Great gardens start at the Arlington County mulch pile! The leaves that the County carefully collects every fall are turned, through the miracle of composting, into a rich mulch for Arlington gardens. Veteran gardeners work the leaf mulch into their garden beds as a soil amendment to modify the hard-as-a-brick clay soil that afflicts this part of Virginia. Some gardeners also use the leaf mulch as a top dressing. Branches and tree debris that the County collects when trimming trees around power lines are chewed up into wood chip mulch.

You can get the mulch in two ways:

• True mulch fanatics favor the cart-your-own method. Our nearest mulch pile is located at 26th Street North, right opposite the Marymount Library. The mulch is free to Arlington residents only. County trucks deliver both leaf mulch (when available -- they tend to run out in late summer) and wood chip mulch sporadically. If the mulch bays are empty and you desperately need some mulch, you can call 703-228-6570 or email SWD@co.arlington.va.us. They will usually try to accommodate you, even on the weekend.
• For those who prefer home delivery, you can purchase truck loads of leaf mulch (when available); a 2 ½ cubic yard load is $15.00 delivered; 5 cubic yards will cost you $25.00. The County also delivers wood mulch at $30.00 for a 2 ½ cubic yard load and $50.00 for 5 cubic yards. (This is a whole lot of mulch to be sitting in your driveway, so unless you don't need access to your driveway for a while, plan on at least a day or two of intensive power-mulching to coincide with your delivery date.) You can order mulch on-line (with the costs added to your utility bill) or by printing out the form and sending it in.More Information

Mulchers who were dismayed when the County ran out of leaf mulch will be happy to learn that the mulch reserve is being replenished. Since the start of leaf collection in November 2001, the County has been grinding and anticipates being able to fill leaf mulch requests by the end of December 2001.

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