My neighbor gave me some cedar shavings from his making of cedar chests. Will it hurt my plants, mesquite trees, tomatoes to use as mulch and mix them with my dirt tolant stuff in? I heard that it will leach the nitrogen out of the ground around my plants, is this true. Thank you

Generally we recommend that any wood chips be composted for at least three months before use. The decomposing microbes tend to rob nitrogen from plants in fresh mulch. This really shows up in new plantings and in annuals not as much in larger mature plants.