Best Gardening Mulches of 2025

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Gardening mulches are a type of material used to cover the soil surface around plants. They can come in various forms such as shredded leaves, wood chips, grass clippings, or straw. The primary purpose of mulching is to help retain soil moisture, suppress weed growth, regulate soil temperature, and improve soil health. Mulching also adds nutrients to the soil as it breaks down over time. It is an easy and effective way to improve the overall appearance and health of your garden.
At a Glance: Our Top Picks
Top 10 Gardening Mulches
YouGarden Strulch Natural Mulch for Gardens
The YouGarden Strulch Mulch offers an organic solution to keeping weeds and slugs at bay in your garden. By simply spreading this natural straw mulch around your plants, you can significantly reduce the presence of unwanted weeds. It’s ideal for creating a protective edging for your plants and borders, ensuring they remain both slug-free and weed-free. Plus, you won’t need to rely on harsh chemical weed killers, making this mulch a cleaner, safer choice for your gardening needs.
Strulch Mineralised Straw Mulch for Gardening
Strulch Mulch is an excellent choice for gardeners looking to improve their outdoor spaces. It can reduce weed growth by up to 95%, saving you time and effort in maintaining your garden. Additionally, it helps retain moisture around your plants, ensuring they have the hydration they need to thrive. Enriching the soil and its structure, this mulch supports healthy plant growth, whether you have flowers, shrubs, fruit, or vegetables. With its added minerals, it also deters slugs and snails, protecting your plants from these pests.
Strulch Organic Mulch and Slug Repellent
Strulch Garden Mulch offers an effective, natural solution for weed and slug control in your garden. By spreading this organic mulch around your plants, you can reduce weed growth without the need for harsh chemicals. It's particularly beneficial for strawberries, ensuring a cleaner and healthier start for your crops. Additionally, the mineralised straw mulch is ideal for creating attractive garden edging, helping to keep your borders weed-free while deterring slugs. With two 9kg bags supplied directly to your door, maintaining a thriving garden has never been easier.
YouGarden Ornamental Spruce Bark Mulch 70L
YouGarden Spruce Bark Mulch offers an excellent solution for weed control in your garden. This UK-grown mulch helps retain soil moisture, which means you won’t need to water as frequently. It’s perfect for flower beds and borders, and can also serve as a natural surface for pathways and play areas. Additionally, this mulch is sustainably sourced, making it an eco-friendly choice for your gardening needs.
60 Litre Garden Mulch for Improved Water Retention
The 60 Litre Garden Mulch enhances your garden's appearance while providing essential benefits. This decorative mulch suppresses weed growth, reducing the need for constant maintenance. It also preserves soil moisture during hot weather, ensuring your plants thrive. Additionally, it absorbs more water and releases it gradually, helping your plants flourish. The nutrient-rich composition promotes healthy growth, making it ideal for any gardening project.
BHGS Strulch Organic Garden Straw Mulch 9kg
The BHGS Strulch Garden Mulch is an effective solution for your gardening needs. It reduces weed growth by up to 95%, allowing you to enjoy a tidier garden with less effort. This mulch also enriches the soil and its structure, promoting healthier plant growth. Additionally, its unique properties help deter slugs and snails, protecting your flowers and vegetables. Plus, it retains moisture around your plants, ensuring they stay hydrated during dry spells. With this mulch, you can create a thriving garden with minimal hassle.
Strulch Mineralised Straw Garden Mulch 100 Litre
Strulch Garden Mulch is a versatile gardening solution that combines weed control, pest deterrence, and fertilisation. This environmentally friendly mulch serves as a sustainable alternative to peat compost, helping to reduce environmental impact. You can enjoy lasting weed control for up to two years, allowing you to spend less time weeding and more time enjoying your garden. Additionally, it enriches and improves soil structure, promoting healthier plant growth and enhancing your garden's overall appearance.
Wooden Bark Mulch for Garden Decoration
The Sobex Bark Mulch is a natural choice for your garden. It is free from harmful substances, ensuring the safety of your plants. This mulch is especially effective for weed control, helping you maintain tidy borders and beds. Additionally, it enhances the appearance of large vegetation, such as conifers and ornamental shrubs. Supplied in a convenient 20-litre bag, it offers an easy way to beautify your garden while promoting healthy plant growth.
Hardys 75L Pine Bark Chippings for Gardens
Hardys Bark Chippings are an excellent choice for enhancing your garden. They effectively suppress weeds, helping to keep your flower beds tidy and attractive. The bark chips also insulate plant roots, providing protection against extreme weather conditions, which can prevent moisture loss. As they decompose gradually, these chippings enrich your soil, promoting healthy plant growth. Additionally, their decorative nature adds a beautiful touch to borders and pots, making your outdoor space more inviting.
Melcourt Spruce Ornamental Bark Mulch 60L
Melcourt Bark Mulch is a high-quality conifer bark, perfect for enhancing your garden borders and landscaped areas. The recommended 10cm depth helps effectively suppress weeds while retaining moisture in your flower beds. This mulch is also endorsed by the RHS, ensuring that you are using a reliable product. With a new 60L pack size for this season, it provides excellent value and versatility for all your gardening needs.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. What does mulching mean?
: a protective covering (as of sawdust, compost, or paper) spread or left on the ground to reduce evaporation, maintain even soil temperature, prevent erosion, control weeds, enrich the soil, or keep fruit (such as strawberries) clean.
2. What type of mulch is best?
Shredded bark is one of the best mulch types to use on slopes and it breaks down relatively slowly. Some shredded bark mulches are byproducts from other industries and are considered environmentally friendly.
3. What is mulching and its advantages?
Mulching is generally used to improve the soil around plants, but it also gives your garden a neat, tidy appearance and can reduce the amount of time spent on tasks such as watering and weeding. Mulches help soil retain moisture in summer, prevent weeds from growing and protect the roots of plants in winter.
4. Which mulch is best to prevent weeds?
Bark mulch is the best choice for use as a weed suppressant as it inhibits weeds in two critical ways. First, by applying a thick layer covering the soil, bark mulch deprives the weed seeds in the soil, and their resulting seedlings, of the sunlight desperately needed to germinate and thrive.
During our gardening mulch research, we found 182 gardening mulch products and shortlisted 10 quality products. We collected and analyzed 23,166 customer reviews through our big data system to write the gardening mulches list. We found that most customers choose gardening mulches with an average price of £18.51.
The gardening mulches are available for purchase. We have researched hundreds of brands and picked the top brands of gardening mulches, including YouGarden, Strulch, STORM TRADING GROUP, BHGS, Thompson & Morgan. The seller of top 1 product has received honest feedback from 565 consumers with an average rating of 4.8.

Toby Butcher is a Horticulturist, and he earned his title as a Master Gardener in 2016. Toby has acquired a 25-year experience as a home gardener planting, designing, grooming vegetables and flowers. He is the leader of a plant group in Durham. Toby owns a blog where he publishes articles on growing and growing your flowers at home, in a vase, or in a garden.