Black-Dyed Mulch

For the most part, the black-dyed mulch we got looks great. I had not thought to use dyed mulch before -- I generally prefer things in their natural state -- but the dark colour looks really nice and even when it fades and washes off, it leaves enough of a stain to look really impressive.

What I will do differently next time we buy mulch though, is get it from Acapulco Rock and Soil, rather than buying it from the dump. The cost is higher, but the mulch from the dump has GARBAGE in it. And when I say garbage, I mean, lots of pieces of chewed up plastic and debris mixed in with the wood (see above). Any large-scale sorting facility is bound to have mistakes like that, and I appreciate that Waste Management is trying to sort out and reuse as much stuff as possible, but this is a mess.

I spent a couple days picking the trash out of the mulch. Luckily it tends to sort of float up to the top of the pile. Unluckily some of it was already blowing around in the yard. I'm not crazy about adding a bunch of garbage to the yard when I spend so much time carefully removing the stuff that's already here.

That pile is what I got from just picking the trash up around me as I did some planting this weekend. In all I've probably removed about ten times this much from the garden and there is still plenty more to come.

So next time, more money, clean mulch. Lesson learned. The dark colour does look really nice and makes things look a lot cleaner than the plain arborist wood chips ever did.

posted by ayse on 04/18/12