Like something that is straight from the forest. No chemicals whatsoever ofc

I don't know about products from HD or Lowes but you can see if chipdrop is in your area. free freshly shredded trees.

Is it good stuff though? Seemslike wouldn’t be since not really meant as mulch but I dont know

What do you mean by "mulch" for a veggie garden? What are you looking for?

Stuff in bags from large retail stores tends to be unreliable. Mass produced.

Pretty much as garden gal said- mulch as a top dressing. Yea, have yet to find one labeled as such. Been eying pine bark by golden trophy, seems to be good stuff and mulch and soil council certified, lol but saying it’s not the best option. Was looking to use straw or alfalfa initially but I seen they use pesticides.. so don’t know what to do :/

Anyone have experience with black gold garden compost? Omri listed

As GardenGald said, "mulch" is a role in the garden, not a product, per se. Anything you use on top of the soil to prevent evaporation and weeds taking hold serves as a mulch.

Kind of building on that, what is sold as a garden mulch is almost always a by-product of some other industry (lumber, tree trimming, mushroom farm, farm animal food or bedding); no one has a farm where they "grow mulch" - much less produce it to some specific organic certification. When you have organic matter left over, you package and sell it as mulch.

So, given all the unknowns - what can you do? Obviously, one option is to do what the big commercial vendors do and recycle your own byproducts as mulch. Fall leaves, grass clippings, and chopped up weeds or old plants are good candidates. The next level would be to take in the products thrown out by your neighbors. If someone gets their trees trimmed, ask for the shredded wood. Pick up your neighbor's leaves. Is there horse boarding or a farm near you? Ask for their discarded bedding.

Of course, there are still no guarantees that pesticides weren't used on the grass clippings or trees. But maybe that is the major point here - with material coming from so many sources there is no way to know if there are chemicals used in there somewhere. Unless you want to send stuff to a lab for analysis - but even if it comes back with a clean report, the next batch might be different when you purchase or pick it up next week.

I think this is a battle for purity you don't want to fight. Do your best - if you can, gather material from known sources. But know that some pesticides may work their way into the supply chain at some point, but through the diligence you can muster, the bad will be greatly diluted with the good.

Brilliantly said Richard, thank you.

You know, if there is a farmers market you can go to safely, I would think it couldn't hurt to ask an organic farmer there what they do (from 6 ft away...) Maybe they would have some extra. I assume they compost already. That reminds me of Arnett Farms plums... wonder if the season is still going ... yummmmm

I used black gold garden compost in my tortoise's outdoor enclosure which was essentially a raised bed garden. I chose it over other commercially available composts because it claimed to be all plant-based. No poop. I have nothing against poo in other gardens but for some reason I felt the tortoise should only have veggie-based. Call me crazy.

There used to be another commercially available compost that I bought at Costco called EcoScraps that was guaranteed to be made from veggie-scraps only. But I haven't been able to find it in several years.

Lowes typically sells straw. pretty sure it's organic labled, not sure if it's "certified organic" though, but it's great to use as mulch since it's 99% weed seed free. cost $13 a bale, Edit: here is the link

might want to also check tractorsupply if you have one locally. i also buy pine shavings for $5 for a huge bale. it's great alternative to straw when straw isn't available and better than wood chips (mulch), but i recommend sprinkling a little blood meal (nitrogen) if you're going to use any type of wood/chip/mulch..

Pine shavings might be the best choice for me. those ez straw bales have some type of bonding agent.
As for blood meal I do have some but Tractor supply also has certified organic alfalfa pellets, thinking to just sprinkle some in with the shavings.

^^ Be aware alfalfa might attract critters. Blood meal certainly will -- especially cats IME, they will go digging where they smell the blood meal.