Garden Week 6: Mulch, Mulch, Mulch

How sad is it that I am STILL NOT FINISHED spreading the mulch I got delivered last Monday?  I have probably one wheelbarrow left, but there are guys here putting a new roof on my house, so it isn’t going to happen right now.  In fact, being stuck in my house for fear of dropping asphalt shingles is the only reason I’ve found the time to write this post.  Isn’t spring the busiest time of year???  There’s so much going on with school and sports and weekend parties.  I love all the fun stuff, but my DIY projects are taking a serious hit.  Anyway…  I ordered 14 yards of root mulch from Accent Garden Market, which happens to be the same guys who tore out the abandoned asphalt road on my property.   At $385 including delivery, it was the cheapest of the 5 or 6 places I called.  I originally found these guys on Craigslist, so be sure to check there if you are in the market for mulch (or stone or wood chips or dirt).  Ahh, wood chips.  I need wood chips too.   But not this week!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O82KNZscFvI&feature=youtu.be

I got like 99% of the mulch spread and Smart Jr was kind enough to take some pictures for me last night, so here we go.  Here’s the small planting area around the garbage can enclosure. That is my Honda Pilot in the background, but it spent most of the week in the shop.  Is it good luck to get hit by a priest on Easter?  Well that’s what happened to me.  Luckily my car was parked at the time and no one was in it.  It spent 3 days getting fixed and I got to drive around in a minivan for the first time ever.  I realize they are convenient and my little kids LOVED playing with the clicker and opening all the doors, but girl, I just can’t do it.  Ever.  Well maybe if someone gave me a free one, but still I’d rather my SUV.  BTW check out the freakin yellow pollen all over the driveway.  Yuck!Here are a couple of before shots of the front yard.  Um yea.  Desperately needing mulch! And after I mulched them.   I planted allium bulbs in December and they have been a big hit with everyone who drives by.I expanded the front bed with rocks around it last week, which meant it had all kinds of leaves and ugly sandy dirt in it, but it looks much better now that it has mulch.  Sometimes I wish I could mulch the inside of my house too.  A nice clean layer to cover up all the mess underneath.  Haha.This is what happens when I keep moving plants around AFTER I mulch.  Oh and my grass seed is coming in nicely, you just can’t tell from this picture.  The bed behind this one, that I added last year, was looking a little sparse…So I dug up a few plants from elsewhere and added them in.  Actually it was two plants, but the sedum autumn joy is so easy to divide, that I split it into 4 small plants.  That’s compost on the grass, I put down some seed a few days ago, so it should be looking good soon. It was kind of a slow process because I kept stopping to move plants around, or just take one out all together.  This bush was one of about 5 that came with the house.  It was getting too crowded, so I took it out.Elsewhere in the yard… You can tell that I did this over several days, because the mulch is different colors.  My method?  For the beds closer to the mulch pile I can fill up a small garbage can, heave it over to the bed and dump it.  For these beds on top of the retaining wall I have to shovel the mulch into a wheelbarrow, wheel it over, then use a 5 gallon bucket to scoop out mulch, climb the wall and dump it.  I spread it by hand.  A rake wouldn’t work for me because there are so many plants to work around.  I look like a freakin giraffe! And it’s still not finished.  Plus I think I’m going to have a lot of touch up work after the roofers leave.  Man is the yard a mess right now!  Shingles and plastic everywhere!