Question
I have a hillside home in San Diego where I'm currently clearing my hillside of English Ivy and ice plant.  The hillside is approx. 65' wide by 50'tall or deep.  I've cut walking paths and steps into the hillside so that I have easy access.  My plan is landscape the hillside with a combo of native trees, bushes and ground cover plants.  Initially, I plan on coving the bare soil with jute and a layer of mulch for erosion control and to kill any residual ivy.  I'll then bgein adding plants and trees to flesh out the hillside. How thick of a layer of mulch and what kind of mulch would you use?  There's so many options including the mulch provided by the City of San Diego at the Greenery.

Answer
Hey, Mark.

You didn't buy my other house, did you? LOL

I've probably tried all the mulches available, and the one I like best is one that you can buy at Home Depot. You can see a picture of the plastic bag at http://www.mywiseoldgrandmother.com/library/0056-mulch.jpg

There are several reasons why I like that: First, I've found that I can use it on flat ground or steep hillsides and it tends to stay in place because of its size. The really large stuff tends to slide around and, on hillsides, down. Second, it's easy to walk on barefoot, and for some strange reason I love walking around outside in the soil with bare feet (probably had something to do with growing up on a farm). Third, snails and slugs hate the small size because it has more sharp areas to cut their little tummies, which causes them to dehydrate and die. Not that I don't like snails and slugs, you understand. I just don't need a million of them all over the place at nighttime.

Although you didn't ask about native trees, bushes, and ground cover plants, I have a large file that I normally sell for $4.99 that discusses vegetation and has a lot of pictures of low-water-use plants, all of which were taken in San Diego County, and most of them on properties of mine. If you'll email me directly at [email protected], I'll provide it to you free of charge. I don't want to put the link on a public message board.

By the way, I'm in La Mesa.