A tale of red mulch and working smarter

[rayinpenn]

I can’t attest to the rest of the country but, springtime is mulch season here in Pa. Yes all the garden beds, tree surrounds and the like get a layer of mulch. It cuts weeding down and keeps moisture in and to me adds a great deal of beauty to our generous lush springtime properties. Well the weather prior to two days ago hasn’t been all that wonderful. Lots of cool rainy days April is always a tease here. I’ve been holding off- I’d rather do it when it’s comfortable.

Saturday morning they are calling for high sixties and sunny. I get Cool Hand (my son) up and have him follow me to Home Depot. The line stretches across the front of the store and the masked crowd are a bit close together for my liking. We decide that waiting an unknown length wasn’t for us. I go home and call best much and put in an order for 8 yards of mulch. I’m usually a bagged mulch man as it can sit guilt free neatly piled up until I get to it. We can fit 16 bags in a car without destroying everything. There are 13.5 bags of mulch per yard which means I have the equivalent of 108 bags of mulch at the end of my driveway near the house. It’s quite an impressive pile. The younger Ray would overdue it and retreat into the house only after being sunburn, exhausted and nearly falling over from heatstroke. Now I am determined not to go there. The Mrs and I finish the front yard in 2 days spending a couple hours each day. Still as I type away I can feel the sunburn and those formerly unused muscles talking to me. Oh and the pile is still out (see pic)there waiting for us to tackle the side yard. Time to break out Mr John Deere and my little Rubbermaid wagon.. you know John never complains.

 

[Red Badger]

Great post Ray. I need to abandon my bunker renovation and attend to the yard in like manner. Mulch was easier when I had a truck - just buy a bucket load at a fraction or the bag price. Now, with a fleet of SUV's, I'm also a "bag man."

 

[DrRoy]

We worked on our new area garden bed edges in April. Mulch coming this week.

 

[Winemaker]

I love the way red mulch looks and acts in my all brick house; it adds beauty, color and softens the look of the "estate". If finally convinced my DM that black mulch would enhance hers. At least it did for 3 years. Now I have noticed a light black tinge growing on the second story of her stone/ painted wood split level. I now question my move as now I have to wash her house each year, something we never did since they bought the house in 1979. I noticed some of my/her mulch loving neighbors, have to get their houses washed nowadays. Methinks I screwed up; but nothing is on my brick.

 

[Ronstar]

Nice mulch job Ray! And thanks for the reminder that I need to order some soon.

 

[Amethyst]

It's in the high 80's here. I finally finished spreading two pallets of mulch - 120 bags - delivered by Home Depot. The mulch plus delivery cost almost 10X what we used to pay for a truck delivery of loose mulch in MD, but that isn't done here, and I won't go near a home store these days.

 

[Aerides]

It's in the high 80's here. I finally finished spreading two pallets of mulch - 120 bags - delivered by Home Depot. The mulch plus delivery cost almost 10X what we used to pay for a truck delivery of loose mulch in MD, but that isn't done here, and I won't go near a home store these days.

Amethyst, you should check into The Bushel Stop, I think they have one up by you? Better plants and sod too. They have huge mounds of mulches, rocks, etc., at the one down by me.

 

[Amethyst]

The problem is logistical. Driveways are short, with a sudden bend. It's too hard for dump trucks to maneuver. Flatbeds park on a nearby street and bring in pallets on a forklift.

Amethyst, you should check into The Bushel Stop, I think they have one up by you? Better plants and sod too. They have huge mounds of mulches, rocks, etc., at the one down by me.

 

[Aerides]

Ah makes sense. But either way I recommend them as a garden center - the one here is a nice big open air spot too.

 

[Bamaman]

We had a fiberglass swimming pool installed a week ago, and are just finishing getting a mountain of dirt hauled out of here. They left over about 4000 square feet needing zoysia sodding. A concrete contractor was here Saturday pouring concrete 20' from our screen porch out to the pool, and it looks nice.

