And I''ll agree with porkpal's agreement.
The mulch here is more for summer protection, to keep the soil from drying out, or from compaction from driving rains.
Cotton burr compost is something I add when I plant new roses. Sometimes it goes in the hole, but usually it's just top dressing. My soil is fabulous, but I add bags of manure or mushroom compost if it's a HT or something that's zone 7, like Dolly Parton. Every other year, I order an 18 ton load of 3 year old shredded compost. It's a mixture of alfalfa and horse poop, basically horse stall cleanings. This entrepreneur near me gets paid to clean out stalls from all the ritzy horse farms around here. He takes it and runs it through a big shredding machine and lets it sit for a minimum of 2 years, then shreds it again. My husband buys me the truckload for my birthday in June. So romantic. It takes me all year to use the whole pile. I won't get it this year because I'm asking for garden benches instead. i'll get several big truckloads of wood mulch, though. They are free and this year the tree companies will be glad to bring it to me because they are still cleaning up trees damaged by the tornado.
It's a shame to see people taking downed trees to the landfill when they could be shredded and used to improve soil. I have some weeds where I need mulch--better give the tree company a call tomorrow, don't know why they haven't been by here yet! I sure don't want to have to pay for mulch!
The mountain I had last year is gone.
