Your Guide: Can I Put Pine Shavings In My Garden?

Yes, you can put pine shavings in your garden, but you need to be careful about how you use them. They can be helpful for paths or mixed into compost, but putting fresh shavings straight onto garden beds or digging them into the soil can cause problems. These issues include taking nitrogen away from plants and possibly making the soil more acidic over time.

Can I Put Pine Shavings In My Garden
Image Source: lookaside.instagram.com

Why Think About Pine Shavings?

Many people look for ways to use things they have on hand in their garden. Pine shavings are often easy to find, especially if you have pets like chickens or rabbits. They can seem like a cheap or free material to use. But before you spread them around, it’s good to know the good parts and the bad parts.

What Are Pine Shavings?

Pine shavings are small pieces of wood from pine trees. They are often leftovers from woodworking or used as bedding for animals. They are light and fluffy when dry. They have a nice pine smell at first.

Where Do They Come From?

Most pine shavings come from sawmills, lumber yards, or places that make wood products. They are the bits and pieces shaved off wood. Animal bedding companies also sell them. Make sure the shavings you get are just wood. Avoid wood that has been treated with chemicals.

Pros of Using Pine Shavings

There are some nice benefits to using pine shavings in certain ways in your garden.

Good Points for Your Garden

Help Control Weeds: A layer of pine shavings can block sunlight from reaching weed seeds in the soil. This helps fewer weeds grow.
Keep Soil Moist: A layer on top of the soil can help stop water from drying out too fast. This means you water less often.
Protect Soil: Shavings can protect the soil from heavy rain. They stop the rain from packing the soil down hard. They also help stop soil from washing away.
Improve Soil Over Time (When Composted): If you compost pine shavings well, they break down into good stuff for the soil. This adds organic matter. Organic matter makes soil better at holding water and nutrients.
Make Nice Paths: Pine shavings make a soft path between garden beds. They feel good to walk on. They help keep your feet clean and out of the mud.
Often Cheap or Free: You might be able to get pine shavings at a low cost or even for free from local sources. This can save you money on garden materials.
Look Nice: A layer of fresh pine shavings can give a garden a clean, tidy look.

Weighing the Bad Points

Even though there are good points, you must know the problems pine shavings can cause if not used the right way. These are the main reasons people warn about using them directly in gardens.

The Big Concern: Taking Nitrogen

This is the most important problem. Wood materials, like pine shavings, are made mostly of carbon. Plants need nitrogen to grow strong and green. When you add wood pieces directly to the soil, tiny living things in the soil start to break down the wood. These tiny things need nitrogen to do their work. They take the nitrogen from the soil. This means there is less nitrogen left for your plants. This is called “nitrogen depletion wood chips” or “nitrogen tie-up”.

If the tiny things take too much nitrogen, your plants can suffer. Their leaves might turn yellow. They might not grow well. This problem is worse when you mix fresh wood shavings into the soil. If they are just on top as mulch, the problem is less bad, but it can still happen a little where the mulch meets the soil.

Grasping Acidic Changes

Pine wood can be acidic. This means it can lower the pH of the soil over time. Many garden plants like soil that is not too acidic and not too alkaline. This is called neutral pH. If your soil becomes too acidic, some plants might not be able to get the food they need from the soil.

The acidic effect of wood mulch like pine is often talked about. However, studies show that wood mulch on top of the soil usually does not change the soil pH very much, especially deep down. The pH might only change right at the soil surface where the wood sits. This small change is often not a big deal for most plants. But if your soil is already a bit acidic, adding pine shavings mixed in could make it too acidic for some plants.

Other Possible Downsides

Can Blow Away: Dry, light pine shavings can be blown around easily by wind.
Not All Plants Like Them: Plants that need neutral or alkaline soil might not do well if the soil becomes more acidic, even if it’s a small change over time.
Can Compact: If you put down a very thick layer, they might pack down and stop water from reaching the soil below.
Might Need More Nitrogen: Because they can use up nitrogen, you might need to add extra nitrogen food for your plants if you use pine shavings mulch.

Addressing the Nitrogen Issue

You can use pine shavings without hurting your plants by dealing with the nitrogen problem.

The best way to avoid nitrogen tie-up is to compost the pine shavings first. Composting breaks down the wood material a lot. By the time the compost is ready, the tiny living things have already used nitrogen to break down the wood. The compost is then more stable and will not take nitrogen from the soil when you add it.

