[aubergine]

Hi

I am wanting to put a mulch down around my newly planted fruit bushes - blackcurrent, redcurrent, gooseberry.

Are the bark chippings you get at a garden centre, B&Q etc ok to use or have they been treated with something that makes them unsuitable - or can anybody recommend anything else.

Thank you

Aubergine

[Stree]

I have heard it mentioned that the timber leeches nitrogen out of the soil, and I would have thought it therefore not suitable, however no direct experience because I don't use bark mulch apart from occasionally in the chicken run

[aubergine]

Thank you for the information Stree

Regards

Aubergine

[Trillium]

Not sure if you get the same in the UK, but over here you can get both red and dark coloured wood chips, both of which leach colour into the soil and apparently aren't good for the soil.
If you find you can't get them at a good price or are leery of their use, then use loads of old straw (never hay) to mulch. Straw will break down over the years and add tilth and you simply keep topping it up every year. I'm sure lots of farmers have old straw they'd like to be rid of either free or cheaply. Old leaves would work but in the first storm they'd blow away.