Chip, Chip, Chip(s)

Chips Away!

 

Wed's afternoon Denise called and said she was talking to Joey at the garden and he could bring us as many chips as we would like for the garden. All I could think of was WOW! What a great thing to happen since we are in dire need of a new layer of chips.  Carol agreed - Yes, Please! Bring them on!


Denise pitching away

Now true, we did get 2 loads of chips from the county which we spread on Jan 24th but they barely covered the areas they went in. Having another source of chips is wonderful and will really help us combat the weeds. Thanks Joey for stopping by the garden to see what is going on inside the fence! And then giving us chips.


Pulling mulch into the bucket

After the chips were dumped, I decided to take a few pictures showing the pitchfork & wheelbarrow method and my method of moving chips. If you have a lot of upper body strength, the pitchfork method is a breeze. However, if you aren't comfortable using a pitchfork, you can use the bucket method.

Dumping the chips

 

Loading the cart

My bucket method involves using the stiff tined rake or the digging fork to push/pull the mulch into the bucket. I then used one of the garden carts to haul 5 buckets at a time to where I wanted to dump the chips. Buckets  are also good for filling in small areas and tight corners.

One thing led to another and next thing I knew, Denise and I ended up having a mini-workday with that half load of chips! Mark just dropped by the garden to work on his broccoli but joined us in moving the chips. Thanks Mark, for working with us to the bitter end.  ( By the way, Mark, Denise and I spread half a load of mulch in about 1 hour.)
 

Lucky Mark - roped into the fun.
By the time he left the sun wasn't shining.

Chances are if you go to the garden over the next few weeks there will be a new pile(s) of mulch waiting to be spread.

Please help spread  the mulch if you see a new pile!

All the equipment needed can be found in the shed.  The goal is to spread it 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick to really smother any weeds currently present and to keep more from coming up. A little bit of up front work spreading chips will mean a lot less work during the year.

Flagged stakes will be out to indicate where to start spreading the mulch. (Friday the 8th that will be near the 3 new beds). When you finish mulching an area, just move the stakes to the new starting position so the next person will know where to start.

In advance, thank you VERY much for

 helping to spread the mulch when it shows up.