High Quality Mulch Delivered to your Driveway for Free

Update April/2012: because of budget cuts the City’s Urban Forestry division (they do the tree trimmings) no longer makes free home deliveries but they do say this: “You are welcome to come to our facility located at 11701 Blucher Ave. Granada Hills 91344 between the hours of 6:30 am and 3:00 pm Monday through Friday. We will be happy to give you all the mulch you can handle.” There is a minimum of 15 cubic yards and you should contact them in advance at 213-923-3109 - details here.

Update May/2012: an alternative is to use the compost and mulch from Lopez Canyon (what comes from the green containers, but ground up). They have three grades and they will home deliver a truckload. The first grade is compost, which contains horse manure and is terrific as soil but it is smelly. Possibly there is a fee for this (I need to check). Their second grade is a mix of compost and mulch and it is highly regarded. They also have a plain mulch but it is not as clean as the one mentioned above - bits of trash get ground up with it - but it’s still useful for most gardens.

Obviously a truckload is a lot of mulch so if you don’t have a large property, you may need to split it with a neighbor or have somewhere to store it. But it’s a lot more cost effective than buying it in bags at retail. One caution: if you have a narrow driveway they may come by first to see if they can get the truck into it. Contact Jim Kurz at james.kurz@lacity.org and keep after him - he’s a busy man. You will need to first fill out a delivery form.

Finally, another alternative for free mulch is to go and pick some up at the NE corner of Balboa Park near the Tillman Plant at 15800 Victory Blvd. San Fernando Valley, CA 91406, with the entrance south of Densmore at Victory. Mulch is delivered on Mondays. Hours of operation: Monday-Friday 7:00AM-4:30PM and Saturday 8:00AM-12:00PM. Link here.