Wood Chip Landscaping Ideas

How to use wood chips to fill out your garden, top up your soil and build pathways in your yard

Wood chips are a great byproduct from your yard waste because it has so many practical uses.

While there are many traditional uses for wood chips, including as animal bedding or fuel for biomass boilers or wood stoves, there are also plenty of landscaping uses for this excess material. 

So let's go over some of the ways you can use your wood chips in your yard as well as around your house and property.

What to do with Wood Chips?

Why are wood chips a practical landscaping resource for your property?

Wood chips are biodegradable and 100% organic. They decompose and add valuable nutrients back into the soil as they decay. Often leaves, plants and other green material is mixed into wood chips, but that's okay because it will all decompose and soften into mulch anyway.

This means no part of the tree has to go to waste. If you're doing routine tree trimming on your property, or you have to clear land and will have a lot of brush and branches that need to be chipped, you should come up with a plan for what to do with your pile of wood chips afterward.

Wood Chip Landscaping

Can you use wood chips to landscape, grade slopes and infill low-lying areas?

Yes! But you do have to be very careful because wood chips act very differently from other types of infill material. For example:

• • Dirt Fill: Dirt is the most common infill material used in landscaping. It compacts when it's pressed down, and can be built atop or used for gardening. It can also be easily dug up later either by hand or with an excavator. It's a versatile infill material that is used by the truckload everyday.

  • Sand or Gravel Fill: This is more useful for pathways and driveways, as well as for drainage and decoration. Gravel is a very common fill material, but has more specific uses compared to dirt.

  • Wood Chip Fill: This fill material is completely organic, which means it will decay and add to the soil base as it rots. This is great for when you need to fill low-lying areas and want to put nutrients back into the soil, but because this material compresses naturally over time, you should expect it will decrease to at least 25% of its mass from when you put it in.

Decomposition is one of the key reasons why wood chips make for great fill, but also why you don't want to use it in areas where you need flat, level land. If you plan on building a structure, you'll need more secure fill materials, but that doesn't mean wood chips don't have their uses. If you spread them out over an area, they can make for a great fill option.

Uses for wood chips as fill include:

Gardens

Use soil on top of wood chips and you have an all natural base that will decompose and refuel the soil over time. You can even mix wood chips with mulch and use as topsoil.

Low-Lying Areas

Have a divot or slope you want filled in but don't have the budget or access to soil? Wood chips make for a great fill material that decomposes over time, adding to the soil base as it goes. Refill as needed once every one or two years until you've achieved the desired grade.

Wet Areas

Have a swampy or especially damp section of land? Is one area particularly prone to flooding when it rains? Wood chips can help create pathways through these areas, which as they decay will help build up the soil over the water level. Just ensure you're following all local regulations regarding soil grades around bodies of water, and allow the water someplace to flow away from your home.

Soft Playground Bedding

Wood chips make for excellent bedding, not just for gardens, but also for playgrounds or anywhere that kids need a soft place to land. It's great for places that will see a lot of running around.

How to get wood chips

Now that we've gone over the value of wood chips to your garden or yard, how do you get some? Let's go over a few ideas.

Owning a Wood Chipper: Wood chippers are the best way to get wood chips, turning your unused yard waste into a valuable supply of wood chips. Routine tree branch trimming or tree removal can lead to a ton of wood chips to be used around your property for various landscaping purposes.

Ask a Tree Care Company: Tree service businesses produce a ton of wood chips, since they routinely chip entire trees for their jobs. Reach out to these companies and ask about purchasing or hauling away chips. They may even offer free wood chips, since it saves them the cost of throwing them away.

Know Someone Clearing Land: Do you know anyone who is currently clearing out trees to build a new home? Or is doing their own landscaping projects and they have a ton of wood waste? Don't let that material rot into mulch, reach out and ask if you can reuse it. Then either buy or rent a wood chipper and use it yourself.

Crowdsourced Chips: There are some online platforms and apps that make it easy for arborists to connect with gardeners and landscapers seeking wood chips. Sign up for these or check out Facebook Marketplace to see what's available.

Once you have your wood chips, you're able to dump them on your property, spread them out and start to build up your land with this useful resource.