Natural mulch is best mulch?

I have used spoiled hay and well rotted horse manure mixed with wood chips fro ma local stable to mulch my allotment beds. It retained moisture and built soil just like I had hoped. But i know the horses get Bute - a medicine and the wood chips, straw bedding and hay probably are sprayed with chemicals. So I'm thinking maybe stop using it as my deep mulch material of choice.

Back to Eden Paul uses green woodchips and his garden looks great. This mas made me rethink the mulch material.

I live on an estuary. So I'm thinking of collecting bladder wrack seaweed and mulching with that unwashed as is and mixing in collected fallen leaves, lots of leaves. I just hope it rains before they can get blown away (its a windy site).

Really liked paul's tip for covering strawberry beds with 2,3 inches so the new plants grow through and the old die.

It sure is convenient when leaves fall from the trees and act as a free mulch delivery service right into the garden. One thing to consider about Back to eden Paul is his use of chickens with his wood chips, correct me if I am wrong, but I thought he put his chips in with his chickens before spreading them into the orchard.

If your leaves are blowing away you can shred them or crush them before applying and then wet them down a little. Leaves are a great mulch and they break down into the soil rather quickly. I think you will be better off with seaweed and leaves, knowing there is not medication and whatever else mixed in.

I understood back to eden paul mulched 2 feet deep initially with chips from tree pruning jobs he worked on. Now tops up with chicken scratched chips as and when.