Leaf Mulch Vs. Wood Mulch

Mulch Benefits

• Mulch offers numerous benefits around your garden and yard, including weed control and consistent soil temperatures. Mulch also prevents water loss due to evaporation as well as crusting of the soil surface, which means water can more easily move and be absorbed into the soil. Mulch comes in organic form, such as leaves, wood chips, leaf mold, hay and straw, grass clippings and pine needles, as well as inorganic form, including clear or black plastic, gravel, crushed stone and pebbles. Organic mulch is beneficial to soil in that it adds nutrients as it decays. Inorganic mulches are best used for foundation plants in the landscape.

Leaf Mulch

• Leaf mulch is best utilized when coarsely shredded in a lawnmower or shredder as whole leaves tend to blow away. Coarse shredding is required as fine shredding results in reduced water penetration. Leaf mulch will improve soil quality as it decomposes and provides weed control when applied in 2- to 3-inch layers. Once the leaves decompose, they should be worked into the soil and new mulch laid on top. Leaf mulch is easy to acquire in that you can utilize raked leaves from your own yard; leaf mulch is also available at most garden supply stores.

Wood Mulch

• Wood mulch consists of pieces of bark and wood cut into various sizes and provides good weed control when applied in a 2- to 3-inch layer. Smaller wood chips decompose quickly by utilizing nitrogen in the soil. Wood mulch is usually sold as wood chips at your local garden supply store.

Which Is Better?

• While both mulch types are attractive for landscaping purposes, leaf mulch is arguably the better of the two mulch types. Unlike wood mulch, leaf mulch does not utilize nitrogen in the soil to decompose. The lost nitrogen must be replenished by nitrogen fertilizer if wood mulch is used. Wood mulch is also more attractive to insects, including termites. Leaf mulch is generally less expensive than wood mulch as you can usually create leaf mulch through simple yard raking and maintenance while wood mulch is almost always store-bought unless you have access to a wood chipper.