Bad Attitude Farm & Forge LLC

When we first started experimenting blackberries, raspberries, and grapes; our plants were set in raised beds around the out buildings and fences.  We thought about buying a truck load of mulch to keep the weeds down in our new beds, but the cost seemed a bit much and we didn’t think we would use that much mulch.  So we started buying mulch by the bag whenever we put in new plants.  We quickly realized that we could have used an entire truckload and the buy bags as you go plan was adding up fast.  Then I had a revelation and have not purchased mulch since.

What is natural wood mulch other than chopped up natural wood?  Because a friend owns wooded acreage that he wants to clear, I looked into wood chippers.  I found that they could be had for a fair price as long as you don’t want to chip anything of a substantial size.  The ones you see by the side of the road, well those large commercial wood chippers cost a fortune.  I was disappointed until it occurred to me that all that freshly chipped wood needed to go somewhere.  Why couldn’t it go into my back acreage to age for a bit?

Three sources for free wood chips.

Private Contractors – These folk are often hired to clear places like the side of the road for various municipalities often have to pay to dispose of those wood chips.  Because they are often a mixed wood, the material they shred has little commercial value.  They tend to be more than willing to load your trailer because it saves them both time and money.  Even if they’ve already found someone who will take it off their hands or even pay a tiny amount for the material, it is easier for them to load your trailer at a job site than to haul it off themselves.  Owners like it because it saves them money.  Employees like it because it saves them a bit of work.

Municipal Employees – Sometimes municipalities choose not to farm out the job of removing fallen trees and the likes.  Unfortunately, there seems to be rules about what the municipal employees must do with those chips.  Fortunately (for us), most of these municipal employees are under paid and over worked.  As long as a supervisor isn’t looking, they are more than happy to fill your trailer or pick up truck.  It saves them a trip to where ever the municipality wants the stuff to go.

Lawn and Garden – The small lawn and garden service tends to keep track of the type of wood they mulch and then use those woods for various landscape jobs.  These types of businesses are the hardest to get free mulch from.  Even when they have excess, they usually want payment even if that payment is more of a token than anything else.  It never hurts to ask.

Getting what you want.

Earlier I said that the product of clearing fallen trees usually produces mixed mulch.  The trip to getting the wood you want is to watch what they are chipping at the time.  Just keep your eyes open.  If they are moving down a road, clearing the sides, and you see some cedar ahead of the work then chances are you can negotiate some free cedar mulch.  If you want some pine to raise soil acidity levels, do the same.  It is also helpful to offer a gratuity in exchange for a phone call.  This way you might get a phone call when they run into something you are looking for.

Although I wouldn’t think of mulching it, I have some hardwood cherry logs that came absolutely free via this method.  I offered a bit of a tip and the guy refused.  Now, whenever I know his crew is working in the area I try to bring them some very cold ice tea.  After a couple of phone calls, I learned he was the owner of the business.  A small business owner like my self.  Folk helping folk.

Making it what you need.

Before we talk about making mulch, let’s be clear that mulch is not compost.  You could add wood chips to your compost if you want them to break down into a dirt like material, but adding dirt to the top of your soil certainly wouldn’t keep the weeds down.

Freshly chipped wood is fine for ornamental purposes, but it doesn’t do much for your garden until they start to decompose / break down.  There are a couple of tricks to make a better mulch and decrease the amount of time it takes to decompose.

Further break down the chips.  Here is where one of those less expensive wood chippers comes in.  No, they won’t rip a five inch branch to shred but they will do a good job on reducing the larger chips often sometime produced by commercial equipment depending on how they are set up.  Sometimes, commercial chippers are set to the finest setting because smaller chips take up less space.  Other times, they are set for larger chips because it tends to be a faster process.

Compost the Chips with other garden waste.  Using your lawn mower, chop up your fall leaves.  If you have a mulching mower, that is even better.  Some grass clippings won’t hurt, but long grass often contains seeds and large amounts of any grass will tend to unsettle the mix and promote a composting process.  We do not want our mulch to compost, we want it to partially decompose.

Find a spot where you won’t mind having a composting pile of wood chips and yard waste.  Remember that anything under that pile will probably die.  Build alternating layers of leaves and wood chips.  Each should be about 2 inches thick.  Although this ratio seems to be equal amounts of wood chips and leaves, the leaves have a much greater volume.   When talking mass, this ratio yields a mixture much higher in wood chips than leaves.

Turn & mix the pile after about a month, then once a week until you start to see that the fine particles in the pile are about equal to the chunks in volume.  We’ve had good results after two or three months but it is not an exact science due to the many variables.  Still, free is much better than buying by the bag or even the truck load.  Further, the mulch you buy in the bag is usually freshly chipped or bagged so fast after being chipped that it doesn’t have much of a chance to decompose.  Great for ornamental purposes, but of much less benefit to your plants.

Good luck and let me know your results or other methods.