Free Mulch Again!

For years, the County collected lawn and tree debris, shredded it, and aged it.  Then gave it back to county residents for free.  On Saturdays, they would even load it in trailers or pickups for free.  It wasn't big pieces like commercial mulch, nor aged enough to be compost.  I used to get 2 trailer loads each Spring.  One to use for mulch and the other to set aside to compost further.

Then they stopped for 2 (3?) years.  I kept checking their website only to see "No Mulch Available".  I figured they were either using it for county maintenance, or lacked the funds to keep processing the raw debris.

So when I had a landfill load of trash, I asked about it.  I was told the mulch had become available again all this year.  I would swear the website said "No Mulch Available" just last month.  But the imporatant thing was that the mulch was available again!

There used to be hour-long lines to get the Saturday free loading, but yesterday, I was the only customer.  I drove up, put a tarp on the bottom of the trailer (it has gaps between the floorboards) and set the edge of a larger tarp in the front so the mulch would hold it in place.  ONE big bucket load later, the trailer was filled to overflowing!  I folded the top tarp back over the pile and attached it down with bungee cords.

I drove it into the back yard, where I will scoop it out onto this beat up old tarp where the last of the compost mulch was used up this Spring.  Unfortunately, the top tarp did not reach all the way to the back end, and with 3" of rain falling on it, the exposed mulch got so heavy it tipped the trailer back.

Now there is too much weight against the removable back  upright, I can't remove it.  So I'll have to shovel a foot or so clear before I can slide the mulch out.

This is how tipped it is.  I removed the top tarp, in hopes that the rain forecast for tonight will even out the weight and let it sit level again so that I can remove the back.

I shot this picture crooked so that it would LOOK level.  LOL!  That's 2.75 cubic yards of free mulch!  I hate to think what it would cost to buy it by the bag!

As soon as I get this unloaded and spread around the flower/garden beds, I'll go back and get more to leave aside to compost, then whatever more I can get, I'll use to cover my daffodil and hosta beds!