Mulch that won't blow away

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on May 06, 2009 at 3:08 PM, updated May 06, 2009 at 3:12 PM
Bark mulch or more finely ground triple-shredded hardwood mulch (above) resist blowing away in windy sites.
Q: I've been looking for the right mulch to control weeds in my landscape. It's a very windy site. I tried using cedar chips last year, but most of them blew away. I was wondering about grass clippings? Can I just dump them on the beds? Or do I need to water them down so they don't blow around? Will grass clippings alone be effective enough to control the weeds, or do we need to use shredded bark also? Is there anything we can do to keep the mulch from being blown away?

A: Grass clippings make a reasonably good mulch, but they will break down fast in moderate amounts or get slimy and smelly if piled on too thickly at a time.

Grass clippings mixed together with leaves or bark mulch would make a fantastic combination, if you don't mind saving the leaves (and the labor involved in mixing ingredients). You'd also be fine by putting down about an inch of grass clippings for starters and then topping throughout the season as it breaks down.

Personally, I'd rather let the clips on the lawn. They'll feed the lawn soil and add organic matter while saving me work.

One other precaution: If you're using weed-killers on the lawn, residue will be on the clippings that could harm your garden plants.

I like pine bark mulch for most garden beds. This is bark ground up to nearly the texture of soil. There's no way short of a tornado this will blow out since there aren't any pieces as with pine-bark nuggets, mini-nuggets and various wood chips. Bark doesn't grow the nuisance artillery fungus as well as wood mulch either.

Away from the house and other targets of the artillery fungus, shredded hardwood mulch is fine for overcoming blow-aways. Triple-shredded gives you fairly small fragments that resist blowing, and even double-shredded mats down pretty quickly to guard against wind.

Sounds like you'd really benefit from planting a dense evergreen windbreak in the area of the prevailing winds (usually northwesterly). It's amazing what a screening of firs, arborvitae, spruce, holly and/or junipers can do to break up those gusts you get.