|
|
Post by Lexica on Apr 17, 2024 19:45:07 GMT
As many of us are heading outside to our gardens to work, I want to share this awesome company. It is called Chipdrop and you sign up to receive wood chips and/or logs, for FREE to spread in your planter beds to prevent weeds. FREE! I filled out the form online yesterday. You have to include a picture of where you want the wood chips placed. You have no idea when they will come, what kind of wood you will receive, and how much in volume you will receive. The website says there will be ground up leaves in it as well. My yard needs a lot of work. I don’t think anyone that lived here in the past was big on gardening. Although some previous owner did have this beautiful stream and waterfall built all across the back of the house. Someone who knew what they were doing landscaped around that and did a beautiful job. But the front yard is boring. It has no personality and it is much too much grass. And the grass is not quality grass, it is lumpy and has lots of weeds and stuff growing everywhere. It has to go. I decided to start working on the planter beds first. In California, I bought wood chips by the bag at Home Depot, putting a fresh layer each year. It could get expensive if you have a lot of area to cover, which I did. Spending the money meant that I didn’t need to crawl around on my hands and knees weeding though, and I hate weeding so it was worth it. But here in this house, the yard is huge and there is no existing mulch at all so it would have cost me quite a bit to get the wood chips necessary to cover the planter beds and eventually the whole front yard once I remove the grass. A neighbor down the street had her grass removed and there had to be at least 100 bags of mulch sitting on the side waiting to be spread. I plan to cover my front with wood chips too, and then plant spreading ground cover plants instead. I hate mowing grass. I put creeping rosemary in the California house and it looked gorgeous, smelled terrific, and gave me endless fresh rosemary to cook with. My neighbors all came by with clippers and helped themselves to it too. I filled out and submitted the form on Monday afternoon. I knew it might take a month or two to have available wood chips delivered. The company contacts local tree removal companies and gives them your information. Then when they are cutting down trees in your area, they swing by and dump the entire load at your home. So you have no idea when it will come. It saves the tree removal company money because they don’t need to pay dump fees and you get free wood chips. I was shocked to look out front to see what my dog was barking at yesterday to see a giant mountain in wood chips already delivered! I do see some pine needles in my batch which is fine, I won’t bother pulling them out. There are a few longer sticks that I will have to pull out but on the whole, I am thrilled to have found this company. So if you live in an area that they service, and are willing to accept the unknown, I can highly recommend them. You do have to take the whole load, which is fine in my case and I will end up needing more. If you have more than you need for your planters, share with your neighbors! You can also ask for logs that will need to be split, but will provide you free firewood. I have no fireplace in this house, but have told my neighbor that does and he is going to order both wood chips for mulch and logs for his fireplace. He couldn’t believe this is all free. getchipdrop.com/for-gardeners/ |
|
|
|
Post by dizzycheermom on Apr 17, 2024 19:51:38 GMT
I just put in a request this week!
|
|
|
|
Post by Zee on Apr 17, 2024 21:33:21 GMT
How do you keep weeds out of your ground cover? Nowhere I've ever lived has been weed free just because of mulch.
I hate gardening and the idea of no grass (except in the desert) would be a huge turn-off for me! I won't even plant a single plant in the ground because I refuse to weed. I only have containers in which I switch out plants seasonally.
Because weeds are outlawed by the HOA, the weed people come treat the lawn. Then we have the pine straw guy come a few times a year to freshen up around the house and in the bushes.
I can't even stand to water the containers, my husband does that every day for me. I hate how needy plants are lol
The only part I play is picking them out and then dead heading.
|
|
|
|
Post by dewryce on Apr 17, 2024 21:36:14 GMT
I read the title as ‘child free wood chips’ and was really concerned for a minute. Carry on.