If you use pine shavings as pine shavings garden mulch on top of the soil, the nitrogen tie-up is less of a problem. It mainly happens at the very surface where the wood touches the soil. You can help by adding a little extra nitrogen food, like blood meal or a nitrogen fertilizer, to your plants before putting the mulch down or during the growing season.

Avoid using wood shavings in soil by digging them in fresh. This is where the nitrogen problem is worst.

Deciphering the Acid Question

As mentioned, the acid issue from pine shavings on top of the soil is often not a big problem for most gardens. The acidic effect of wood mulch is usually small and stays near the surface.

If your soil is already very acidic, or if you are trying to grow plants that absolutely need alkaline soil, you might want to choose a different mulch. However, for most common garden plants that grow well in slightly acidic to neutral soil, the small change from pine shavings mulch on top is unlikely to cause problems.

If you are worried, you can test your soil pH before and after using the mulch for a year. This will show you if it is changing much.

Putting Pine Shavings to Use

Knowing the pros and cons helps you choose the best ways to use pine shavings in your garden.

Using Pine Shavings as Garden Mulch

Putting a layer of pine shavings on top of the soil is a common use. This is pine shavings garden mulch.

How to Use: Spread a layer about 1 to 3 inches thick around plants or in garden beds. Keep the mulch a little bit away from the main stem or trunk of plants. This stops water from sitting there and causing rot.
Benefits Here: It helps control weeds, keeps soil moist, and protects the soil from rain.
Things to Watch: Remember the possible, though often small, nitrogen issue. Consider adding a little nitrogen food for your plants. The acidic effect from mulch on top is usually not a big worry.

Adding Pine Shavings to Soil

This is the riskiest way to use fresh pine shavings. Using wood shavings in soil directly, like mixing them in when you prepare a bed, is generally not recommended.

Why It’s Risky: Fresh wood shavings mixed into the soil will cause a strong nitrogen tie-up. This can make your plants grow poorly or not at all until the wood breaks down a lot more.
Better Way: If you want to improve your soil with wood materials, use fully composted pine shavings or other compost.

Using Pine Sawdust

Pine sawdust is even finer than shavings. Pine sawdust garden use has the same problems as shavings, but they can be worse. Sawdust has smaller pieces, so it breaks down faster. This means the nitrogen tie-up happens faster and can be more intense.

Avoid: Do not mix fresh pine sawdust directly into garden soil.
Use With Care: Like shavings, sawdust can be used as a thin mulch layer on paths. It can also be composted, but it needs good mixing and probably more nitrogen material in the compost pile because it’s so carbon-heavy.

Using Pine Shavings for Paths

This is one of the best uses for fresh pine shavings.

How to Use: Spread a thick layer (3-6 inches) of shavings on garden paths between beds.
Benefits Here: It keeps weeds down on the path. It keeps your feet clean. It makes a soft surface to walk on. It helps define the garden areas. Since it is not mixed into plant beds, the nitrogen and acid issues do not affect your plants directly. Over time, the path material will break down, and you can scoop it up and add it to your compost pile.

Composting Pine Shavings

Composting is the safest and most helpful way to use pine shavings for improving soil. Composting pine shavings for garden turns the problematic fresh material into valuable organic matter.

How to Compost Them

Mix with “Greens”: Wood shavings are a “brown” material (high in carbon). A good compost pile needs a mix of “browns” and “greens” (high in nitrogen). “Greens” include grass clippings, kitchen scraps (not meat or dairy), and manure. You need a good amount of greens to help break down the browns like pine shavings.
Add Nitrogen: Adding extra nitrogen-rich material, like chicken manure (which is often mixed with pine shavings already) or other animal manures, helps the composting process greatly. This gives the tiny living things the nitrogen they need to eat the wood.
Keep it Moist: A compost pile needs to be damp, like a wrung-out sponge.
Turn the Pile: Turn the compost pile regularly. This adds air, which the tiny living things need. Turning also helps it break down faster and more evenly.
Size Matters: Smaller shavings or sawdust will break down faster than larger ones.

Mixing With Other Things

Don’t make a compost pile of only pine shavings. Mix them well with other garden and kitchen waste. Aim for a good balance of carbon (browns) and nitrogen (greens). A common rule of thumb is about two parts browns to one part greens. If you have a lot of shavings, you will need plenty of nitrogen-rich materials to go with them.

How Long Does it Take?

Composting pine shavings takes time. Because wood is slow to break down, it can take longer than composting softer materials like leaves and grass. It might take several months, maybe even a year or more, for them to become fully composted into dark, crumbly material. You will know it is ready when you can no longer recognize the wood pieces, and it smells like earth.

