# Playground mulch in a garden bed?



## pjm (Apr 11, 2008)

I've got a quick question about playground mulch being used in the garden beds around my yard and house. I have a play set that needs a new layer of mulch as the old stuff has pretty much been compacted by pounding little feet! I could also use some mulch for my gardens around my house and yard as I haven't put any in them yet either. My question is I am getting the mulch delivered and was thinking of getting about five yards. The playground mulch is $15 a yard with a $45 delivery charge which sounded pretty good. The red cedar mulch is $43 a yard with the same delivery charge. My question is what's the difference between playground and red cedar besides the obvious color? I'd like to get it all in one delivery load and save a few bucks by using the playground mulch. Any drawbacks to doing this?

Thanks in advance.


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## RegeSullivan (Dec 8, 2006)

What is the playground mulch? I bought shredded rubber mulch and the guy kept calling it playground mulch. It was a lot more then $15 per yard.


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## pjm (Apr 11, 2008)

It's definatly wood not rubber. I'm guessing shredded pine?


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## gma2rjc (Nov 21, 2008)

When I bought mulch to put under/around the swing set a couple years ago, I bought the certified playground mulch (because of state daycare licensing requirements). 

When I bought it, I asked the owner of the company what is different about this mulch that makes it 'certified' for playground use. He explained the process he had to go through sending a load of it to a lab in Lansing for them to test it. When the lab tested it, they had about 18" of sand, X number of inches of pea gravel on top of that and then about 12" of this mulch he was trying to have certified on top of it all. It cost him $1,000's to have it done.

When all is said and done, the playground mulch is not much, if any, different than other mulch. It's just mulch, a.k.a. woodchips.

I ordered 18 yards of it and had to put about 8" of it under/around the swing set and any other toys higher than 30" off the ground. The rest of it I used in my flower beds. 

Now, 3 years later, it's all gone. Time to start over! :yes:


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## pjm (Apr 11, 2008)

Thanks for the advice looks like I go with the playground mulch and see how it works.


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## gma2rjc (Nov 21, 2008)

Do you like the shredded rubber mulch Rege? 

I saw some at a home & garden show about 10 years ago. At that time the pieces of rubber were pretty chunky and big. To me it seemed like it would cause the kids to lose their footing and fall. I'm pretty sure they've improved it since then though. 

It was very expensive. But then again, you don't have to replace it every year or two like wood mulch.


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