Now if I could just get the final grading on the dirt done. Then I'll be planting 20 Green Giant Arborvite along the wood fence for privacy. I hate to think about that much digging. Landscaping could take 2 years to complete.

 

[folivier]

Look into recycled rubber mulch. I split a pallet with my son a few years ago and hopefully will never need to buy mulch again. Had a very slight rubber smell for a week or 2 but no smell since then. Doesn't float, doesn't rot, most have 20 year warranty on color fading.

 

[statsman]

It's in the high 80's here. I finally finished spreading two pallets of mulch - 120 bags - delivered by Home Depot. The mulch plus delivery cost almost 10X what we used to pay for a truck delivery of loose mulch in MD, but that isn't done here, and I won't go near a home store these days.

We ended up having to use bagged mulch for my in-law's house when preparing it for sale. The good news was it saved on having to shovel 80 bags worth of mulch into the wheelbarrow.

 

[pacergal]

looks nice, ray

 

[dvalley]

Wow, beautiful property Ray!

 

[MRG]

Ray I miss your posts. You have a command of the language I admire.

I worked at a mill that hammered their waste into mulch that fueled the boilers to heat dry kilns. They also sold off excess to nurseries and DIY gardeners when they had a surplus. Eight yards is a lot of mulch! We loaded 8 yard trucks with a huge machine.

One year in the early 80s the mill shut down. the kilns were still running, they had to truck mulch and chips in to keep the boilers running. They had a tractor trailer hauling from 60 miles away but he couldn't get enough in a 40' dump trailer. They built sides on it to get a fully loaded trailer about 12' tall. He was an amusement to other truckers who saw him going back and forth to KCK several times daily. One fellow inquired via the CB as to what he was hauling? Trucker responded back after a long silence "sand".

 

[Dtail]

Very nice.
Picking up some red mulch this week.

 

[COcheesehead]

We would get a half truck load of mulch delivered about every other year. It always looked good when done, but man o man, what a pain to wheelbarrow around the yard.

Our yard now is high desert stone/sand/gravel. I like it just as much and far less work.

 

[Scrapr]

psssttt [-]Wellesley[/-] errr Blower service

the first time i didn't have to wheelbarrow stuff around I thought this is awesome. I haven't changed my mind

 

[rayinpenn]

psssttt [-]Wellesley[/-] errr Blower service

the first time i didn't have to wheelbarrow stuff around I thought this is awesome. I haven't changed my mind

They charge $120 - $140 per yard all in to put mulch down locally. That means at least $700 more than I spent.
1. I can always use more exercise
2. I clean up the yard when I put the mulch down.
3. $700 is the cost of a new pixel chrome book that I have my eye on.
4. I enjoy being outside.

 

[splitwdw]

I love the way red mulch looks and acts in my all brick house; it adds beauty, color and softens the look of the "estate". If finally convinced my DM that black mulch would enhance hers. At least it did for 3 years. Now I have noticed a light black tinge growing on the second story of her stone/ painted wood split level. I now question my move as now I have to wash her house each year, something we never did since they bought the house in 1979. I noticed some of my/her mulch loving neighbors, have to get their houses washed nowadays. Methinks I screwed up; but nothing is on my brick.

There are three possibilities, artillery fungi, zero turn mowers or who dyed the mulch. A couple of years ago a neighbor had black mulch put down. The "landscape" company that did the landscaping got him a good deal on the mulch. Where they touched the white siding to stand back up after spreading the mulch behind shrubs you could see black marks on the siding. He finally got most of it off using a pressure washer. You can still see it in spots on the siding. He can't weed without wearing gloves because the dye from the mulch dyes his hands. Even with that mulch finally rotting away the soil on the tops of those beds has a layer of black. The white siding has a black film every year that needs to be pressure washed. He's having the top soil in his beds removed. The farm where the original black mulch came from was only open for mulch sales that year.
Artillery fungi grow in the mulch and when they mature they shoot their spores on bright/light colored surfaces. They can shoot as high as the second floor. It starts out looking like little black flecks on the siding.
Zero turn mowers are more common now and if you've ever used one you know how far they can throw material and dust. A neighbor that lives through the woods from me asked if I could take more care when mowing in late summer when the soil dries out around the wood line or I'm mulching piles of leaves. Turns out that even though his house is a good distance from me through the woods the dust that my zero turn kicks up can coat his house and any clothes that he is line drying. I try to stay out of the dry soil areas and only mulch when the wind isn't blowing in his direction. He lets me know when he's line drying clothes. He's a great neighbor and I don't mind accommodating him.

