The Best Organic Mulch for Your Garden

May 26, 2026 Jordan Charbonneau Leave a comment

Organic mulch can help block weeds, add organic matter, hold in moisture, keep the soil cool, and increase your garden’s production. We’ve found that mulch is one of the best ways to improve soil over time. Like us, many of our customers garden in heavy clay soils where mulch is helpful for slowly building up organic matter. It’s also been critical for reducing our water usage when much of the Southeast has been in drought. If you want to add mulch to your garden this season, there are many options to consider.

The Best Mulches for Vegetable Gardens

The best mulch for your garden will depend on several factors. You want to consider your climate, your soil, and what’s readily available in your area.

Grass Clippings

If you have a mower with a bagger, grass clippings can be an excellent free option. They’re great for adding organic matter and a bit of nitrogen to the soil. While they’re decomposing, grass clippings can form thick, slimy mats. If you’re worried about this, dry your grass clippings in the sun for a couple of days, flipping the pile over with a rake a few times before placing them on your beds.

Avoid using grass clippings from lawns that may have been treated with pesticides or herbicides. It’s also best to avoid long, overgrown lawns that are full of grass and weed seed heads.

Old Leaves

Old leaves are one of our favorites because in our area, they are free and abundant. However, whole leaves have a tendency to blow away during dry periods. Shredding them or allowing them to decompose partially before applying them to the garden can help keep them in place.

Many cities have people collect leaves in bags, and you can sometimes get these for free. However, you risk that the leaves may be contaminated with herbicides or other chemicals on someone’s lawn.

Straw

Many gardeners prefer straw for their vegetable gardens. It’s attractive, easy to apply, and keeps produce like cucumbers and squash clean and dry. It’s also pleasant to walk on and usually isn’t treated with any chemicals.

The one major downside of straw is the price. Depending on your location and the size of your garden, using straw mulch can get expensive fast. alliums in hay mulch

Hay

Usually more affordable than straw, hay is a similarly popular choice for vegetable gardeners, especially those looking to build up organic matter. It can provide a dense layer to protect the soil and keep produce clean.

Unfortunately, most hay harbors weed seeds, which can sprout in your garden. You can help prevent the seeds from germinating by using a thick layer and re-applying two to three times throughout the season.

Sadly, the prevalent use of herbicides and pesticides across the United States can also make sourcing clean hay tricky. Some gardeners have had contaminated hay ruin their gardens.

Pine Needles or Pine Straw

Pine needles or pine straw is a popular mulch option in parts of the southern United States and other regions where pine forests are common. While many gardeners worry about it making their soil more acidic, old dried pine needles have a negligible effect on soil pH.

However, pine needles take a while to break down, meaning that they don’t add organic matter to the soil quickly. That said, if you have an abundance, they’re still a good option.

Avoid purchasing artificial pine straw mulch. It isn’t real pine needles; it’s made from shredded plastic and you shouldn’t use it in a vegetable garden.

Paper/Cardboard

Paper and cardboard are a common base layer in new vegetable gardens to block weeds, but you’ll want to select them carefully. Some cardboard and paper options may contain toxic dyes, glue, staples, plastic tape, or plastic linings. Use only undyed material and carefully remove and staples or tape before placing it in the garden.

Thick cardboard can also provide a pleasant spot for slugs to hide beneath. If you’re seeing signs of slug damage, check under the cardboard in the morning and remove any slugs. Rows of collards growing in wood chip mulch

Wood Chips

Though not everyone agrees, wood chips are another of our favorites, especially for pathways and perennial beds. You can often source wood chips for free from local power companies that chip trees and limbs they clear from power line right-of-ways. They make a good mulch that breaks down slowly over the season, meaning we don’t have to re-apply too often.

One concern many gardeners have is that wood chips will tie up nitrogen. However, this isn’t really an issue unless you’re tilling the wood chips into the soil. They don’t tie up nitrogen when they’re sitting on top. They can also create homes for insects like slugs or ants, but they provide space for beneficial insects, bacteria, and fungi. In fact, many gardeners grow edible mushrooms on wood chip mulch.

While usually more expensive, shredded, undyed bark mulch also works well.

Using Mulch in the Vegetable Garden

Always collect more mulch than you think you will need. In order for mulch to provide its many benefits, from blocking weeds to adding organic matter, it needs to be thick. For dense mulches like wood chips, a few inches will do, but for light, fluffy mulches like old leaves, you want to add at least 6 to 8 inches.

Before placing mulch, it’s ideal to start with a clean slate and remove any weeds. After adding your mulch, water it in. Alternatively, you can place it on a rainy day.

