It have become years ago that we found the advantages of purchasing compost for our outdoor in bulk from our pals on the Belle Mead Co-Op, the same place that supplied all of the gravel and stone dust for our patio task. Since then, we've got managed to deliver all our compost needs out of our one little bin (as a way to likely want to get replaced this 12 months, so keep your eyes peeled for that undertaking in a future put up).
One thing we've got not been capable of deliver for ourselves, however, is mulch. Our domestic made leaf mulch is right enough for mulching small regions, however this spring we had enormous swathes of our outside in want of additional mulch cover, which include:
- the three plum trees in the front yard;
- the cherry bushes along the south fence;
- the asparagus patch on the south side of the house;
- our makeshift herb bed in front of the house; and
- my new rosebush, which has settled into its new home and is just starting to bloom.
Since we would been thru the way as quickly as in advance than, we had been succesful to plot earlier a little better this time. We took along big garbage cans, which we figured may want to preserve a very good quantity of mulch however now not an excessive amount of to boost, plus numerous of our five-gallon buckets and a large assortment of plastic luggage?A few 40-pound birdseed sacks, a few smaller ones that had held cat muddle, and some of middling size that had previously held bagged mulch from the store. Ironically, the bags that have been truly designed to maintain mulch proved the toughest to paintings with, as they were a exceptional deal thinner and tougher to maintain open than the others. But having a whole lot of configurations and dimensions to art work with enabled us to % the automobile quite efficaciously, filling up maximum of the space within the trunk and rear seat. So we have been given as a minimum the half-backyard of mulch we paid for, and truly extra than we can also need to have bought in bags for the $11 we shelled out.
By the time we have been given all of it domestic, it changed into too overdue in the day to start distributing it right away, and it became starting to rain in any case. So inside the imply time, we without a doubt were given all of the numerous packing containers stashed in our little brief greenhouse, which continues to be up within the again yard, imparting our vegetable seedlings with a place to
This afternoon, we got to work spreading all the mulch were it belongs. Our top priority was the cherry bushes, so we pulled out all the visible weeds we could see and started dumping mulch containers into the space, spreading out the contents with our hands and a small rake until we had a good couple of inches distributed over the whole bed. Next we brought some of the smaller bags into the front and reinforced the mulch "doughnuts" around the trees, and we spread some over the asparagus bed, doing our best not to disturb the ferns that were already there. (Next time it would probably be easier to do this part of the job in the fall, after cutting down all the previous year's growth, so we'd have a flat area to work with.)
Then we went to work on the herb bed. This area, which sits to the right of the front door has been a work in progress for some years. When we first started it, we had three big oversized bushes growing in the space, so we merely squeezed a few herb plants into the spaces between them. Then, a year or so ago, we took out two of the bushes, since they were getting in our way every time we had to shovel snow. This gave with more space to work with, but all the plants already in the bed were crammed toward the front in the spots where we'd squeezed them earlier. We managed to transplant our giant sage bush to a more central spot, leaving one little chunk behind that has since grown into a smaller secondary plant, and the mint we put in toward the steps has spread out and filled the whole corner nicely. (The way mint grows, we figure it will eventually take over all the empty space in the bed, which is fine by us.) The big thyme plant we had, which was spilling over the edge of the bed onto the sidewalk, took care of itself by dying over the winter, so we just bought a smaller English thyme plant this spring and planted it farther back in the bed, where it will have plenty of room to spread. That just leaves one large oregano plant snuggled in next to the one remaining large bush, spreading out of its shade and onto the sidewalk. Brian is hoping that when we get around to removing that last bush, the oregano will respond to the increased sunlight by redirecting its growth toward the middle of the bed—but if not, we'll have a go at transplanting it.
So right now, what we've got in this area is one big sage plant, one tiny thyme plant, one vast spreading mass of oregano that's awkwardly positioned along one edge, a big patch of mint, and a lot of empty space. We have plans to fill in some of that with rosemary (for which we have seedlings started), chives, and marshmallow, which is supposed to be useful as a cough remedy and also looks nice. In the meantime, covering this empty space with mulch should keep it from getting overgrown with weeds too quickly, while also making the bed as a whole look more pulled-together.
After this was all done, Brian applied a coating of mulch over the new rosebush. Before mulching, however, he took the opportunity to pull apart its brick enclosure, which had come out a bit uneven when he first laid it and had only grown more uneven as it settled over the past two weeks. So he removed the first couple of layers of bricks and re-laid them, taking more care to get them properly aligned. This, plus a nice layer of mulch, makes the whole area look a lot neater and more attractive.
Even all these chores didn't quite use up the entire half-yard of mulch, so we still have a little bit left for future jobs. It may end up going on the secondary asparagus bed in the back yard, or the new kiwi vines, or perhaps the raspberry canes—or we'll just keep it on hand to top up the existing mulched areas whenever they get low. No matter what becomes of the extra, I'd say we've certainly gotten our money's worth out of it already.
