We noticed the tree trimmers were working in our neighborhood yesterday, so Shane stopped and talked to one of the workers on his way home. The guy just happened to be a crew lead and just the man Shane needed to see. He arranged to have a load of wood chips delivered bright and early this morning. They showed up around 7:30.
The load of mulch was free, because it saves the company the money and time they would have spent hauling it back to wherever it is they haul it back to.
We'll be using our mulch in flower beds, tree rings, etc. The finer stuff might go into some of are veggie beds to help keep the soil loose.
If trimmers are working in your area, stop and ask them for some chips for mulch. The worst that can happen is that they say no, or charge you a small fee. Who knows, though? You might just get it for free.
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Yesterday Shane also picked up a truckload of horse manure. It has aged enough that it can go straight into our raised beds and flower beds.
His crew is waiting on materials and are at a stand-still on the job site, so he has an unexpected day off. He's getting ready to till in that manure as I type this.
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We're in Planting Zone 6, but we've had a very mild winter; the ground hasn't even frozen this season. We're thinking of going ahead and planting peas this weekend or next. After scouring the Internet, I've found adages such as "peas in by Valentine's Day" and "peas in by President's Day".
In the past, our peas haven't done well. I think we've been planting them too late. If we plant them this weekend, we'll be 2 to 3 weeks early, but I think we're going to take the chance. The seeds are from last year (but still good), so we won't be out anything but our time if they don't grow.
We are also thinking about planting them in succession, some each weekend, so that we'll have "insurance" if the earliest ones fail.
Anyone else, especially Zone 6 readers, planting anything yet?