Avoid placing mulch over seeds that haven’t germinated or covering tiny seedlings. In wet climates, don’t pile mulch over plant crowns or up against plant stems, as it can encourage rot.

If you have slug problems, pull mulch away from plants for a time to remove the hiding places for slugs while you deal with the issue.

Garden Advice

12+ Best Crops for Raised Beds

May 14, 2026 Jordan Charbonneau Leave a comment

Raised beds offer a unique set of advantages and disadvantages. They drain well, warm quickly, and can provide soft, loose soil. They may also be more expensive, need to be watered more frequently, and may not provide enough space for large roots. Raised beds can be incredibly productive, especially for small spaces, when you make crop choices that play to their strengths. Here are some of the best crops for growing in raised beds.

Lettuce

One major problem with some raised beds is their shallow depth. Thankfully, lettuce has a relatively small root system and will thrive even in small raised beds. Raised beds are also usually easy to fit with some sort of cover cloth, allowing you to protect early lettuce from light frosts and late lettuce from intense sun and heat.

Other Greens

Like lettuce, many greens are relatively compact and quick-growing. We’ve had success growing Swiss chard, collards, kale, spinach, arugula, mustards, and other greens in raised beds.

Bush Beans

Bush beans offer speedy growth in a compact package, making them ideal for raised beds. They produce some of their own nitrogen and are ready to harvest in just 50 to 60 days, meaning you can plant several successions in your raised beds to enjoy harvests of beans throughout the season.

Pole beans are also a great option if you can place a sturdy trellis along one side of the bed. They’re productive and space-saving when trellised.

Garlic

A generally easy crop to grow, garlic suffers in wet, poorly drained soil and doesn’t bulb up well if it competes with too many weeds. In moist bottom land with heavy clay soil, common in much of the eastern United States, garlic may be a struggle. Raised beds are a great way to grow garlic, and their loose soil makes for much easier harvesting.

Strawberries

Adding fruit to the garden can be a challenge in a small space, but strawberries are a great option! They have relatively shallow roots and are incredibly productive for the amount of space they require. They’re a great fruit option for raised beds, smaller properties, and rentals.

Spring Radishes

Except for some baby greens, there are no crops that can match spring radishes for speed. Some varieties are ready to harvest in as little as 24 days. Their productivity and small roots make them well-suited to raised bed successions. To help make the most of your space, you can inter-plant them with slower-growing crops.

Bulb Onions

Like garlic, bulb onions do best in well-drained, fertile soil in a bed that’s kept weed-free. Using raised beds to meet these demands can help you produce large onion bulbs. Their shallow root system also makes them well-suited to smaller raised beds where deep-rooted crops will struggle.

Herbs

Basil, thyme, lavender, oregano, and so many of our other culinary herbs thrive in warm, well-draining soil. They’re a great option for raised beds, especially if you can place them somewhere near a door for easy access for quick additions to meals.

Summer Squash & Zucchini

In spring, raised beds always warm up faster than traditional garden beds. For heat-loving summer squash and zucchini, this is a great way to get a jump start on the season. They’re fast-growing and productive, so you’ll get plenty of squash even if you have minimal space.

Cucumbers

Cucumbers thrive in warm soil, so a raised bed can help you get an early start. Bush-type varieties like Spacemaster are ideal for small beds, or you can trellis larger varieties at the back of the bed to make the most of your space.

Sweet Potatoes

While sweet potatoes won’t work for very shallow raised beds, they do thrive if you have the space for them. The warm, loose soil of a raised bed is perfect for growing large sweet potatoes.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes thrive in warm, fertile soil and will perform well in raised beds if you have large enough beds and can provide a sturdy trellis. For smaller beds, stick to cherry-type tomatoes or determinate varieties, which offer a more compact, bush-like shape.

Peppers

Warm soil makes a noticeable difference in pepper plant growth! We even recommend waiting a month to mulch around pepper plants to allow the soil to warm up. The warm soil in raised beds can help you harvest peppers earlier. However, peppers do best in large raised beds. They need an uncrowded root system to produce the best yield.

Plants to Avoid in Raised Beds

Theoretically, you can grow anything in a raised bed. However, there are some features that make it tricky. As raised beds dry out quickly, crops like artichokes and asparagus thrive with plenty of moisture over a long season, which can be difficult to manage.

Your bed’s size and depth may also be a limiting factor. Deep-rooted crops like rhubarb and daikon radishes may need more space than a raised bed offers. Large or vigorous, sprawling plants like large indeterminate tomatoes, watermelons, and pumpkins can be tricky to support and manage in a limited space.

You should also avoid perennial crops that may spread aggressively in the bed, like mint or Jerusalem artichokes, as this could limit your production of other crops.

