I think many people, myself included, are totally confused by the word fines, when it comes to pine fines. Way back when, I was hoping that the mulch I had purchased was considered fines. There was a thread about this at the time, so I posted a picture. Turns out what I had wasn't even close! My mulch was much smaller than fines, and I didn't think it was actually that small. In my head, fines meant REALLY fine. Michele (Tink) posted a picture of the pine fines that she just had delivered, and that cleared up the confusion for me. I wish I knew where that thread was, because it was so helpful. If anyone has a picture of actual pine fines, it would be helpful for everyone to see exactly what it is!
When we bought our house three years ago, we realized that the mulch in the walkway around the house needed to be replaced. It was worn out, and some of it had composted at the bottom, and it was on top of plastic that needed to be replaced anyway. I dug it all out and moved it to the edge of our shop, making a narrow flower bed there. I started plants from seed indoors and later moved them there. This area is pretty much mulch with some composed mulch, on top of mostly gravel. I'm shocked at how well the plants did! They are massive! I've never had any plants grow that well in just soil, even if it is amended. The only thing different is that they are growing in mostly mulch. I'm very impressed!
