Guido,

1) Defnitely MUCH cheaper to buy by the yard.

2) If you want it delivered, garden centers within 15 miles of you or so will be much cheaper on delivery. Central Jersey is a big area. It's hard to recommend a place without knowing better where you're at.

3) You need to approximate how many square feet of coverage you want and decide how deep you want the mulch. If there Generally mulch should be 3-4" deep depending on the kind of mulch. If you already have 2" of mulch, you only need 2" more. If you have none, take the square footage, divide by 3 or 4 and that's how many cubic feet you need. Divide that by 27 to determine how many cubic yards you need.

Bartell's in CLark delivers by the truckload....mulch, topsoil, "mushroom" soil, firewood, various types of stone etc

Give them a call they may deliver up there for you

Try Hall's in Berkeley Heights (?), they deliver in bulk.

You might also try Country Mile on 206 north of B'ville.

I had 12 yards delivered to my driveway last week from Alstede Farms in Chester (not too far from Basking Ridge). I think they charged $20 or so for delivery -- less than the usual $50 delivery charge. The price/yard varied depending on the type of mulch, but all varieties were competitively priced. They provided prompt and polite service. I have tried other suppliers, but I will buy from Alstede Farms again.

I just ordered a delivery from the Atlantic Co. Utilities Authority, our local recycling center. They have a minimum of 5 cubic yards on deliveries, but it's a heck of a lot cheaper than bags from HD! Check to see if your county has a similar option.

Does Leaping Lizards sell bulk mulch? They're right in Basking Ridge on the corner of Stonehouse Road and Valley Road. The next closest may be Great Swamp Nurseries or Halls.

I priced bulk mulch at Hall's a couple of years ago and, given what I needed, found it cheaper to buy the bags myself than to have a bulk delivery.

Leaping Lizards no longer sells bulk mulch - I've found sometimes buying it by the bag is cheaper, also!

Thank you all.

Tomorrow I'll go to the new house and measure to determine how much mulch I need. I'll call some of the nurseries you suggested to get some pricing and compare with the cost of getting bags.

Grigo, How'd you make out? Did you go bag or delivery? I think i need like 3 yards myself. Thanks for the info everyone.

A friend recommended Parker Gardens in Scotch Plains, N.J. We were very satisfied with their prices, variety & customer service.They delivered the same day we needed it. They had both bulk & bagged soils & mulches as well as the largest selection of indoor & outdoor plants and related accessories we have seen.The place was huge & interesting to just browse through.

If you live in Franklin township, Somerset county, you can get free mulch from township (free delivery).

Hi, serena how I live in Franklin Twp and would like to know how to receive the free mulch.

I used Garden state mulch supply in Bedminister good prices really nice mulch and they deliver free.

You can also check with your township. Mine (also Central Jersey) gives it for free, but charges for delivery. You had to take either 3 or 6 cubic yards, if I remember correctly, in order to have it delivered. The delivery charges were very reasonable, $20 or $30. If you could handle it yourself, you can load it into your vehicle. The downside of my town's free mulch is that it was not shredded as well as if it was purchased from a garden supplier. You also don't know what is in it; I have heard there could be small bones from animals they have removed from the road, and I imagine their could be unwelcome bugs, although I have never seen termites in the times I have had it delivered.

I once saw a private tree cutting crew removing an unwanted tree from a neighbor's yard. I asked what they did with the chips they were making from feeding the tree and branches into their machine. It was the end of the day, and they didn't want to haul the full truckload back to their yard, and so dumped the entire load in my driveway at my request. It was a lot of mulch and took over a year to use it all. I don't know how you can be sure that they were taking down trees the owners were no longer interested in, as opposed to diseased ones. I never had a problem, but potentially you could have one.

I think I may have had such a problem. I developed fungal disease in my azaleas and a number of other plants, which I think may have come from such mixed hardwood mulch. Of course, I may have imported the disease on some plant or other, but it spread to many plants in my yard, including blueberries, virtually all my azaleas, and clethra. After that, I switched to a composted mulch from my garden center. I've been very happy with it. I also vote for buying in bulk, unless you just have one or two plants to mulch.

I live in Warren Twsp (somerset cty) and get gorgeous root mulch from Malengas.