|
|
|
|
Post by Lexica on Apr 17, 2024 21:49:28 GMT
How do you keep weeds out of your ground cover? Nowhere I've ever lived has been weed free just because of mulch. I hate gardening and the idea of no grass (except in the desert) would be a huge turn-off for me! I won't even plant a single plant in the ground because I refuse to weed. I only have containers in which I switch out plants seasonally. Because weeds are outlawed by the HOA, the weed people come treat the lawn. Then we have the pine straw guy come a few times a year to freshen up around the house and in the bushes. I can't even stand to water the containers, my husband does that every day for me. I hate how needy plants are lol The only part I play is picking them out and then dead heading. Depending on the area, I have placed weed screen down first and then the bark over that. Costco usually sells big bolts of it. For the area where I removed my grass in California, I put heavy mulch of at least 3 to 4 inches deep before I planted the rosemary plants. When the creeping rosemary grew and spread, it was super dense so no sunlight reached the ground area. If anything would have pushed through the thick mulch, it would have had to grow up about 15 inches tall to see any sunlight. It was a perfect ground cover and only needed trimming along the outer edges every few months. If I had mulch and a weed dared to pop up in it, I have sprayed them with a mix of vinegar and salt that kills them and doesn’t seem to bother the other plants. Of course, I was careful not to spray on the desirable plantings. When you say you would have the pine straw guy come out, is that an actual separate service, not your normal gardener? I have never heard of that. |
|
|
|
Post by Zee on Apr 17, 2024 22:36:56 GMT
How do you keep weeds out of your ground cover? Nowhere I've ever lived has been weed free just because of mulch. I hate gardening and the idea of no grass (except in the desert) would be a huge turn-off for me! I won't even plant a single plant in the ground because I refuse to weed. I only have containers in which I switch out plants seasonally. Because weeds are outlawed by the HOA, the weed people come treat the lawn. Then we have the pine straw guy come a few times a year to freshen up around the house and in the bushes. I can't even stand to water the containers, my husband does that every day for me. I hate how needy plants are lol The only part I play is picking them out and then dead heading. Depending on the area, I have placed weed screen down first and then the bark over that. Costco usually sells big bolts of it. For the area where I removed my grass in California, I put heavy mulch of at least 3 to 4 inches deep before I planted the rosemary plants. When the creeping rosemary grew and spread, it was super dense so no sunlight reached the ground area. If anything would have pushed through the thick mulch, it would have had to grow up about 15 inches tall to see any sunlight. It was a perfect ground cover and only needed trimming along the outer edges every few months. If I had mulch and a weed dared to pop up in it, I have sprayed them with a mix of vinegar and salt that kills them and doesn’t seem to bother the other plants. Of course, I was careful not to spray on the desirable plantings. When you say you would have the pine straw guy come out, is that an actual separate service, not your normal gardener? I have never heard of that. Yes, i don't have a gardener. Just the weed service, who are paid yearly, and you call someone when you need fresh pine straw delivered. You can get it and spread it yourself but it's a mess and I've never seen it bagged ready to buy. I found our guy on Facebook. It's his side hustle. |
|
iowgirl
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,134 
|
Post by iowgirl on Apr 17, 2024 23:09:12 GMT
The company that trims and cuts down trees for the power company drops us wood chips every year.
We use them as a compost pile for our livestock that dies. Works really great, but gets a little stinky if there is a big one in there. Amazing how it completely cooks those down to just white bone so fast.
It's a really BIG pile.
|
|
|
|
Post by Zee on Apr 17, 2024 23:27:00 GMT
The company that trims and cuts down trees for the power company drops us wood chips every year. We use them as a compost pile for our livestock that dies. Works really great, but gets a little stinky if there is a big one in there. Amazing how it completely cooks those down to just white bone so fast. It's a really BIG pile. I wish I could come buy the skulls from you! I need ethically sourced bones. I paint and decorate them and sell them. Shipping is not cheap and there aren't a lot of cow skulls near me. I wish I had enough land to utilize all the road kill I see but that's obviously not happening in an HOA! Currently I use what I find and what friends find to bring to me. (Clean! Of course) I do have one raccoon hidden in the woods I'm waiting on for Mother Nature to clean 😁 |
|
snyder
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,956
Location: Colorado
|
Post by snyder on Apr 17, 2024 23:36:42 GMT
Cool service.
Is there any way to find out if they service your area besides signing up?
|
|
|
|
Post by Lexica on Apr 18, 2024 1:25:13 GMT
Cool service.
Is there any way to find out if they service your area besides signing up?
