The last few weeks have been a frenzy of activity here at the homestead. Warm and dry weather started much earlier than normal and allowed me to aggressively plot out some large structural changes to the grounds and gardens. We added some dirt mounds (see
10 Yards of Black Dirt and
Front Yard Dirt Follow Up) and planted some new perennials and flowers in the mounds. Since these are still tiny specks of green plant material, they don't photograph well and I'm going to wait a bit for them to grow and become more photogenic.
It was with some tired muscles and slightly grumbly disposition that I stood in my garage the other day surveying the land. When lo and behold a large dump truck drove by...
Then the large dump truck started backing up into the driveway. I tried waving my arms and yelling, but it was to no avail, that truck was determined to back into the driveway.
No matter how much a yelled, the driver kept back up in to the driveway. He seemed to be ignoring me or impervious to my yelling.
Suddenly, to my horror, and without warning from the driver, he started to dump a huge pile of mulch into the driveway. Was this some kind of nightmare? A sick practical joke? I'd just finished shoveling large piles of dirt last week and now there was more impending manual labor?
Mulch started spilling onto the driveway!!! Not to worry gentle reader. This was not an unexpected delivery of mulch from the heavens or a cruel prank, I had ordered it. A few areas on either side of the driveway around the apple trees and currants need a serious mulch refreshing and there were some areas of grass that need to be converted to vegetable beds through the magic of mulching.
The mulch guy though said he only had 5-6 yards of this particular kind of mulch (the cheap stuff) so I was prepared for a day/day and a half of work. I fact he had more than he thought, 13 to 14 yards, even though he only charged me for 10 yards. This was more than twice the amount of mulch I was planning on, but no big deal. We'll get all our fabulous mulch apportioned to its proper place and snap some photos, so more to come in a later post.
I also completed my 3-Bin Compost System (more on this in a later post) and planted more apple trees, plum trees, and dogwood shrubs (more on this in a later post as well). Whew, I've got lot of writing and photo-documenting work. It's been a busy Spring here as I'm sure it is for you. We'll try to get pictures and blog posts on everything that's gone on over the last few weeks. Stay tuned!!
3 comments:
This last week, a truck twice your size dumped 30 cubic yards (Horrors!) Took 2 days, 100 wheelbarrows back and forth, to clear the driveway before I could back the car out. Chopped eucalyptus, redwood and pinewoods sure smell good and the plants are thanking us.
Josie - Excellent, and that's a LOT of mulch. I'm a big believer in mulch, both for water retention, keeping the rot zone cool, and adding organic matter to the soil - mulch really does it all.
like yourself, my hubs and I panicked when the truck unloaded wood chips and mulch (about 4xs of your picture). Your blog gave us a measure of comfort as we shared your initial horror. LOL! We enjoyed reading and nice knowing someone else went before us to share this mulch experience. Now our backyard looks like a park and a playground. A good thing this 4th of July!
BTW, we are senior citizens who surprised ourselves that we are still capable of lifting heavy wheelbarrows and doing manual labor. Quite pleased with ourselves that we lived to talk about it vs. ending up in a local ER from heatstroke.
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