Mulch Ado About Something

Spring finally arrived this past weekend. It felt so great to get outside and do a bit of yard work. I have quite a few piles of leaves scattered around the lawn. They look like termite mounds. Speaking of termites...I've been getting some emails about cheap mulch. Seems that the trees that were destroyed by Hurrican Katrina and Rita have been chipped up and sold for garden mulch. Unfortunately, these trees come with a terminte infestation that has no known remedy. I don't know if this is urban legend or truth, but I'm sticking to the more expensive mulch from my local garden supplyer and not going for the Home Depot discount on this. As an environmental scientist, I know that one of the easiest ways introduce non-indiginous species to an area is by unsuspecting transportation. It's how the zebra muscle came to our shores, how the brown snake got to Guam, and how many biological crisis first begin. So watch your mulch!