Why buy and lug heavy bags of mulch if you don't have to? For the past few years, I have been mulching my garden with pine needles and/or chopped leaves. There is a short window of opportunity in the fall to rake up the long, soft needles that certain conifers shed annually. Often, you can find these already raked into neat piles at curbside for you by homeowners. The snow fell really, really early here so I didn't get all the needles I needed. However, the extremely heavy snowfall also took down a lot of pine branches. I've been gathering up the bows and throwing them on the garden...it may even be easier than using the needles. Either way, it is free, easy to lift and will eventually enrich the soil (particularly if your soil needs more acid).
Chopped fall leaves don't look quite as attractive as the needles, but also work well. Just make sure the leaves are chopped up.
