purbeast Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 Last year I bought some mulch from Home Depot and it quickly lost it's color, so this year I think I'm going to try and have it delivered in bulk. I'm guessing the quality on that stuff is typically better than the stuff you get in bags at HD. Anyone know of any places (hopefully closer to Rockville for less delivery costs) to purchase some quality mulch? I plan on getting about 3 yards. I found this place called Grey Goose Farms which seems to have decent reviews for their services in general, but that's all I got so far. I'm also curious if people do know, if buying the black mulch is a good idea and if it will keep it's color. The reviews of the 5 bags for $10 stuff at HD were really bad saying the color fades within the first rain. I just want to get it as dark as possible since it will contrast well with our lighter patio. Even a dark brown that stays dark brown (as long as possible) would be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 Capitol Hill? (Sorry, but it's Tailgate. Must politicize everything, you know.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purbeast Posted May 25, 2018 Author Share Posted May 25, 2018 You lost me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elessar78 Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 16 minutes ago, purbeast said: I'm also curious if people do know, if buying the black mulch is a good idea and if it will keep it's color. We got black HD mulch last year. I'll take a photo when I get home. but we are not doing colored mulch anymore, particularly black because I've read that they use nasty stuff to color mulch—it's mostly chromium, copper, and arsenic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulSkin Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 1 hour ago, purbeast said: Last year I bought some mulch from Home Depot and it quickly lost it's color, so this year I think I'm going to try and have it delivered in bulk. I'm guessing the quality on that stuff is typically better than the stuff you get in bags at HD. Anyone know of any places (hopefully closer to Rockville for less delivery costs) to purchase some quality mulch? I plan on getting about 3 yards. I found this place called Grey Goose Farms which seems to have decent reviews for their services in general, but that's all I got so far. I'm also curious if people do know, if buying the black mulch is a good idea and if it will keep it's color. The reviews of the 5 bags for $10 stuff at HD were really bad saying the color fades within the first rain. I just want to get it as dark as possible since it will contrast well with our lighter patio. Even a dark brown that stays dark brown (as long as possible) would be fine. I can't help with a location up there, but I can confirm that the black mulch from the box stores fades very quickly. Every time I've used it. It's more brown in about a week or two. I get about 2 yards every year from a place where they dump it in the back of your truck, or deliver it if you buy enough and pay a fee. It maintains it's color for pretty much a year, with light fading, but it's still black. Ellesar's comment made me curious, and it does appear some of the cheaper companies use some pretty nasty chemicals. I'm going to ask the place where I get it from if they know what's in their's before I buy it next year. A lot of mine goes right on a hill and the water runoff drains into a city sewer, so that revelation might convince me to go back to plain old mulch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elessar78 Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 I also read recently that tree trimming services, chip up the trees they take down and some are willing to give this "mulch" away for free, some even deliver it for free. Just gotta ask, but it does take some leg work. 1 minute ago, SoulSkin said: Ellesar's comment made me curious, and it does appear some of the cheaper companies use some pretty nasty chemicals. I'm going to ask the place where I get it from if they know what's in their's before I buy it next year. A lot of mine goes right on a hill and the water runoff drains into a city sewer, so that revelation might convince me to go back to plain old mulch. Logically, to me, I just don't see mulch manufacturers not being cheap since mulch is a commodity product. The runoff is a concern. My kids playing in the yard, my wife working in the flower garden is a concern—our hands were black moving that stuff around last year. I got curious and looked it up what the colorant was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popeman38 Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 Most landfills have a HUGE pile of mulch that is completely free, all you gotta do is show up and shovel it into a truck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purbeast Posted May 25, 2018 Author Share Posted May 25, 2018 5 minutes ago, SoulSkin said: I can't help with a location up there, but I can confirm that the black mulch from the box stores fades very quickly. Every time I've used it. It's more brown in about a week or two. I get about 2 yards every year from a place where they dump it in the back of your truck, or deliver it if you buy enough and pay a fee. It maintains it's color for pretty much a year, with light fading, but it's still black. Ellesar's comment made me curious, and it does appear some of the cheaper companies use some pretty nasty chemicals. I'm going to ask the place where I get it from if they know what's in their's before I buy it next year. A lot of mine goes right on a hill and the water runoff drains into a city sewer, so that revelation might convince me to go back to plain old mulch. I may go to this place Grey Goose Farms in Olney and check out the mulch they have. They have non-dyed brown mulch so if I see it in person and it's dark enough I'll probably get that. They also look to have the black dyed mulch there as well so I can see it and ask them about it. Some of this mulch is going to be on a new play area for my 3 year old son where I'm putting his little house, sandbox, etc., so if it's full of chemicals that will run off, I'll probably skip it on that alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nonniey Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 Wow. Your DMVs do a lot more than the DMVs do here in AZ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulSkin Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 In Richmond, the city landfill mulch usually has small amounts of random debris in it, like chewed up bottle caps and random stuff. I never used it after the first time I tried it. Also, I've heard that new mulch from freshly cut trees hasn't had time to break down enough, so it can suck up nitrogen in your soil. Depending on if you have plants, it's something to think about. There's a lot of conflicting info out there about that. I had to have a huge oak cut down, but didn't have enough cash to pay for the stump to be ground out at the time. Eventually, I did have the stump ground out, but didn't want to pay to have them to haul the mess away. I ended up with a mountain of wood chips sitting there. I put a big "Free Mulch!" sign on it. A local landscaper mulched all around my neighborhood with it, and I didn't see any effect on plants where it was used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elessar78 Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 I thought mulch was just for keeping moisture in the soil, weed control, and aesthetics. I never knew about the nitrogen angle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulSkin Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 1 minute ago, Elessar78 said: I thought mulch was just for keeping moisture in the soil, weed control, and aesthetics. I never knew about the nitrogen angle. It's just as the wood decays, it absorbs nitrogen, I think that can be bad for some vegetables or flowery plants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
China Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 4 hours ago, Popeman38 said: Most landfills have a HUGE pile of mulch that is completely free, all you gotta do is show up and shovel it into a truck. In Falls Church, the leaves they collect each fall are turned into mulch you can get each spring. And they will deliver a truckload of it for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purbeast Posted May 26, 2018 Author Share Posted May 26, 2018 I ended up going to this place called Rels this morning and they had delivery available today for $40 so I just got it and have it in my driveway right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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