If you click on this link and scroll down to the bottom of that page, there is a grey box with the wording “Is ChipDrop active in my area?” and then a place to type in your information. Just for the heck of it, I put in my old location of Lake Forest, California and they are active there too! I sure wish I had know about this service back then. getchipdrop.com/#activity |
|
snyder
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,956
Location: Colorado
|
Post by snyder on Apr 18, 2024 1:44:37 GMT
Cool service.
Is there any way to find out if they service your area besides signing up?
If you click on this link and scroll down to the bottom of that page, there is a grey box with the wording “Is ChipDrop active in my area?” and then a place to type in your information. Just for the heck of it, I put in my old location of Lake Forest, California and they are active there too! I sure wish I had know about this service back then. getchipdrop.com/#activitySuper! I thought I went to every link on that site and didn't find this link. lol
They are in my city! Thank you!
|
|
|
|
Post by Lexica on Apr 18, 2024 3:44:47 GMT
If you click on this link and scroll down to the bottom of that page, there is a grey box with the wording “Is ChipDrop active in my area?” and then a place to type in your information. Just for the heck of it, I put in my old location of Lake Forest, California and they are active there too! I sure wish I had know about this service back then. getchipdrop.com/#activitySuper! I thought I went to every link on that site and didn't find this link. lol
They are in my city! Thank you!
I am so glad for you! Make sure you watch the video that will tell you everything. They say not to expect perfect wood chips without any leaves. I didn’t mind leaves in mine because I planned to just hose any leaves down into the mulch where they would deteriorate and enrich the soil. I also wasn’t worried that it would be too much for me because I have a very large yard. If you can’t use a truck full, ask neighbors to come with a wheelbarrow and take what they need. Or make the mulch thicker in open areas. I think this is a genius idea. It helps the tree removal people and homeowners. You can go ahead and pay a $20 fee, which is what it costs the tree people rather than the higher fees at the city dump. I guess that is how ChipDrop makes their money. I figured a giant mountain of wood chips was worth $20. |
|
iowgirl
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,134
|
Post by iowgirl on Apr 18, 2024 13:42:27 GMT
I wish I could come buy the skulls from you! I need ethically sourced bones. I paint and decorate them and sell them. Shipping is not cheap and there aren't a lot of cow skulls near me. We don't have very many big size ones in there, thankfully. If they are, they most likely have bullet hole or two through the skull, from euthanizing them. They do get broken when the compost pile gets turned. Ours also do not have horns, as we only raise polled cattle or dehorn at a young age if they start to get horns. |
|
|
|
Post by Zee on Apr 18, 2024 13:54:15 GMT
I wish I could come buy the skulls from you! I need ethically sourced bones. I paint and decorate them and sell them. Shipping is not cheap and there aren't a lot of cow skulls near me. We don't have very many big size ones in there, thankfully. If they are, they most likely have bullet hole or two through the skull, from euthanizing them. They do get broken when the compost pile gets turned. Ours also do not have horns, as we only raise polled cattle or dehorn at a young age if they start to get horns. The ones I get gifted to me don't have horns either. I would get carrion beetles and do it that way if I had the space. There is a market for that, believe it or not! Probably not with extra holes though. |
|
|
|
Post by crazy4scraps on Apr 18, 2024 14:42:07 GMT
I’ll have to check this out as we are in near constant need of mulch for both the house and the lake cabin. The lake cabin this spring is particularly badly in need. When we cut down the river birch a couple years ago we had a HUGE stump left that we ground out ourselves last year, resulting in a ginormous amount of wood chips. We spread them all around and this spring it’s all GONE. I know we lose some of it to runoff but this is nuts especially since we had a pretty dry winter and presumably not as much runoff as in previous years.
We’ve tried putting down weed block numerous times and it never really stops the weeds. The tree seeds in particular seem to get down in the wood chips and sprout there, and I have no patience for weeding in any capacity. DH thought maybe heavy cardboard would be the answer, so he collected up a few heavy duty corrugated cardboard boxes, cut them to fit around the established plants and call it a day, except it WASNT. Again, the cardboard just managed to facilitate unwanted plant growth and this year we’re back to square one. 🤦🏻♀️ We put the wood chips 5-6” thick and nothing stops the weeds here.
|
|
