Would it be OK to use bark chips as mulch for my veg?

[Herbsandveg]

As well as making best use of my new veg plot, I'm also growing lots of veg this year in pots. I'm out at work all day, and even if I water in the morning I'm thinking that the approaching heat wave might dry my tubs out during the day. To counter this I'm toying with using bark chips as a mulch in an effort to keep the surface area at least partially moist underneath. Does this sound like a good idea to fellow Forum members, or should I plump for something else instead?

[roitelet]

Bark chip is expensive you could use straw or lawn mowings. If you use the latter don't put a layer on more than an inch thick at one time as they heat up.

[chris]

Well, any mulch will help keep the moisture in. I believe zaz's community garden has bark covering - and she just moves it to the side, plants and rakes it back over.

[horticultural_hobbit]

Yes, you can. But there are certain chips that can draw out the nitrogen, as well as others that are useful. Be nice to a local tree surgeon, who might have freebies. Some plots get heaps of the stuff and all for gratis

[snohare]

Bark chips that are more than six months old will not take nitrogen out of the soil. (Supposedly.) Commercially sold bags of bark chippings are aged to prevent this, and disease transmission.
Bark chippings from tree surgeons invariably include wood chippings and are much fresher and "hot" - just beginning to ferment - so good when mixed into a compost heap, make fantastic soil after a couple of years, okay on paths meantime maybe, but you can't use them as mulch.
When I had access to arboricultural chippings, I thought of putting them on top of a layer of newspaper to prevent the bacteria multiplying on the chips from robbing nitrogen from the soil underneath; I never actually tried it, so I don't know if it would actually work.