Freecycle Mulch!

I joined Freecycle about a month ago after reading of another houseblogger who found free appliances from the group. So far, I’ve given away an office chair and an iron (we had three!) This weekend, a family that desperately needs furniture will come to take our two blue loveseats away. I’ve also received. I picked up some sweaters (although those didn’t work out for me) and, yesterday, Mike and I picked up 10 trash bags of shredded wood.

It’s hard to see from the picture, but there are two large fir trees planted along the sidewalk. I like them because they make our lot seem more private and give the house a “cottage-in-the-woods” feel. However, as you can see from the photo, they cast deep shade on the lawn. The grass beneath the trees is sparse. The trees also create quite a bit of litter – branches and cones.

Currently, each tree is ringed with rocks. The rings are filled with mulch. Between the two rings is a wasteland of roots and mud. My plan is to create a large oval of mulch, with the trees at either end. That means less and easier mowing for Mike and less picking-up of fir cones and branches for me.

To create the mulch, I had the bright idea of sending the downed tree in the backyard through a woodchipper. After investigating the price of renting a chipper, I found it to be not cost effective. Instead, I put an ad on Freecycle, asking for a woodchipper or to borrow a woodchipper or for wood chips. We were offered wood chips by a nice man east of the city. Yesterday, we drove to his place and shoveled 10 trash bags full of mulch. That tired Mike out and filled the car.

I know I’ve become a house geek when I sit at work and anticipate the moment I can go home to spread mulch. I’ve got it all done in my mind. The branches are trimmed up to a manageable height, the mulch is piled high, our silly little concrete bench is planted between the trees, and ferns dot the new landscape. The best part, though, is that the wood chips were FREE!