as it is breaking down. Its all win win to me. I'm setting up a new garden area on sandy soil this year. I am going to start with lasagna layers...I'll use as many as I can afford to, and end up with wood chips on top. I'm starting this week, can hardly wait.

Normally I would say the "FINES" before looking at the photos. However, the fines look more like finely shredded bark/wood. The mini nuggets look very good but that depends on the size of the nuggets. The nuggets should be generally in the 1/8" to 1/2" size range. Maybe photos with a known object for size reference would help. Usually people drop a dime or quarter on the top of the nuggets before shooting a photo. Also, make sure there is very little wood pulp in the mix. Some are listed as "bark" but contain mostly ground up wood which is bad. Bruce

I believe it's just finely chopped pine bark used for potting orchids.Should be ok to use but might be worth seiving the really small bits out(under 1/8")so it doesn't impede drainage :)