 

[38Chevy454]

I'm about 1 week ahead of you Ray. Same here with mulching in spring. Also my DW loves planting. So I have been doing lot of digging in addition to the mulch. The ground here is such clay content that I dig out approximately twice the size and backfill with good topsoil. So resulting in hauling dirt and mulch around the yard, all 2.5 acres and probably 500 feet of planting beds. DW does help some, but I do most of the heavy work. Wish it would warm up more, it's been a wetter and colder than normal spring.

 

[Ronstar]

I'm ordering 12 yards of mulch in a couple of weeks. I plan to spread it over several days so that I won't overdo it.

 

[Winemaker]

There are three possibilities, artillery fungi, zero turn mowers or who dyed the mulch. A couple of years ago a neighbor had black mulch put down. The "landscape" company that did the landscaping got him a good deal on the mulch. Where they touched the white siding to stand back up after spreading the mulch behind shrubs you could see black marks on the siding. He finally got most of it off using a pressure washer. You can still see it in spots on the siding. He can't weed without wearing gloves because the dye from the mulch dyes his hands. Even with that mulch finally rotting away the soil on the tops of those beds has a layer of black. The white siding has a black film every year that needs to be pressure washed. He's having the top soil in his beds removed. The farm where the original black mulch came from was only open for mulch sales that year.
Artillery fungi grow in the mulch and when they mature they shoot their spores on bright/light colored surfaces. They can shoot as high as the second floor. It starts out looking like little black flecks on the siding.
Zero turn mowers are more common now and if you've ever used one you know how far they can throw material and dust. A neighbor that lives through the woods from me asked if I could take more care when mowing in late summer when the soil dries out around the wood line or I'm mulching piles of leaves. Turns out that even though his house is a good distance from me through the woods the dust that my zero turn kicks up can coat his house and any clothes that he is line drying. I try to stay out of the dry soil areas and only mulch when the wind isn't blowing in his direction. He lets me know when he's line drying clothes. He's a great neighbor and I don't mind accommodating him.

Thanks for reply/answer. I put the mulch down around the house with a wheelbarrow; the first two levels are stone. The 2 upper floors in the front of the house are the areas affected. No zero turn mowers, I use a 21" self propelled mower at mom's. But I didn't know about artillery fungi, but the mulched beds are not aerated by the mower, as there is a walkway around the mulched beds and that is lined by a 2 foot hedge. But summers are extremely humid here in SW PA, and I suspect some kind of critter is marking up the house.

 

[jazz4cash]

So what do you folks pay for bulk mulch and what’s the breakdown between product and delivery? It’s cheaper by the bag around here unless you use the premium stuff. I like cypress blend because it lasts longer than anything else I’ve tried and I like the natural color. I can only find it in bags.

I took 26 yards of free aged wood chips from a local tree service once. Wheelbarrowed it myself to dress a garden path. Other times I took truckloads of green chips as a coarse dressing to smother weeds.

 

[Ger0n1mo]

I put down 8 yards of mulch a few weeks ago in SW PA. I have always purchased bulk mulch and most of the time have it delivered. You can save a bunch by picking it up in your own truck but of course it took me several trips. I was surprised when I ordered it this year that the lady really pushed me for using dyed. I have always just used the natural (not dyed) double-shredded and pleased with it. The lady acted like very few of their customers order non-dyed nowadays.

My DS ordered 80 bags from Home Depot and said he liked it better than using a wheel barrow and shoveling. But, he had the help of his wife and kids.