Garden Advice

Guide to Raised Bed Design

May 5, 2026 Jordan Charbonneau Leave a comment

Raised garden beds are a great choice for many gardeners. They allow you to turn unused space, like a rooftop or yard, into a productive garden. They can also make gardening more accessible for those with limited mobility. While there are many ways to make a raised bed, there are a few features you want to consider when designing a raised bed to have a productive vegetable garden.

Selecting a Site for Your Raised Beds

When choosing a spot for your raised beds, you want to consider the site’s accessibility, access to water, sunlight, and surface. Most people find they use their garden’s fresh produce more when it’s easy to harvest. If you can, placing raised beds near a door may encourage you to enjoy more fresh herbs in your recipes or fresh side salads. Passing them daily can also help you remember to weed, water, and harvest frequently.

Ideally, your beds should also be within reach of a hose or irrigation source. You can hand water raised beds, but lugging heavy watering cans isn’t most people’s idea of a good time.

Sunlight is perhaps most critical. Raised beds need to receive at least 6 to 8 hours of sunlight per day for your crops to thrive. Vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, and summer squash will all grow, produce, and ripen faster when they receive plenty of sunlight.

Last, think about what surface you will construct your raised beds on. Is it a front yard with good quality soil, a paved extra driveway spot, or a once abandoned lot for a community or urban garden? In an area with good soil, your plants will send roots down through the raised bed and into the ground. However, if you a growing in an area where the ground could be contaminated, construct a raised bed with a solid but permeable bottom so that water can drain out but your plant’s roots can grow down into the soil.

How Deep Should My Raised Bed Be?

Raised beds should be as deep as possible so that large crops like tomatoes, artichokes, and sweet potatoes have plenty of room to grow healthy roots. At a minimum, you want your raised bed to be 12 to 18 inches deep.

Unfortunately, many gardeners are limited by their budget or their space. If you don’t have the setup or budget for a deep raised bed, you can always focus on shallow-rooted crops like lettuce, strawberries, cilantro, spinach, onions, spring radishes, and other greens and herbs.

How Big Should My Raised Bed Be?

Raised beds can be any size that works for you! One thing to keep in mind is how far you can reach. We like to keep raised beds about 3 to 4 feet wide so that someone weeding or planting can easily reach into the center.

Having several shorter raised beds rather than one long one can also make them more accessible. Pathways all the way around your beds will allow you to maneuver to weed, harvest, water, or bring in wheelbarrow loads of compost. Keep pathways about 2 feet wide or wider for easy access.

You may also want to choose a unique design, like a keyhole or U-shaped raised bed, so that you can easily reach all of the garden without moving your position. These types of raised beds lifted onto tables or built tall are ideal for wheelchair access.

Laying out your raised bed positions with stakes and string or large pieces of cardboard can help you make the best choices for sizing and layout.

What Materials Should I Use for Construction?

There are so many materials you can use to construct raised beds, but there are a few things to consider, like your budget, the material’s longevity, its weight, and how easy it is to source. Many gardeners opt to create raised beds from materials that already have on hand or can find used.

Popular options for raised beds include bricks, stones, galvanized or powder-coated steel, or rot-resistant lumber like cedar, black locust, black cherry, oak (chestnut, bur, post, white), or Osage orange. Using reclaimed lumber or logs is another common choice, just keep in mind that most wood will rot fairly quickly and need to be replaced.

Some gardeners also use cinder blocks or cement blocks to create permanent raised beds. However, many of these contain fly ash, which is a byproduct of burning coal. Fly ash contains heavy metals and hazardous materials. While some sources indicate these blocks are safe for raised beds, we encourage gardeners to make their own decision.

You also want to avoid other materials that might leach toxins into your soil. These include railroad ties treated with creosote, used tires, pallet wood that has an “MB” stamp, meaning it’s treated with methyl bromide, or CCA-treated wood from prior to 2003 that contains toxins like arsenic and chromium. Painted wood may also be an issue if you don’t know the source. The paint could be lead paint. Lastly, some plastic materials could break down and leach toxins over time.

What Soil Should I Use?

One of the major expenses associated with raised beds is the soil to fill them. Unfortunately, it’s best not to just dig soil from the backyard. To fill your raised beds, you need soil that’s well-draining and rich in nutrients.

A mix of finished compost and high-quality topsoil or potting mix is a good option. We recommend about 50% to 60% topsoil and 40% to 50% compost. It’s best to purchase topsoil from a trusted local nursery, as many states lack any regulation on topsoil quality. If you have plenty of homemade compost, you can also opt to fill your beds entirely with it.

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange