Wood Chipper Mulch

Many homeowners wonder if they can use wood chips to mulch their gardens.

Yes! Wood chips can be used in many ways for gardening.

When used properly, wood chips collected from a newly-felled tree and older wood chips from municipal yard-waste collections centers are inexpensive gardening materials.

This guide lists 5 ways to reuse wood chips with their pros, cons, and useful tips.

If you are able to get a large pile of woodchips, keep reading to find out how to use them in your garden.

How to use wood chips in the garden.

1. Wood chip mulch.

Use wood chips as mulch in your garden or landscape. Wood chips decompose naturally and improve the soil texture.

Benefits

Wood chip mulch has many benefits. It helps to regulate soil temperatures (warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer), thereby keeping roots healthy.

Wood chips shade the soil, and they absorb water so that moisture levels are more constant. Plants need less watering.

Wood chip mulch is also a great way to discourage weeds from growing, which is a pleasant discovery for many gardeners.

Spreading wood chips around shrubs and dense foliage is an effective way to suppress weeds.

Disadvantages

The top soil surface where the wood chips are applied will be deficient in nitrogen.

Fungal spores, which like to grow and hide in wood chip mulch, can easily destroy disease-prone plants such as roses and tomatoes.

TIP: For optimal results, use a layer of three inches of wood chips. Find out more about the effects of wood chip mulch on plants.

Keep wood chips at least a few inches from the base to prevent disease and to allow the stems or trunks to breathe.

2. Wood chip walkways.

A deep layer of wood-chipped pathways is a great way to reuse a large amount of material that you have removed from your property.

Wood chips can be placed in rows between raised or mounded planter beds. The wood chips will protect your feet from the soil while you are working in your garden.

Wood chips can be a great way to keep your boots clean, especially after rain or watering.

Wood chips walkways can also be used to create a natural-looking, weed-free pathway that connects different areas in your landscaping. Wood chips can be laid to create curves or even surfaces, which would otherwise be impossible to achieve with paver stones.

Wood chip walkways are not ideal because you have to top them up every year as they decompose. The risk of splinters when walking on wood chips is another caution.

TIP: A layer of five or six inches of wood chips will work well for walkways. This depth will allow the wood chips to compress into a layer that is firm enough to inhibit weed growth but still retains enough “give” for it to be comfortable to stand upon for long periods of time.

3. Add wood chips to your compost pile.

Wood chips are a great addition to any compost pile or bin if you enjoy it as much as I do.

It may be necessary to break up a large pile of wood chips into smaller pieces. This technique makes it easy to maintain your compost pile.

Wood chip composting is a great way to add a lot of carbon into your compost pile. This will help you create a richer compost medium.

When the compost is finished, wood chips will act as an “orange” ingredient that will decompose and add nutrients.

Turning those piles of branches from trimming your trees into wood chips is good for your compost bin, and it also helps tidy up your yard.

Wood chips are harder to decompose, so they can temporarily slow down your composting process.

Compost piles are healthier when they contain a variety of green ingredients.

TIP: A small pile of woodchips that you do not want to add to the compost bin will degrade on its own. If you keep the moisture level constant, there is no need to turn your pile.

4. Use of wood chips to prevent soil erosion.

Wood chips can be used to create a temporary barrier on areas of your lawn or garden that are being eroded by rain or wind.

Erosion control helps to keep your plants and garden healthier. It also reduces the amount of muck that runs off your property onto your neighbor’s yard or into the street.

Wood chips are a great way to control erosion because you can till them into the ground to raise low areas. The wood chips will absorb the water and hold down the soil until you can create a permanent solution.

After a short time, a very thick layer will compact but still allow water to drain.

You can add the wood chips directly to your compost pile once you have a plan in place to permanently fix any problem areas. You can use it for garden mulch.

One con would be that a thick layer of woodchips could kill the grass on the area you’re trying to control.

TIP: To prevent erosion, keep wood chips damp. Chips that are damp have a lower tendency to blow during strong winds.

5. Use wood chips to control invasive plant growth.

Do you have a property that borders woods or natural areas?

Wood chips can be used to create a beautiful border around your property and also prevent wild plants from invading your lawn.

You can use the wood chips from fallen trees in your yard to create a border that will control weeds. It is free, and it eliminates an ugly pile.

This method allows you to save a lot of wood chips, as it is necessary to cover the soil with a thick layer in order to eliminate roots and plant growth.

TIP: To deter plant growth, build a barrier of wood chips that is three to four feet by two feet deep. This will prevent roots from growing on your property.

To maintain your wood chip border barrier, add a new six-inch layer every year to counteract the decomposition of the material underneath.

You can use a chipper to prune shrubs and trees, and then the contents will be used to refresh your border. This keeps the whole yard neat.

In summary,

Use wood chips in your garden if you don’t know what to do with them.

This article will hopefully encourage you to use wood chips as garden mulch, pathways, and compost, or to help control weeds and erosion.

You can now use wood chips to beautify and solve your landscape problems.