Not Shredded Mulch: The Long-Lasting Alternative For Landscapes

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Mulch is a must-have for weed suppression, moisture retention, and temperature regulation in your beds, but with so many options out there, it can be difficult to narrow down the best type of mulch for your garden. Shredded mulch is one particularly popular choice — it's most frequently made of wood or bark from pine, cedar, or cypress trees. Because it's often a byproduct of wood processing at lumber mills, it's a fairly affordable product. It has quite a few benefits, but one of its biggest downsides is that it breaks down quickly with exposure to the elements. Pine bark nuggets solve that problem.

Shredded mulch is exactly what it sounds like: shredded. The product you receive comes in fairly small, stringy pieces that weave together to create a stable layer that stays in place over the soil. If you make your own DIY compost, however, you're likely already aware that small pieces of organic material break down quickly. Within a year or two, your shredded mulch will have fully decomposed, requiring you to purchase more to add another layer.

Pine bark nuggets are made of the same or similar material, depending on the composition of your shredded mulch, but they come in larger chunks. This type of mulch is therefore longer lasting. You can expect to get two to three years out of pine bark nuggets before the layer needs to be topped up, so this style of mulch provides many of the same benefits with an extended lifespan.

Pine bark nugget mulch has other pros in addition to lasting longer. You can pick up a 2-cubic-foot bag of Timberline Pine Bark Nuggets for under $5 from Home Depot. That's pricier per square foot than most shredded wood mulch, but much more affordable than rubber mulch. It's also attractive in a garden bed, with a look that's simultaneously rustic and refined. Of course, the biggest benefit of pine bark nugget mulch is that it's natural. While pine bark nuggets might take longer to break down, they benefit your garden beds when they do, eliminating the need for messy removal and adding nutrients to the soil after two to three years.

However, as with any type of mulch, pine bark nuggets have some cons. One of the big benefits of shredded mulches is that similar to mulching with pine needles, the stringy pieces weave together to create a mat that helps protect the mulch (and the soil below) from wind, rain, and erosion. Pine bark nuggets aren't as stable. They'll remain in place if they're not disturbed, but if your garden bed is on a slope or you get frequent heavy rains, they can easily get displaced.

To keep your pine bark nuggets from moving around, you can install edging around your garden bed, reorganize drainage to stop water flowing directly through beds, or add a little mulch glue to keep everything tamped down. Note, however, that these adhesives contain polyurethane or acrylic polymers. It might take a bit more work up front, but opting for longer-lasting pine bark nuggets over other mulches can mean less maintenance down the line.