The $6 mulch pile…

In an earlier blog, I eagerly recommended purchasing mulch from your local landfill greenery.

This is when I made Mistake #1 – Recommending this before actually trying it.

And followed it with Mistake #2 – Not understanding the actual size of ‘1 cubic yard’ of mulch.

$6.00 at your local garden supply will purchase a bag, maybe two at most, of mulch. I didn’t think it was unreasonable to assume $6.00 would stretch to three, maybe four, bags at the greenery.

My husband asked, ‘Two yards will fit in my truck right?’

We made Mistake #3 when not stopping to ponder the question mark at the end of her response, ‘Uhhhhh. I guess?’

Mistake #4 was not asking ‘Why are you starting up a tractor?’

Two tractor loads later, I was shocked at the distance $6 stretched.

Posted by Beks on May 14, 2009 at 5:00 AM in :), Good Info, Home Ownership, Life Experiences, Living Frugal | 7 Comments »
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ConnieF responded:
Posted: May 14th, 2009 at 7:26 am
This made me smile. Having worked around construction I know what a cubic yard is (and looks like!), but your visual was really good. A friend just ordered 10 cy to fill in her formerly red-rocked yard (rocks are gone) and ended up with 2 mountains of dirt in her front yard that had to be wheelbarrowed to the back. Good luck with your gardening.
donna responded:
Posted: May 14th, 2009 at 8:50 am
I did a similar thing back in March. I ordered 6 yards of compost so I could make my new front flower beds higher. I’ve maybe used 4 yards total (and that included putting in a new bed in addition to everything else I did). I still have about 3 yards sitting in a mound in my driveway. It seems to never get smaller! I definitely didn’t need quite that much.
Trixie responded:
Posted: May 14th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Ahhaaa, haaa! I’m laughing hysterically. I did the exact same thing — only with more mulch

I ordered 6 yards and could not believe how big the pile was. Let’s just say anything and everything got a really heavy coat of mulch. Once it was all applied (seemed like weeks) the yard never looked better.

Trixie
mom responded:
Posted: May 14th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
I’m sure glad that Christopher loves you so much!!! Can’t wait to see the completed yard. Love you heaps, mom
Paul responded:
Posted: May 15th, 2009 at 11:17 am
At least it was just mulch (not a heavy dense material). Imagine making the same mistake with sand, soil or gravel.

Always a good idea to ask how much a CY weighs when transporting things like this yourself. Even if you can fit it in your truck, weight overloads are a serious safety issue and can be really hard on your truck.
She-Ra responded:
Posted: May 15th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
When we order free mulch from our town, the message on the recording describes each load as “about the size of a VW beetle”. Then they bring a dump truck full and dump it in the driveway! It’s nice that they represent their load size in a way that most everyone should be able to understand.
Nicole responded:
Posted: May 20th, 2009 at 11:26 am
All right! Now you can sell the rest to someone on Craig’s list. You should charge $6:)