Bulk ground covering? Mulch, whatever. Cheapest option?

[lxskllr]

Concrete rubble. You should be able to get it for the sole cost of the trucking. Everyone wants to get rid of it.

 

[Fiat1]

I ended up ripping out most of the landcape fabric when we moved into our house. Over the years, the mulch broke down and then weeds started growing on top of the fabric and into it. Made ripping out the weeds a pain in the ass.

Thinking about getting gravel, but don't really like the look of it.

Weed fabric is bad news the weeds can and do grow through it. When they do you can't get the root out by pulling the weed out. It's best just not to use weed fabric. I also ripped out ours from our beds.

 

[Sinsear]

buy it by the yard and have it delivered

This

 

[EagleKeeper]

Concrete rubble. You should be able to get it for the sole cost of the trucking. Everyone wants to get rid of it.

Looks shitty; unless using it for fill, it still would have to be broken down.

 

[BoomerD]

Concrete rubble. You should be able to get it for the sole cost of the trucking. Everyone wants to get rid of it.

Looks shitty; unless using it for fill, it still would have to be broken down.

But nothing quite says "Urban battlefield" like piles of rip-rap.

If the OP has kids, they can hide in it and play "Soldier and Terrorist."

 

[TheNinja]

I had a backyard area that I didn't care about one time and had a tree removal service deliver stuff to me for free. Many of these tree removal services and landscaping services will give you more than you want for free b/c otherwise they have to pay to get rid of it. I just called them, gave them my address and they dumped a huge dumptruck load on my yard.

A couple of negatives though
1. It was a huge ass pile that I had to move with a wheelbarrow to the areas I wanted it since the dump truck can't necessarily get close enough
2. It isn't the same size/type of wood throughout the mix. It's basically whatever crappy trees they removed recently.
3. It could contain molds and diseases if that's what was in the trees.

Like I said, for me it was perfect b/c I basically wanted to cover a large area with some sort of cover just to keep weeds away, but it was an area nobody could see and I didn't care about.

 

[BoomerD]

I had a backyard area that I didn't care about one time and had a tree removal service deliver stuff to me for free. Many of these tree removal services and landscaping services will give you more than you want for free b/c otherwise they have to pay to get rid of it. I just called them, gave them my address and they dumped a huge dumptruck load on my yard.

A couple of negatives though
1. It was a huge ass pile that I had to move with a wheelbarrow to the areas I wanted it since the dump truck can't necessarily get close enough
2. It isn't the same size/type of wood throughout the mix. It's basically whatever crappy trees they removed recently.
3. It could contain molds and diseases if that's what was in the trees.

Like I said, for me it was perfect b/c I basically wanted to cover a large area with some sort of cover just to keep weeds away, but it was an area nobody could see and I didn't care about.

Not a bad suggestion. The chippers that the commercial tree companies use tend to chip into fairly large pieces, (quarter-sized) but can usually be had fairly cheap.