Last year I bought the best mulch home depot had to offer from Scott’s. After 6 weeks, it faded. WTF
This summer I want something that will keep its color. There’s an attorney’s office by me who’s mulch hasn’t faded all year long and it’s great. I asked the secretary but she didn’t want to give me the landscaper’s number.
Thoughts??
I know some recycling operations (Modern) were offering “tire mulch” but not sure if that’s what you were thinking. I typically get mine from places that don’t bag it. Had decent results.
Honestly if you don’t want fade, go with a recycled rubber mulch. It’s actually good stuff.
I’ve tried all offerings at the big box stores and was running into same issue, some did last through most of the summer.
Best solution is landscape rubber mulch, not the larger playground type. It usually has a 10 yr color guarantee and helps prevents weed growth. Will spend more upfront but will be minimal maintenance and color will last.
We have ~5k pounds in the pirate ship/playground area in our backyard, going on its third year with zero color fade. Converting all landscape either this or next, too many projects not enough hours in the day…
[sarcasm] wait, are you planning to do the mulch yourself? You’re an engineer… not a landscaper.[/sarcasm]
I got 4 yards of black from ReBoy in Elma last year and it stayed nice all summer. It’s faded from winter but not horribly. I have some leftover new stuff that I’m going to blend in and go for year 2. Jim (JT76) works there.
Awesome.
Mulch from big box stores, especially in bags, is a rip off. If you need more than 2-3 yards it’s cheaper to get it delivered.
I have to see how this stuff looks in person, my grandpa isn’t a fan of it.
HAHA
I tried rubber mulch, the bad part is that leaves and needles fall into it. Now what? I would rather just replace mulch every year so it looks clean. Oh and on hot sunny days it smells like a burnout, some may like that but my wife did not. 
I think I may actually have the rubber mulch in garbage bags next to my garage if you want it.
I might take you up on the mulch next to the garage…is it larger tire mulch or finer landscaping?
It is finer. It looks like black cedar mulch. My wife probably paid a 100 bucks for this stuff. You may have to put it in new bags because it has been there for quite awhile and the old bags probably can’t hold the 50 or 100lbs they weigh.
We got sick of buying mulch all the time and bought stone. Its heavy enough that you can for the most part blow grass and other clippings off of it and the wind doesnt blow it away (we live in the middle of no where). It never fades. The big bitch is planting new stuff in it.
I dont have any great pics of it around the house, but I have these from when we did around the pool last summer after the curbing went in.
Acutally I looked back and found this:
Full size image here http://www.clubhousecustoms.com/gallery2/d/15684-1/20131006_151457.jpg
Dan
I was thinking about stone. My only dilemma is that I don’t want to over do it. I have white stone lining my fence along my driveway, and red stone surrounding my patio in the backyard.
In the front yard I wanted to lay a landscaping brick to surround the mulch, but I’ll have to come up with some contrasting colors to use the brick with more stone.
Thank god for last week 70* day I got a ton done outside, today fucking sucks balls.
The problem with stone is its much harder on your landscape plants. No moisture retention and on a hot sunny day it bakes the plants.
I wanted to do JUST stone… well a “rock” garden actually. The only week our gardens look good is the week we spend a stupid amount time making them look good. Rocks = no work.
We live in a f**king forest, why do we need more vegetation?!?
Rock gardens can be beautiful when done correctly.
Perfect. Less shit to take care of. Id be happy with just rocks and a few plants in pots.
Dan
just get mulch from a mulch yard in bulk. I went over to a place here with a utility trailer and got 2 yards for $50 and covered A LOT of beds. Should hold color just fine (you only have like 3 months of summer anyways lol), it’s better for plants than rock/rubber, it chokes out weeds really well and it contrasts well with the greens in the shrubs.
Oh and the best part about mulch is that it’s LIGHT. Wheelbarrowing and shoveling rocks is back breaking and the rubber stuff is probably deceivingly heavy too. Even my wife was able to move a wheelbarrow full of mulch.
I will go with mulch, I like the contrast it provides. And even if I have to redo it every year, it literally takes an hour to rake the old shit, plant a couple flowers, and spread the new shit, shit shit shit everywhere!
Yes moving rubber mulch around would seem easy the weight is pretty deceiving, especially if there is any moisture…gets rather heavy.
Mulch is prob the best bet as it does only take a little time each year, consider it yearly house maintenance lol
If anyone does go the rubber route, you will not want the tire mix as it’s not a straight black color and wouldnt look good in garden bed.
This is tire mix in the kids play area which works amazing for its purpose.
This is before we finished spreading everything but gives an idea…
