The experts say that termites prefer cardboard and paper products with soil contact better than most wood chips. Woods like pine and other conifers are supposed to have some chemicals that actually repel termites (I believe cypress does also). But you might actually have termites that are breaking the rules (they could also be some sort of ant - there's like a million different types of wood eating insects out there). You shouldn't have mulch up against the foundation wall anyway - you want to keep that area as dry as possible.

Neither termites that break rules or some kind of ant would suprise me. I don't know if you know or not, but I'm waaay out in the boonies. I guess they all see me as an oasis because I have more kinds of bugs than I can count. And it is a constant vigil to try to keep the fireants out of the immediate yard and gardens. I guess I just need to keep the termite contract up well on the house! LOL I had also read that termites prefer paper and cardboard in contact to the ground. I've not got any in my beds, I was careful of that after reading that information. But you did say something that is of particular interest to me. Every house I've ever owned had beds around the house that ran up to the foundation. I do have a nice eave on the house to help keep moisture away but I do run the mulch up to the house foundation like every other house I've ever owned or lived in. What you are saying makes perfect sense to me. This is something I've never given a lot of consideration to. But how do you manage your border beds around your house? Do you pull the mulch back a distance from the house? Do you use a mulch other than wood? How far? Thanks for the info John, as always, appreciated and valuable food for thought!

We live in a brick house and were told by the home inspector not to have anything (soil, mulch, plants) up against the house but not so much because of termites. He said that the parts of the house that were above ground were not treated to be below ground so packing mulch and soil against it invites moisture into your walls. He was saying too that the masonry will draw moisture from the leaves on the plants (dew, rain)into the walls. His recommendation was to pull the mulch/soil back and prune the back of the shrubs to keep them at least six inches from the foundation.

Our house is mostly brick on the first floor, with siding on the old carport which is now a living room. We made a gravel path along the house about 18" wide (right where the water comes off the roof- we don't have gutters) over hard packed clay that sloped away from the foundation, towards the beds. It has helped tremendously in allowing easy access, keeping the house cleaner (no dirt splash up from rains), and seems to help with the amount of water that ends up in the basement. I use that area to put more tender or heat loving plants since the front of my house faces west and gets the late day sun, which radiates heat at night. The gravel is a few inches deep- enough that weeds aren't a terrible nuisance & are fairly easy to pull out when they do sprout.

I'm one of those bad people that doesn't really have a yard, my house is tucked into deep woods so there aren't any real flowerbeds up against the house. All the flowerbeds and veggie gardens are out in clearnings many feet away (like all the way across the property). My soil is sandy loam so it stays pretty dry. My big chore is to keep the fallen leaves from piling up against the brick wall foundation. I don't think there is a great need for many feet of clear space between plants and foundation wall, it just needs to be inches or a foot. It all depends on what type of soil you have and if the area right around your house stays dry or not. Dampness is bad - Dryness is good.

I have also heard that if you have ants (including fireants) near your house you won't have termites. Ants and termites are not related and are constantly at war with each other. Fireants also clean you yard of Japanese Beetle larvae and ticks and chiggers - so they do some good.

Again, good info here!! Thanks to all of you!! John, I have sandy loam as well. The drainage is fantastic here and a welcome change from the red, yellow, blue clay I had around Charlotte. My property was virgin tree forest property before I purchased it. I only cleared out around the house site about 50 to 75 ft for the "yard". Believe me, this is my retirement/last house and I have no plans for a massive lawn or any complicated maintenance. I've planned this for years. I want it simple with beautiful undisturbed growing trees on the majority of the acreage. I planted a small grass area and am slowly filling in with beds around the house, a soon to be built deck and front covered porch, and have my veggie garden and some other areas out on the perimeter of the "yard" and the virgin land. I've got a ton of young pines springing up (around 7 to 8 ft now) and a handful of majestic older oaks. There is also a good mix of young oak in the trees springing up. It's a definite work in progress! :-) Interesting that fireants are a natural enemy of Japanese beetle, ticks and chiggers, I had no idea. But I've not seen a single tick, chigger and only a couple of Japanese beetles in the 18 months we have been here. My foundation does really stay dry, this land perks wonderfully, basically 3 or 4 inches of rain like we have seen lately from these tropical storms absorbs into the ground in a matter of a couple of hours and there are no puddles at all. I do keep my plantings away from the house by several feet, giving plenty of clearance for maintenance. I also just try to keep the fireants out of the immediate area close to the house to keep my feet in flip flops and my pups clear of stings. They can rule the fields if they want, I have plenty of room for them to have a little ant party out there. After hearing the info here, I think I'm going to clear a little area (6 to 8 inches) close to the foundation and lay down some pea gravel to just keep things nice and clean. And eliminate any potential for issues.