I have finally got my finger out and given our front garden some much needed love. I want to put some woodchip or bark down on some areas and take up the stone chippings on the path and replace with some coloured slate. How do I calculate how much I will need and where is the best place to get this stuff? Is it a B&Q job or will a local garden centre be better?

Measure the length and width of the area then multiply by the depth you want.
eg: 4m x 1m x 0.05m (50mm deep) = 0.2m³

You are creating a slug heaven

In my experience, 1 bag of slate chipping does about 0.75 to 1 sqM to an acceptable depth.

We buy from Wickes as it’s nearer – wait for a 4 for 3 (or 3 for 2) offer on fancy gravels. If you’re doing loads, it might be worth getting one of those cubic metre bags delivered to your doorstep.

Garden centre is usually expensive by comparison, but you need to shop around – they all seem to do the same stuff just different names.

Bark or woodchip will need re-doing fairly regularly as it rots down. Plastic bags of slate from B&Q cover far less area than you’d imagine, I’d work on max 0.75m² or perhaps a bit less. Cheapest way is to get a tonne bag delivered if you have the space to accommodate the delivery wagon etc.

Neither of them are massive areas so don’t mind doing the wood chip every couple of years. Thanks for replies, I will do some sums now.

Bark chip smells awesome.

Ha ha ha! Thanks for your input!

If you have van or trailer access to carry it, worth checking out local ads, i got 600kg of slate chippings for £40 as someone was taking them up, pressured washed them all and re-used.

BArk chip smells awesome.

until the local cats get into it.

It won’t be every couple of years, it’ll be a couple of times each year.

Mate, it won’t be, believe me!

According to t’internet:
Bark mulch and wood chips are the two most common types of garden mulch with finer blends decomposing more quickly than thicker mulch pieces. However, wood chips tend to last about five to seven years with bark mulch lasting seven to ten years. Bark mulch lasts longer because it is made up of the hardest portions of the tree; wood chips are made from the softer, inner portions of scrap lumber.

It will be a couple of times a year if you buy the cheapest rubbish money can buy. Get decent stuff and it will last.

Personally I’d avoid bark. It gets everywhere, it’s a pain to weed (yes weeds still grow through it) and looks pretty tired/tatty quite quickly

I was intending on putting a membrane down before the wood bark (and the slate) so that should at least slow the weeds down.

Get a good quality nugget bark and it’ll be great. Well worth the premium. Bigger the chips, the better but you’ll need more for the same area coverage.

4yrs in and only the heavily trafficked areas show signs of age. The beds have been almost maintenance free.

I wouldn’t use a membrane as all 5h4 ones I’ve seen end up exposed and tatty fairly quickly. Also a pain to remove.

Might have just been cheap ones though.