Use Pine Needles as Organic Mulch
Pine needles as organic mulch can be a great low-cost alternative for some plants. If you happen to have a pine tree around, it’s free!
Using mulch helps plants retain water, which helps you conserve water. Plants that do well with pine straw mulch are plants that love acid. These include azaleas, blueberries, rhododendrons and hollies, among others. It’s best to leave a free area around the plant stems to avoid mold.
Pine needles provide good insulation, water retention and weed control. They also look natural and last longer than many alternative mulches. Best of all, no tree deaths are involved.
Have you tried pine needles as mulch? What did you think?
Image via flickr.
Tags: acid-loving plants, mulch, organic-gardening, pine needlesRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Organic Gardening
2 opinions for Use Pine Needles as Organic Mulch
DramaMama
May 19, 2008 at 4:51 pm
We have what we believe to be a big Jack Tar pine in our backyard. We use the needles all the time! There are so many we’ve managed to carpet most of our beds w/it. It seems to keep down a lot of little weeds, but we still get big prickers as we call them. Overall we’re happy b/c it’s free! They do take a long time to break down, so it’s not something we put in the compost or garden intentionally.
Peggy
May 19, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Hey DramaMama. I hope my next house comes with a pine tree so I can do the same! I have heard the pine needles are better suited for flower beds. I imagine it would be quite annoying in the veggie garden.
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