Orange County Farmers Supply, google for the address. They're located on Chapman Ave, between the 57 and 55 freeways, in the city of Orange. Great place for all things gardening related, I got my stuff there, as well as Foliage Pro.

I use "GreenAll Micro Bark" that I got from Armstrong Nursery for about $10 for a two-cubic-feet bag. It's fir bark and not pine bark. So far so good -- my plants look happy (or at least don't look mad at me).

I also get bark at Orange County Farm Supply on Chapman, just a little east of the 57 fwy. It's Gardener's Proffesional orchid bark/seedling 2 cubic feet. The last bags I purchased had so little waste, less than 1 cup for each bag, that it probably doesn't need sifted. They were less than $10 per bag.

Wolfinbarger's in Chino has pumice, perlite and gypsum in bulk. (I take a large plastic jar for gypsum. They fill and weigh it. Saves having to transfer it when you get home.) They also have dirt, rocks and bark, etc. Their price list is on their website. They have the bark sometimes, but with a lot of waste for our purposes.

This is off topic, but I visited the Sam Maloof house and gardens today in Alta Loma. They have a garden art exhibit going on right now. If you haven't been there, it's a great place to see with loads of great ideas.

Linda

I'm in SoCal and I get small landscape bark at HomeDepot. Its made by EARTHGROW and its called Decorative Ground Cover Bark.

suncitylinda: I saw that stuff at my Home Depot but I could've sworn I smelled cedar in it. Have you tried it as pine bark fines for this famed 5-1-1 mix and if so, are your vegetables doing fine with it?

FWIW, the Decorative Ground Cover Bark at my Home Depot
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is much too large (yes it's labeled "fine" on the package) to be used in any container mix I've seen and I'm not prepared to sift and discard half the package.

I did find something called GARDENERS PROFESSIONAL DECORATIVE BARK - SMALL
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which is fir bark fines distributed by Kellogg. That's what I'm going to use in my fall set of Earthtainers

Here is a link that might be useful: GARDENERS PROFESSIONAL DECORATIVE BARK - SMALL

I have been using the HD Earthgrow Ground Cover bark in my containers and Earthboxes for two years. It is used and recommended by Raybo who designed Earthtainers. However, I have never used it in a 5-1-1 mix. I have never been aware of any problem with it in growing tomatoes.

Athenian:

Where did you find that stuff by Kellogg's?

suncitylinda: As I noted, the particle size in the bag of Earthgro Decorative Ground Cover I bought was much too large -- about half looked just like the "Nuggets". I ended up using it to mulch a small bed. I was at another HD yesterday and noticed that the bags there had a much finer texture.

woodhoman: I've seen the Kellogg's product at three different independent nurseries. One had a display showing the sizes of various mulches and the Kellogg's looked the best for my purposes. AFAICT, it runs about $7.50 a bag.

Athena