More About Our Products

Mulches

Midnight Mulch™ – A beautiful black mulch.

Here’s a cool story behind the creation of Midnight Mulch™, the best black mulch in Nashville!

In the 1990s, Tony Emmanuel, founder of The Mulch Company, was on one of many tours of the Jack Daniel’s Distillery. The distillery is a Nashville icon and Tony has always enjoyed taking visiting friends and family members to tour the distillery, and then to lunch at Miss Mary Bobo’s Boarding House & Restaurant.

One of the tour guides recognized Tony from his many visits, and offered him a behind the scenes look at the filtering process for whiskey production. Jack Daniel’s whiskey is filtered through a special type of granulated charcoal. After the charcoal was used to purify a whiskey batch, the charcoal was dumped in heaps out behind the Jack Daniel’s Distillery. Tony saw these heaps, and knowing that black mulch was in high demand, he had an idea. A consultation with Tony’s business partner, an appointment with the Jack Daniel’s management, some charcoal testing with a soil scientist’s help, and several truckloads later, The Mulch Company was the new owner of huge piles of charcoal! Soon after, Midnight Mulch™ was created, a beautiful, soil-amending mix of aged oak, ash, maple, other hardwoods, leaf compost, and charcoal.

As it turns out, charcoal helps make the best mulch! Charcoal has horticultural value as it is a natural soil purifier. It helps remove chemicals from the soil that may have accumulated due to the overuse of artificial fertilizers. Not only does the charcoal give the Midnight Mulch™ a deep, gorgeous black aesthetic look, but charcoal-based types of mulch help rejuvenate and purify the soil.

Mocha Mulch™ – A rich, brown hardwood mulch with leaf compost.

Our Mocha Mulch™ is our most affordable mulch because all of the ingredients we use to make it are readily available to us. For example, the Midnight Mulch™ comes in at a higher price point because pure charcoal must be imported to our mulch yards for processing. But with our popular Mocha Mulch™, we can get all of the natural ingredients we need to make it from local sources right here in Nashville.

Here is a smart gardener’s tip for Mocha Mulch™! Because this garden mulch product is natural and organic, it does weather at the surface. Rain and sun will eventually change and lighten the color of the organic mulch after perhaps three or four months. To remedy this, take a leaf rake with flexible tongs and scrape off the top quarter-inch of Mocha Mulch™, and it will look brand new again. Place the scraped-off bits onto your compost heap. Because it is a 100% natural product, it will be a great addition to your compost!

Piney Mulch™ – A premium pine bark mulch.

Gardeners use Piney Mulch™ because of its acidic nature and because of its aesthetic appeal. Piney Mulch™ is made from 100% pine bark. Some plants and shrubs thrive in acidic conditions and need a good acid-based mulch and soil to help boost growth. Roses, azaleas, and rhododendrons love acidic soil, hence the appeal of pine bark mulch.

Much of Tennessee rests on limestone shelf rock. Limestone is very alkaline, which is why pine trees do not grow in great numbers in Tennessee. We have to source our pine bark from states to the south of us, like Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. Sourcing from afar means more freight costs and a higher priced mulch. However, the nutritional benefits of Piney Mulch™ for your plants and the product’s deep reddish brown luster make this beautiful mulch worth every penny.

Piney Nuggets™ – Decorative pine bark nuggets.

Piney Nuggets™ come from the bark of pine trees. Piney Nuggets™ are 100% pine bark.

So what’s the difference between Piney Mulch™ and Piney Nuggets™? When bark is removed from a pine tree with a debarker, the removed material is just bark. No wood. That is Piney Nuggets™. However, when the Piney Nuggets™ are run through another machine, a grinder, the nuggets are ground down to make Piney Mulch™, a finer, smaller-size mulch product. Piney Mulch™ and Piney Nuggets™ are made from the same ingredient, pine bark, but it is the difference in the size of each product that sets the two apart. Both products are considered some of the best mulch in Nashville, and both have excellent properties for acid-loving plants. The distinction is simply one of personal preference and aesthetic interest.

Playsoft Playground Mulch™ – A soft mulch nationally certified for use in playgrounds.

Playsoft Playground Mulch™ is designed specifically for children’s playgrounds. When this product is installed in the fall zones of a playground at a depth of eight inches or more, it helps cushion a child’s fall. The fall zones are those areas around playground equipment, such as monkey bars, swings, and slides.

To make the mulch, we grind virgin wood chips in our grinder (no recycled materials whatsoever). We grind the wood chips into mulch that is so fine it will absorb a child’s fall. Our Playsoft Playground Mulch™ is inspected and certified by the International Playground Equipment Manufacturer’s Association. The product complies fully with their standards, giving you an organic, safe, soft, impact-absorbing mulch product.

Walking Trailmix™ – A mulch for walking paths or trails.

Walking Trailmix™ is the same mulch product as our Chocolate Chip Mulch™, except without the colorant. This mulch is shredded into the size of a postage stamp and is perfect for walking trails, garden paths, and natural sidewalks. If you are planning a vegetable or flower garden, consider installing Walking Trailmix™ in the garden. Design your garden in a grid pattern with six feet beds and Walking Trailmix™ on either side. This way, you are not compacting the soil when you walk on it, as the Walking Trailmix™ will absorb the impact of your footsteps and wheelbarrow wheels.

Using Walking Trailmix™ in a garden keeps foot traffic out of the growing areas. And ergonomically speaking, it is much easier to lean over and work in a garden patch when you have Walking Trailmix™ installed on both sides of the garden bed.

Chocolate Chip Mulch™ – A beautiful, long-lasting, deep brown mulch.

