Mulch flower beds?

what is an economic mulch for flower bed to keep weeds down that lasts.

Mulch flower beds?
Sometimes local authorities sell the compost or chopped tree bark clippings, that has been made from local collections, and I use this, as it's cheaper than commercially purchased equivalent stuff.





Mulching with decaying plant matter will help your soil retain water too, as well as supressing weeds. Eventually, it decomposes and gets taken down into the soil, by worms, and improves the soil qualiy, as well s adding nutrients. I also use spent tea bags, particularly around plants like roses, which have shallow roots, and thus need retained moisture. These can always be part buried with other mulches.





Another option, if you have any mushroom growers in your area, is to get their spent mushroom compost.





Overall, it's really worth retaining any waste plant matter in your garden, chopping, and either composting or using as a mulch.





If you want to invest a little more, there are weed suppressing plastic membranes, but as you want to save money, I'd not go for these.





Hope this helps. Good luck! Rob
Reply:I mulch everything with dead leaves that I have run through a shredder. Oak leaves keep the pH neutral and they look great shredded. I bought a vacuum/blower leaf eater from WalMart for $34 and use it religously. If you dont have leaves of your own, just cruise the neighborhood for the leaf bags that people leave out for garbage. And believe me, it keeps the weeds gone.