Looking at Other Wood Types

Pine shavings are just one type of wood material you might use. How do they compare to others?

Comparing Pine Shavings and Pine Bark

Pine bark is another common garden material, often sold as mulch. Pine bark mulch benefits are similar to pine shavings mulch. It helps with weeds, moisture, and soil protection.

Differences: Pine bark mulch is often chunkier. This means it breaks down slower than shavings. Because it breaks down slower, the nitrogen tie-up effect is less intense. Bark also behaves differently than the inner wood (where shavings come from) in terms of pH. The acidic effect of wood mulch from pine bark is usually minimal on the soil pH. Pine bark tends to stay in place better than light, fluffy shavings. It also often lasts longer as a mulch layer before needing to be replaced.

Other Wood Mulches

Many types of wood can be used as mulch or using wood chips in soil (though again, mixing fresh wood into soil is usually not advised). This includes chips from hardwood trees or other softwoods.

Nitrogen: All fresh wood materials can cause nitrogen depletion as they break down. The finer the pieces (like sawdust), the faster they break down and the stronger the nitrogen tie-up effect. Larger chips break down slower, causing less immediate nitrogen loss. nitrogen depletion wood chips is a concern with any fresh wood chips.
Acidic Effect: The acidic effect of wood mulch on soil pH is generally small for most wood types when used on top of the soil. It’s not usually a major issue unless you have specific plants that need very precise pH levels.
Pros and Cons: The pros and cons of wood mulch vary a bit depending on the type of wood, the size of the pieces (chips, shavings, sawdust), and how it is used (on top or mixed in).
- Pros: Good for mulch (weed control, moisture, soil protection), can improve soil structure over time when broken down, can be cheap/free.
- Cons: Can cause nitrogen tie-up (especially when mixed in), can blow away (shavings), potential small pH changes (usually minor on top), can take a long time to break down completely.

Using Wood Chips in Your Veggies

Using wood chips in vegetable garden beds requires the same care as using pine shavings.

Mulch on Paths: Wood chips are excellent for paths between vegetable rows. This keeps the paths clear and helps you walk through the garden without stepping on the soil.
Mulch on Beds (Carefully): A layer of aged or composted wood chips can be used on vegetable beds. Fresh chips should be used carefully as a mulch layer, keeping them away from the base of plants and considering adding extra nitrogen.
Do Not Mix In: Do not mix fresh wood chips into the soil of your vegetable beds. This will harm your vegetable plants by locking up nitrogen needed for their growth.

Finding Other Options

If the possible issues with pine shavings or other wood mulches worry you, or if you don’t have access to them, there are many alternatives to pine shavings mulch.

Straw: A very popular mulch for vegetable gardens. It’s lighter in color, keeps soil cooler, breaks down faster, and causes less nitrogen tie-up than wood.
Hay (Use with Caution): Like straw, but can contain weed seeds. Use only if you are sure it’s weed-free.
Grass Clippings: Free and full of nitrogen. Use in thin layers (no more than 1-2 inches) so they don’t mat down and get slimy.
Compost: Finished compost is an excellent mulch. It feeds the soil as it breaks down.
Leaves: Shredded leaves make a great mulch and soil builder.
Cardboard and Newspaper: Can be used as a layer under other mulches to block weeds really well. Remove tape and labels. Use black and white ink newspaper, not glossy paper.
Pine Needles: Often used around plants like blueberries or rhododendrons that like acidic soil. They break down slowly and their effect on soil pH is often less than people think, but they are a good option for acid-loving plants.

Choosing the best mulch depends on what you have, what you want to do (paths, beds, weed control), and what kind of plants you are growing.

Choosing the Right Spot

Think about where in your garden you want to use pine shavings.

Paths: Great place for fresh shavings.
Around Trees and Shrubs: Okay for mulch layer (keep away from trunk). These plants are often less bothered by minor nitrogen tie-up than fast-growing vegetables.
Flower Beds: Okay for mulch layer (keep away from stems).
Vegetable Beds: Best to use composted shavings or choose a different mulch like straw or compost. If using fresh shavings, only use on paths or very carefully as a thin mulch layer away from plant bases.
Mixing into Soil: Avoid doing this with fresh shavings anywhere.

Applying Pine Shavings Safely

If you decide to use pine shavings, here are some tips to do it right.

