bunchofgrapes | Work would have been so much easier

So I decided to take today mostly off (still had to do a little work stuff) because I was getting this ginormous delivery of mulch (24 bags) and composted manure (12 bags) and I wanted to get the bulk of it down now instead of later. I live in an end-unit townhouse that's a bit older and is on a lot more land than the newer townhouses, which is a big reason why I haven't bought something else. I have a pretty good size backyard, side yard and front yard with a lot of beds. Anyway, everything was delivered around 10:30 this morning so soon after, I got started. I emptied all 12 bags of composted manure immediately. That was the easy part.

The mulch is in these 85 lb bags and I had to move most of it from the back yard to the front yard (I am so not getting on the treadmill later). After hauling a few bags the old fashioned way (carrying them), I remembered the combo step ladder, two-wheeler and used that to haul two bags at a time to the front yard. Except for a brief break where a friend stopped by to fix my wireless problem with my work computer (yay! Brett), I worked straight through until 4pm when I absolutely had to stop because I was about to pass out. When I finally got to the shower, I was covered in dirt. I mean it was caked on. Nasty.

And today was warm--83 degrees and humid. Luckily there was a slight breeze but that didn't deter the Virginia state birds (gnats) from attacking. I kept having to stop because the little bastards were flying into my eyes and up my nose--until I got smart and used this stuff from Smith and Hawken. It's this herbal liquid called Bug Off and it really does work! Anyway, all of the mulch is down in the front and side beds but I still have a to do in the back yard. Oh, well.

I'm pretty sure I won't be able to move tomorrow. But my yard looks fabulous!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm tired just reading about all that you did. Hubby and I had a work day also. We cleaned out our garage, since we are building a new one. He needed my help in taking stuff down from the storage area in the top of the garage. It was gross. Lots of mouse droppings and that kind of stuff. I can't believe how much stuff he had stored up there. I quit asking "what's this," after a while.

Your gnats are probably like our black flies. Hate them. Hate woodticks more and there are lots of them this year. We pulled over 30 of them off of the dogs, yesterday. Yuck!

Glad your yard looks great. Your workouts must be helping to be carrying 85lb bags of mulch. Better not mess around with you.

N.

I only carried a few of the bags to the front yard and it was more like carry, rest, carry. Then I got smart and remembered the two-wheeler. However, I did haul about 8 bags into the back yard and that wasn't easy. Those things are freakin' heavy!

If you can find this Bug Off stuff, it also works for black flies. I've heard those are nasty. Our gnats are seriously bad. They travel in swarms and they just bombard your head. They bite too and that can create a huge, red, itchy welt. My stepmother got bit on the cheek once and the whole side of her face swelled up.

As for your garage, you lost me at "top of garage". Ick! The mouse droppings reminds me of the joy I had last weekend with the bird's nest. That was the grossest thing I've ever had to do so I sympathize.

I got a whole load of cocoa bean mulch in for my herb garden, and I was amazed at how delicious it still smells. The cats don't like it much though.

Do you have dogs? Because cocoa bean mulch can be deadly if they ingest any.

Nope. I did my homework and got it expressly because my cats use my herb garden as their loo and as much as I love them I have a problem with them pooping and peeing on stuff I cook with. It's harmless to them, and they don't like it. Dogs love it, but no dogs have any access to my back garden. Promise.

I'd think I'd have a problem with cats using my veggie garden as their personal care area, too.

We don't see too many cats in our yard now that we put up a 6-ft privacy fence. Our neighborhood is much quieter now that our four dogs can't see all the activity in the surrounding yards, and it makes a nice microclimate for our roses. The roses in the back yard bloomed a full week before the roses in the front yard because of it.

Our dogs, however -- let's just say roses or no roses, they go where they wanna. I use a ton of plastic grocery bags throughout the week. Our veggies are safe -- we have three tomato plants in pots as well as two red bell pepper plants (mainly for our parrots, who love red bell peppers).

We put in four new rose beds this spring - unfortunately, no place around her will deliver. So it's pull the middle seat out of the minivan, go to Lowe's, Wal-Mart, Shop Rite, or Home Depot (whoever has the best prices on whatever we want), and load the poor van up with bag after bag -- then reverse the process once we get home.

We found some great cedar mulch in Shop Rite (a supermarket chain here in NJ and in NY) -- 3 bags for $9. It's great -- light and fluffy, and it smells great.

I wish I could find the great composted manure we bought in Home Depot in 2002. It was black, and fluffy -- not slimy like some of the manure they sell now. It came in 40-lb plastic bags, blue with black and white slots (like the cow-inspire Gateway boxes). They stopped carrying it, and I never saw it again.

I wasn't sure this place would deliver because my townhouse doesn't have a driveway and I'm not near the parking lot but they happily did. I hate hauling mulch in my SUV because of the mess it can make and the car smells for a couple of days. If I can pay someone to do something so I don't have to do it, I'm all for it. I hauled about a half dozen bags last year and decided to either find someone to deliver it or never mulch again.

The composted manure I got sounds like the stuff you got from HD. It was very nice quality--not slimy at all. I should have bought more of it. Then again, it gives me an excuse to go see the guy in the kilt again.

What's the brand name? I'd love to find something of that quality up here in Jersey. The stuff we're using is nasty.

Wanna smell something Nasty? Alfalfa meal. Our rose society had a group buy of organics and other fertilizers, and we got 3 50-lb sacks of alfalfa and 4 50-lb sacks of fish meal (the dogs -really- love the fish meal) as well as some other stuff, like greensand (I used that to lighten up the clay soil in the area where we put one new rose bed), cottonseed meal, fish and seaweed emulsion, and EasyFeed. The van stunk of alfalfa for a week -- but man, do our roses love the alfalfa!

Sadly, I tossed all the packaging so I can't tell you the name. If I remember, next time I'm at the garden place, I'll ask Irish Guy.

A friend of mine had these Vietnamese neighbors who used to put shrimp shells and broken crab shells around their rose bushes. Alan said that when it got hot and humid their yard smelled like rotten seafood but they did have some really nice roses.

I have these climbing roses around the air conditioning unit. I never do anything to them except maybe water them. Despite my best efforts to kill them, they come back strong every year.

Man, I thought the alfalfa was bad. I can't imagine having shrimp and crab shells decomposing in the back yard.

Yes, please ask Irish Guy. I'd love to find that up here.

We're rose junkies -- counting the minis and the roses in the front and back yards, we have close to 300. It sounds like our property is large, but it's only 50 x 100. We stick roses everywhere we can.

Work would have been so much easier

no subject

no subject

no subject

cocoa bean mulch

Re: cocoa bean mulch

Re: cocoa bean mulch

Mulch & manure

Re: Mulch & manure

Re: Mulch & manure

Re: Mulch & manure

Re: Mulch & manure