One of our most popular products, Chocolate Chip Mulch™ gets its name from the deep brown color achieved during processing. The mulch is ground to the size of a postage stamp, perfect for gardens, flower beds, shrubs, and trees. While the mulch is being ground, we color the mulch with a liquid blend of iron oxide and granulated charcoal. Not only are both colorants free of chemicals or artificial additives, but both iron oxide and granulated charcoal have distinct horticultural benefits:

Iron oxide is commonly used in gardens if the soil is deficient in iron. You can tell your soil has an iron deficiency if your plant leaves appear more yellow than green. With iron oxide added to the soil, plants receive the iron they need to grow healthy, strong, and green!

Granulated charcoal acts as a soil purifier. Charcoal attracts the harmful parts of artificial fertilizers (like soluble salts) that tend to build up in over-fertilized soil. The granulated charcoal used to color Chocolate Chip Mulch™ has the added benefit of cleansing the soil and removing harmful chemicals that can stunt plant growth.

For a longer-lasting, dark colored mulch that significantly improves overall plant growth and health, choose Chocolate Chip Mulch™!

Soils

Tip Top Soil™ – A premium topsoil.

Having a difficult time getting a lawn to grow on that patch in your yard? Just bought a newly-built home and you’re trying to grow a healthy lawn? Looking for the best topsoil in Nashville?

Any time after Labor Day and before Thanksgiving is a great time to plant new grass seed for your lawn. Use a cool season grass seed, like fescue. Do it right, and you’ll have a beautiful, healthy, verdant yard by next spring:

Here are three easy steps for doing it right with Tip Top Soil™:

1. Rather than tilling or raking your existing lawn, lay some Tip Top Soil™ over your existing lawn. Remember, you want 100% of the grass seed you plant to germinate, and a layer of Tip Top Soil™ is the best way to accomplish that.
2. The soil base creates an excellent environment for germination. Seed directly over the Tip Top, then cover it with straw.
3. As soon as you see grass shoots coming out of the ground, fertilize with a low-nitrogen fertilizer. And how can you tell which fertilizer is low-nitrogen? Take a look at the N, P, and K numbers on the fertilizer bag. A low nitrogen fertilizer will be the one with the “N,” (the first number of the three) as the lowest of the three numbers printed on the bag. Using such a fertilizer will ensure the grass roots receive the majority of fertilizer nutrients.

Gourmet Compost™ – A superior leaf compost.

Whether you’re getting ready to plant or transplant shrubs or trees, Gourmet Compost™ is a smart gardener’s secret tool for creating a successful transplant. When it comes to landscaping material, Gourmet Compost™ is the best soil for amending a planting site. Remember, Tennessee soil has a naturally high clay content, hence the need for Gourmet Compost™ to improve your garden’s natural planting conditions:

1. Schedule your planting accordingly! The best time to plant new shrubs and trees is in the fall.
2. Dig your hole to the correct width and depth for your chosen plant. Mix the dug-out soil with Gourmet Compost™ on a 1:1 ratio.
3. Place your chosen plant in the hole, and fill the hole with the amended soil. The Gourmet Compost™ will improve the soil’s organic content on its own, but don’t forget to water and fertilize as needed.

Ultra Potting Soil™ – The best potting soil.

Ultra Potting Soil™ combines the nutrient-rich components of the Gourmet Compost™ with the natural acidity of pine bark fines. The pH level of pine bark fines is quite acidic, at about 4 on the pH scale, creating a perfect growing environment for plants without requiring chemicals or artificial additives.

Ultra Potting Soil™ is perfect for the gardener who’s looking to cultivate healthy plants without using added chemicals. With that in mind, here are a few acid-loving plants you might like to have in your yard or garden:

• Azaleas
• Rhododendrons
• Hollies
• Gardenias
• Magnolias
• Hydrangeas

A smart gardener’s tip for the next time you plant these plants:

Dig your hole for each plant, but don’t add the dug-out soil back into the hole. Instead, re-plant with Ultra Soil™, and mulch on top with Piney Fines. Doing so gives the plant a healthy, acidic environment without the use of chemical additives.

Raingarden Soil™ – Ideal for bioretention ponds.

New building codes require that water coming off of a property cannot go directly into the city’s stormwater system. The water first has to go into a special pond called a “bioretention pond” or “rain garden pond.” Such ponds are full of a particular type of soil called Raingarden Soil™. Various plants also grow in bioretention ponds.

When it rains, water runoff from roofs, sidewalks, parking lots, and driveways collects in the bioretention pond. From there, the water slowly dissipates through the soil on its way to the stormwater drain. Not only does the Raingarden Soil™ catch much of the chemicals, oils, refuse, salt, and other particles in the stormwater, but the Raingarden Soil™ helps prevent flooding and an overburdening of the city’s stormwater drains. A Clean Water Initiative, Raingarden Soil™ is highly beneficial for the environment and serves as a natural way to reduce stormwater runoff problems.

Piney Fines™ – The best soil conditioner.

Want to get the most out of your garden? Thanks to their natural acidity and unique composition, Piney Fines™ are a first-choice when gardeners look for the best topsoil in Nashville. The pH scale runs from 1 to 11, and Piney Fines™ are down at around 4. That makes for a naturally acidic soil base. Wise gardeners will often mix Piney Fines™ at a 1:1 ratio with their existing soil. Then they’ll plant their tomatoes and other acid loving plants in the amended soil. Piney Fines™ are a great way to produce healthy tomato plants, roses, azaleas, rhododendrons, and other acid-loving plants without resorting to chemicals or potentially toxic additives.