I didn’t want to make a big deal out of putting down some mulch. Its one of those tasks that almost everyone has to do at some point in life and there is normally nothing special about it. I’ve used pine straw, shredded bark, bark nuggets and shredded clippings that had been processed through a shredding machine to fill many flowerbeds over the years.
The local nursery mulched during the original installation of the shrubbery here and then again when they did some yard repair caused by an external plumbing rework that was not detected until after the lawn had been installed.
What made my mulching different this time is that I had decided to go all in on rubber mulch. A very wise relative had used it to great effect so I thought it was worth a shot.
Ordered 100 40 pound sacks of brown rubber mulch (2 tons) and waited for the delivery. I had learned from a prior heavy lift gate delivery that you need to make sure they deliver out here on a “short truck” as they call it. No tractor/trailer would be able to turn around when they made it up the hill.
Delivery day arrives and, of course, the R & L Freight driver out of Louisville drives to the west side of town where the GPS always takes them before they call. It is late in the day and his second to last delivery. He starts out surly and I get that he is frustrated. I give him some directions and he arrives 20 minutes later. Everyone has problems with my driveway hill and this driver is no exception. I suggest to him that he might want to back up a certain way that would allow the truck to be more level but he didn’t want to listen. The mulch is delivered on 2 pallets of 50 bags each or one ton per pallet. He is using a motorized mini-lift in the truck to lift and move the mulch. He ends up toppling the first pallet of rubber mulch over as he attempts to swing it around to get over to the lift gate of his truck. I back away.
He has an empty pallet so he moves the fallen mulch and manages to get the 1st pallet off the truck in two loads. He then maneuvers the 2nd pallet around and over to the lift gate. I’m thinking that if he loses this one, it could get really ugly. In his defense, it would have been very difficult to unload these very heavy (and high) loads in the best of circumstances with a completely level truck. To my surprise, he completes the unload without losing the 2nd pallet to gravity. He volunteers to sweep up all of the loose mulch on the driveway from the toppled pallet but I send him on his way. He left with about 20 pounds of mulch scattered in his truck so he still has some sweeping ahead of him.
OK, now I have almost 2 tons of rubber mulch. I did get a very generous offer of help with the mulch from two relatives and though it was tempting, I really didn’t have the shrubs cut or the beds cleaned out and ready to go. They got a reprieve.
I’m worried that if the mulch doesn’t look good, it’ll take a very large hole to bury it all. Then I get the first couple of bags down and it looks really good. It is comprised of mostly rubber tires with assorted rubber shoe soles and recycled items like that. It has been partially covered with the brown tint. I am surprised that it doesn’t come off on my hands.
As of today, I have put down half of the mulch. It is raining and has rained heavily, at times. Will get my answer on whether the mulch holds in the rain or if it washes out. The dogs have made an edging necessary because they can’t stay out of the flowerbeds and don’t even pretend to care about keeping things clean and orderly. The edging should solve any washout issues with the mulch and make it easier to maintenance and cut the grass. Will report back.
