A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free! We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.
Address: Miramar Greenery / Landfill – 5180 Convoy Street, San Diego, CA 92111 (Miramar / Kearny Mesa)
Date and Time: Monday – Friday 7 AM to 4 PM, Saturday – Sunday 7 AM to 4:30 PM
Best For: Reducing water usage, increasing plant life, healthier neighborhoods
San Diego Sunflower with mulch.
It’s officially spring on the calendar, although in San Diego the type of weather associated with spring can be found in any month of the year. Spring is known as a time of planting and renewal of life. If you’re adding tomatoes and peppers to your garden or planting shrubs or trees you may find the use of mulch to be a helpful tool to increase your success rate. In San Diego residents can pick up free mulch at the Miramar Greenery (part of the Miramar Landfill).
The Miramar Greenery is open 361 days a year and residents are welcome to 2 cubic yards of 4″ mulch or compost to take home. For an idea of size, 1 cubic yard is equal to the size of six 32-gallon trash cans.
A Ceanothus with mulch
The mulch is made from 100% recycled yard trimmings and is processed in a composting windrow for 15 days. The Greenery also has other types of mulch, wood chips, and compost available for sale if needed. Before heading out to pick up your mulch give them a call at (858) 492-6100 to confirm availability of product.
Why use mulch?
The Cochise County Extension in Arizona gives the following reasons:
- Mulching prevents moisture loss, therefore extending periods of watering by days, sometimes even by weeks!
- By shading the soil, mulches inhibit weed growth. What weeds do get through are easy to pull, and weeding will decrease as time goes by.
- Keeps soil from splashing onto plant leaves, thereby reducing certain diseases.
- Matching the right mulch to the type of plant or crop can enhance plant growth.
- Gravel or rock mulches can prevent rainwater runoff.
- Best of all, mulches reduce work and adds a finishing touch to the landscape.
Less water, less weeds, less work, healthier plants – does it get any better?
If you prefer to have mulch delivered there are many landscaping and tree trimming companies in town that take requests for free mulch. Most of them require acceptance of a larger amount of mulch (20 cubic yards is the amount I’ve most often seen) and to have access for a large truck to dump the product. A couple of examples of this service include the forestry group and San Diego Tree Care.
A free Camellia tree from Craigslist.
Another option is to look on Craigslist. I’ve received free fill dirt and many free trees and plants from Craigslist ads in the past and there is always a variety of free plants, dirt, mulch, rock, and other landscaping items in the Free section of San Diego Craigslist.
Happy gardening and here’s to a greener future (literally and figuratively) in San Diego!
John P. Anderson
Latest posts by John P. Anderson (see all)
- Plaza De Panama – A Host of People-First Changes Make a Big Impact in Balboa Park - March 17, 2016
- Some Market Thoughts on Short-Term Rentals in San Diego - February 2, 2016
- San Diego County Spends $36 Million for Free Employee Parking - November 6, 2015
I used this compost a couple decades ago and it was FULL of weed seeds. Now I worry about what kinds of pesticides and herbicides are in it, like neonicotinoids, which are contributing to honeybee hive failures. It may look like a great deal, but not if it’s killing your plants and your pollinators!
Thanks for listening.
Holly – I’m sorry to hear you had a bad experience. The quality of the mulch is contingent on the quality of the inputs and as you note, if residents use pesticides on their green waste it will likely be found in the mulch as well. A good reminder of the importance for all of us to use healthy practices in our yards – it’s not always just our own families our choices impact.