Step-by-Step Guide (for mulch on beds)

Weed: Pull any weeds in the area first.
Water: Water the soil well before adding mulch.
Add Nitrogen (Optional but Recommended): If using fresh shavings on plant beds, consider gently working a small amount of nitrogen fertilizer (like a handful per plant) into the top inch of soil around plants before adding the mulch.
Spread Shavings: Put down a layer of pine shavings, about 1-3 inches thick.
Keep Away from Stems: Make sure the shavings do not touch the base of your plants, tree trunks, or shrub stems. Leave a little gap (an inch or two).
Water Again: Water the mulch lightly after putting it down to help it settle and stay in place.

How Much to Use

Mulch: 1-3 inches thick is usually enough for weed control and moisture keeping. More than that can pack down and stop water or air getting to the soil.
Paths: 3-6 inches makes a good, soft path. It will compact over time, so you might need to add more later.
Compost: Mix shavings with other materials, don’t make a pile of just shavings. The amount of shavings you use in compost depends on how many “greens” you have to mix with them.

Watching Your Plants

After using pine shavings, keep an eye on your plants. Look for signs of nitrogen need, like yellowing leaves, especially the older, lower leaves. If you see this, add a nitrogen fertilizer or a nitrogen-rich liquid feed (like fish emulsion or compost tea) to the plants.

Common Questions (FAQ)

Q: Do pine shavings make soil acidic?

A: When used as a mulch layer on top of the soil, pine shavings usually have only a very small effect on soil pH, mostly right at the surface. It’s unlikely to cause major problems for most garden plants unless your soil is already very acidic or you are growing plants that need alkaline soil. Mixing fresh shavings into the soil could have a stronger, longer-lasting acidifying effect.

Q: Can I put fresh pine shavings directly on my garden soil?

A: You can, but it is not the best idea for plant beds. Putting fresh shavings directly on top as a mulch is okay if done correctly (thin layer, kept away from stems, maybe add nitrogen). Mixing fresh shavings into the soil is strongly not recommended because it will cause plants to suffer from lack of nitrogen.

Q: Are pine shavings good for vegetable gardens?

A: Fresh pine shavings are best used on paths in vegetable gardens. They are not ideal as mulch directly on vegetable beds unless they are well-composted or you are very careful about adding extra nitrogen and keeping them away from the plants. Composted pine shavings are great for vegetable gardens.

Q: How long do pine shavings last as mulch?

A: Pine shavings are relatively fine wood pieces, so they break down faster than larger wood chips or bark mulch. As mulch, they might last one season or a bit more before needing to be refreshed or topped up.

Q: Will pine shavings attract bugs or pests?

A: Fresh wood materials like pine shavings might attract some insects that help break down wood. However, they are not typically known for attracting common garden pests that harm plants. Termites are attracted to wood, but usually prefer wood that is in direct contact with the ground and kept moist, like structural wood. Using shavings as a mulch layer in the garden is generally not a major termite risk compared to wood near your house foundation.

Q: Can I use pine shavings from animal bedding?

A: Yes, but be aware of what was in the bedding. If it is just pine shavings used for animals like chickens, rabbits, or hamsters, it will contain their manure and urine. This material is often nitrogen-rich and can be excellent for composting (composting pine shavings for garden). However, fresh animal bedding with pine shavings should always be composted properly before being added to garden beds. Adding it fresh can burn plants due to high nitrogen (from urine/manure) and still cause nitrogen tie-up (from the wood).

Q: What is better: pine shavings or pine bark mulch?

A: Pine bark mulch is generally a better choice for mulching plant beds. It lasts longer, stays in place better, and causes less nitrogen tie-up because it breaks down slower and is chunkier. Pine shavings are often better suited for garden paths or for composting.

Q: Is pine sawdust different from pine shavings for garden use?

A: Yes, pine sawdust is much finer. Pine sawdust garden use comes with the same risks as shavings (nitrogen tie-up, potential acidity), but because it breaks down faster, these effects can be stronger and happen more quickly. Sawdust is even less suitable for direct use in garden beds than shavings and is best used in compost or very thinly on paths.

Q: What are the pros and cons of wood mulch in general?

A: Pros: Suppresses weeds, holds soil moisture, protects soil from rain, looks tidy, breaks down over time to add organic matter (especially if composted).
Cons: Can cause nitrogen tie-up (especially fresh wood mixed in), can blow away (light types like shavings), potential minor pH changes (usually small on top), can compact if too thick.

Q: Are there good alternatives to pine shavings mulch?

A: Yes, many. Good options include straw, grass clippings (thin layers), shredded leaves, finished compost, and pine needles (especially for acid-loving plants). These often break down faster or cause fewer problems than fresh wood shavings.