Proper Mulch - Ask Extension
Can evergreen chips be used around vegetable? Can you provide guidance for how to use evergreen chips with vegetables and other plants?
Knowledgebase
Proper Mulch #870685
Asked May 29, 2024, 11:58 PM EDT
Can evergreen chips be used around vegetable? Can you provide guidance for how to use evergreen chips with vegetables and other plants?
Baltimore City County Maryland
Expert Response
There is no harm due to their origin (being from an evergreen tree compared to a deciduous tree) in using them around vegetable plants, but the risk instead is related to their rougher texture in general -- used too close to tender foliage or stems, they might bruise or scrape the young vegetable plants and cause damage. To avoid that issue, we suggest that wood chip mulches be used to cover pathways or aisles between vegetable beds instead, and another kind of mulch used adjacent to the vegetable plants themselves. If you do use the wood chip mulch atop soil in the bed, keep it on the surface and don't mix it in, since as it decays it will use-up a little bit of the nitrogen in the soil that we don't want "stolen" from the vegetable plant roots.
Miri
Miri