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Might a plan for me, very sandy soil where I am and little grass in the backyard. Doesn't sound like it'd be a problem just spreading it around the yard.
If you have a pickup truck and your county does what my county does to get rid of yard waste; you can get plenty of free compost for your sandy soil. My county operates one of those massive, top load, shredders to mulch all the yard waste and Xmas trees. Then they give that mulch away for free to anybody with a pickup truck. They even load the trucks with a big payloader. So, if your county is like mine and you have the equipment or a friend with a truck, you might be able to utilize this 'free' compost. One word of caution is that it does smell; but it goes away with time.
That said; this yard waste could contain diseased mulch or pest. So it is best to compost first before you spread it around your trees and shrubs.
Location: By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
68,297 posts, read 54,176,344 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fisheye
If you have a pickup truck and your county does what my county does to get rid of yard waste; you can get plenty of free compost for your sandy soil. My county operates one of those massive, top load, shredders to mulch all the yard waste and Xmas trees. Then they give that mulch away for free to anybody with a pickup truck. They even load the trucks with a big payloader. So, if your county is like mine and you have the equipment or a friend with a truck, you might be able to utilize this 'free' compost. One word of caution is that it does smell; but it goes away with time.
That said; this yard waste could contain diseased mulch or pest. So it is best to compost first before you spread it around your trees and shrubs.
Well, if nothing else my county's gonna have a lot of material, there's still loads of debris from Florence along the sides of the roads, it'll be a while before it's all removed. Don't have a pick up but at this point I'll be happy to just remove a lot of the things I don't want and then start deciding what I do. AT least we've finally lost the heat/humidity so now it's my wonky back that decides what I'll do each day
I spent 28 years hauling wood chips from a give away pile outside the local landfill. Ended up with 6-8 inches of good black soil. I have to admit it was a bit redundant as it was in Iowa.
I'm clearing some overgrown shrubbery from my backyard. The hardest part was always cutting it down small enough to fit in garbage bags or they wouldn't take it away. I had a coupon and bought a small electric wood chipper at Harbor Freight for $100, it's rated for branches up to 1 1/2" diameter. I have to say for the $$$, it works quite well, it's a little slow running at full 1 1/2" capacity but most of what I'm cutting is <1" and it goes thru it quite well.
My question: Is it wise to use the chips as mulch or are they likely to attract not so benign bugs as they decompose?
I used 2 lg loads of wood chips in my garden and my flower beds this summer and I love the look and result. No bugs. Keeps the weeds in check. Looks clean and neat. If you ever wanted more wood chips for free, there is a free recycling wood chip resource online. You sign up and they call you when they have a load. I used them and got such nice product, then gave the rest away to neighbors.
I used 2 lg loads of wood chips in my garden and my flower beds this summer and I love the look and result. No bugs. Keeps the weeds in check. Looks clean and neat. If you ever wanted more wood chips for free, there is a free recycling wood chip resource online. You sign up and they call you when they have a load. I used them and got such nice product, then gave the rest away to neighbors.
For people that want a load from the professional tree trimmers; you need a place for them to dump. The truck is fairly large and the area cannot have utility lines or low tree branches. When they raise their truck to dump you should have no overhead obstructions for 15' to 20' - the dump goes pretty high in the air. The pile that they leave behind is close to 20' in diameter; it could even be larger.
Just pointing this out because not everybody has a place for one of these piles. If somebody would think the trimmers could just dump on the side of their driveway; they would have a lot of shoveling to do. I believe that a trimmer's truck holds 15 to 18 yards of chips and leaves. Over the years that will break down to one or two yards of compost.
DH brought home some of those free wood chips from the county and spread it along the west side of the house. It looked very nice.
Eventually it sprouted stinkhorn mushrooms, something I'd never seen before. So that was interesting but less than desired.
Then when it began to break down it scattered quite a bit onto the small sidewalk there which was a nuisance to me. Now nearly all signs of it are gone but I don't think I'd like any more of it.
Location: By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
68,297 posts, read 54,176,344 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lodestar
DH brought home some of those free wood chips from the county and spread it along the west side of the house. It looked very nice.
Eventually it sprouted stinkhorn mushrooms, something I'd never seen before. So that was interesting but less than desired.
Then when it began to break down it scattered quite a bit onto the small sidewalk there which was a nuisance to me. Now nearly all signs of it are gone but I don't think I'd like any more of it.
Now if I could get some wood chips that would spawn Morels, that would be a plan!
I'm retired from the state highway department and, at one time, had dump truck load of mulch from the chippers working trees torn down by tornadoes. Everybody told me I would have problems with bugs from all that mulch but never had any problem at all.
And, if you like to fish, that compost pile of much was a great place to find fishing worms!
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