Moisture
Bare soil in an Alabama summer loses water to evaporation all day. A mulch layer shades the surface and slows that down, so what falls or is applied stays available to the roots for longer.
HRH Lawn Care · Marshall County, Alabama
Mulch and Pine Straw
Delivered and installed. Mulch by the cubic yard, pine straw by the square foot.
What to expect
How it works
Mulch does far more than finish a bed off. It slows the loss of moisture, evens out the temperature of the soil and keeps weeds from getting a foothold, which is three problems handled by one afternoon's work. It also happens to be the cheapest way to make a bed look deliberate rather than accidental.
- Mulch delivered and installed at $85 per cubic yard, $100 minimum
- Pine straw delivered and installed from $0.40 per square foot, $85 minimum
- Color and texture chosen to suit the property
- Beds edged and weeded before anything goes down
- Re-mulching on a schedule so beds never get thin
What it does
Five things a mulched bed does that a bare one does not
Mulch is not decoration with a side benefit. A layer of organic material over the soil conserves moisture, moderates soil temperature, suppresses weed germination, reduces erosion, and defines the bed. The appearance is the fifth item on that list, not the first.
The visual effect is real too, and it is the cheapest way to make a property read as deliberate. A crisp mulch line does as much for how a house looks from the road as most of what is planted in the bed.
Temperature
The surface of bare soil swings hard between a July afternoon and a January night. Mulch flattens the extremes, which is easier on shallow roots than the alternative.
Weeds and erosion
Weed seed needs light and bare soil, and mulch removes both. On a slope or under a roofline it also takes the impact of falling water that would otherwise move soil out of the bed.
Material
Mulch or pine straw: what is different
Both are organic, both break down, and both do the same basic job. They differ in weight, in how they sit on a slope, in how they are measured and in how they look.
Neither is permanently correct for every bed. Pine straw is often the better answer on banks and around established pines; shredded mulch usually holds a sharper line in formal beds near the house. Where beds sit in constant runoff or against a drip line, bedding rock is sometimes the more sensible material altogether.
| Shredded mulch | Pine straw | |
|---|---|---|
| Sold and installed by | The cubic yard | The square foot |
| On a slope | Can float and move in heavy runoff | Knits together and tends to stay put |
| Weight and handling | Heavier, denser layer | Light, airy layer |
| Look | Dark, formal, holds a crisp edge | Softer, natural, common under pines |
| Refreshing | Topped up as it breaks down and fades | Topped up as it flattens and thins |
Current rates for both are on the service prices page. Because they are measured differently, an estimate needs the bed area either way.
Depth
How much is enough, and how much is too much
A moderate, even layer does the work. Going deeper does not do it better, and past a point it starts working against the bed.
Too shallow is easy to spot: light is still reaching the soil, weeds are coming through, and the surface dries out between waterings. That layer is not doing much except looking recent.
Too deep is the more common mistake and the more damaging one. A very thick layer can shed light rain before it ever reaches the root zone, hold the ground wetter and cooler than the planting wants, and restrict the air exchange the roots need. Plants in a bed that has been over-mulched for years can decline slowly and for no reason anyone connects to the mulch.
The other rule is about placement rather than depth: mulch is kept back off stems and trunks. Material piled against the base of a shrub or heaped up the flare of a tree holds damp bark permanently, invites rot and pests, and encourages roots up into the mulch. Beds are finished with the material pulled clear of the plants rather than volcanoed around them.
Refresh or replace
Topping up, and when it is better to strip it out
Organic mulch is supposed to break down; that is part of how it feeds the soil. Most beds want topping up rather than replacing, and a top-up is cheaper than a reset.
Refreshing means turning and loosening what is there, weeding it, and adding enough new material to bring the layer back to depth and the color back. That is the normal annual job on a bed that has been kept up.
Replacing makes sense when the existing layer has become part of the problem: where years of top-ups have built up far past a useful depth, where the layer has matted into a crust that sheds water, or where it is full of weed seed and starting again is genuinely faster than fighting it. That gets looked at and quoted rather than assumed.
Beds are edged and weeded before anything new goes down. Putting fresh material over an unweeded bed buys a few weeks and no more.
Estimating
How cubic yards and square feet turn into a price
Mulch is bought and installed by volume, so an estimate needs the area of the beds and the depth they are being taken to. Pine straw is priced by the area covered, so it needs the area alone.
A cubic yard is a volume: it is the amount of material, not the amount of ground it covers. How far a yard goes depends entirely on how deep it is spread, which is why two properties with the same bed area can need different amounts. That is also why "how many yards do I need" is a question that has to start with measuring the beds.
Pine straw priced by the square foot is more direct: measure the beds, apply the rate. The variable there is how thick the coverage is being laid and how much is needed at the edges.
In both cases the estimate is done on site and free. Beds are measured, the material and depth are agreed, and the figure covers delivery and installation rather than dropping a pile on the drive.
Also handled here
Related services
Flower Bed Maintenance
Weeding, treating and tidying the beds so the planting you paid for is the thing people notice.
What bed work covers
Seasonal Flowers
Color changed out with the seasons, so the property does not look the same in February as it does in June.
How color is planned
Bedding Rock and Gravel
Pebble, river rock and gravel laid in beds and borders where mulch is not the right answer.
Rock we installLawn and property care guide
More on this, in detail
Our summers stress cool-season grass and our winters stress the warm-season kinds, so advice written for anywhere else is wrong here in one direction or the other. These are written for this county.
Shade, drainage, compaction and thatch
The site problems that defeat everything else: too little light, water that will not leave, soil that has been squeezed flat, and a thatch layer that keeps roots out of the ground.
Read the soil and site guideWhy a lawn goes brown, yellow, thin or patchy
The patterns that tell drought from disease from insect damage from mower damage, and the point at which guessing costs more than a visit.
Read the brown or thin lawn guideAnswers
Questions about mulch and pine straw
How much is mulch and pine straw?
Mulch is delivered and installed at $85 per cubic yard with a $100 minimum. Pine straw is delivered and installed starting at $0.40 per square foot with an $85 minimum.
Should I use mulch or pine straw?
Both do the same basic job and neither is right everywhere. Pine straw knits together and tends to stay put on slopes, and it looks at home around established pines. Shredded mulch is heavier, holds a crisper line in formal beds near the house, and is measured and sold by the cubic yard rather than by the square foot.
Can you put down too much mulch?
Yes, and it is the more common mistake. A very thick layer can shed light rain before it reaches the root zone, hold the ground wetter and cooler than the planting wants, and restrict air to the roots. Mulch is also kept clear of stems and trunk flares rather than heaped around them, because bark held permanently damp invites rot and pests.
How do you work out how much mulch a bed needs?
By measuring. Mulch is sold and installed by the cubic yard, which is a volume rather than an area, so how far a yard goes depends on the depth it is spread to. Pine straw is priced by the square foot, so it needs the bed area alone. Either way the estimate is done on site and it is free.
Service area
Serving Marshall County and the surrounding area
Crews run out of Guntersville and work across the county all week. These are the communities we look after.
- ServingGuntersville
- ServingAlbertville
- ServingArab
- ServingBoaz
- ServingSardis City
- ServingDouglas
- ServingGrant
- ServingHorton
- ServingSnead
Properties throughout Marshall County are looked after by crews running out of 5378 AL Highway 79 South in Guntersville.
HRH Lawn Care Services
Not sure what your property needs?
Call and ask. We would rather come and look at it than guess over the phone, and it does not cost you anything either way.