Tree,

I collect old hay from local ranchers. Sometimes you can find it listed on Craigslist or Freecycle and all you have to do is haul it away. I am very careful to check and ensure it was not sprayed with herbicides. If the answer is not a firm "no, it was not", I don't use it. This year I am using the last bales from a huge amount (over 200 bales) of native pasture grass/hay given to me a couple of years ago. I'm starting to worry about what I'll use when I use up these last few bales.

We have a grass catcher on our lawn mower and catch all the grass clippings and use them as mulch. We have a large lawn and it does not even come close to providing all the mulch we need, but the grass clippings help. We overseed our lawn with rye grass seed in September and cut it all winter long, catching those clippings in the grass catcher and putting them on the beds. That gets me off to a decent start with mulching even before planting season starts.

When I have to buy hay, I only buy alfalfa, which unfortunately is very expensive so I don't buy it often. Alfalfa is a broad-leaved legume so it cannot be sprayed by the persistent herbicides that have led to contaminated compost, mulch and manure in the last decade.

You can mulch with anything, and when I mulch I like to put down a layer of cardboard or several sheets of newspaper as the first layer because that helps keep seeds from sprouting in the soil beneath the mulch. You can use chopped or shredded autumn leaves. I collect them in fall, bag them up and save them for spring. You can use pine bark fines or any other finely shredded or ground mulch. I especially like to use a product sold as "sold conditioner" that contains humus and pine bark fines. It is a 'feeding mulch' that breaks down pretty quickly and enriches the soil, which is really great for clay soil. You can use any form of bark mulch if you choose. Some people worry it ties up nitrogen in the soil as it decomposes, but I've never found that to be an issue with bark that is on the surface of the ground. It could be an issue with bark rototilled into the soil. If available in your area, you can use pecan shells (often available from companies that process pecans) or pine straw (we don't have lots of pine trees in southcentral OK but I assume at least some parts of OK have them). If you were near a sawmill or woodworking company that lets people come collect their sawdust, you could use it. Almost any material will work. Sometimes if you see tree-trimming companies cutting and shredding tree limbs in your area, if you ask nicely they will come dump a load of the shredded tree trimmings on your property. It saves them the cost of paying a disposal fee to dump that material at a local dump.

I start out with a thin layer of grass clippings on the garden as the soil warms up in spring, then layer on more mulch continually each week as we mow. Because our grass clippings from our own lawn are chemical free and don't contain a lot of weed seeds, I prefer to put them on the raised beds and I use the old, spoiled hay in the pathways and in areas where we don't have raised beds, like in the corn patch. When I pull weeds (before they have set seeds) in the veggie garden, I just place them on top of the mulched beds where they will serve as part of the mulch. As they break down, they put back into the soil the nutrition they absorbed from it while growing.

You even can grow your own mulch by planting something that produces a lot of biomass, and harvesting it regularly to use as mulch. I use some cover crops in this way, mowing them off short (but not so short they won't regrow) and putting the clippings in the garden as mulch. You can use some clovers, rye grass and buckwheat in this way. I also grow comfrey strictly so I can cut its leaves and use them as mulch or as fodder for the compost piles. If you have half-finished compost, you can use it as mulch too.

As the garden season progresses and you remove spent plants, if they are disease-free, you can add them to the beds as mulch. It won't look as nice as clean straw or hay or bark mulch, but it does the job. I even chop up corn stalks and use them as mulch after the corn is through producing.

It doesn't really matter what you use or how you use it as long as it is safe and isn't introducing chemicals or disease pathogens into your growing areas. If you live in town more so than out in the country, big box stores or nurseries would be your best bet. If you need a lot, some soil suppliers or even some municipalities sell mulch in bulk but sometimes it costs so much to have it delivered that you don't really spend that much less than you would have spent on bagged mulch.

Dawn

I sometimes rake up the grass and weeds that the state Hwy dept cut along the hwy in front of the house, but I stay away from the bridges and signs because they spray herbicides around them. Its a lot of work for what little you get. My main source is old hay, leaves, grass clippings and shavings.

I can buy mulch by the scoop in Ft. Smith, but I had rather have the free stuff.

Two of my neighbors use the limb trimmings from a tree trimming company. I had rather use something else.

Larry

Tree, if you have a way to haul mulch it is much easier to find, just ask Friends and neighbors and be willing to pick it up when it becomes available. Many people dont want it laying around. You will also have to be willing for your back yard to look like the city dump at times.

Here is a picture or the free stuff I have been collecting, and I have another load of shavings on my pickup that I got yesterday. On the way home I noticed a bail of hay that had rolled off someones truck. If it stays there for a while I will get that. It had a lot of berry vines and sage grass in it so I know it has not been sprayed.

Larry