The first time I ever ordered bulk mulch delivered to our home was a number of years ago. After speaking with the person in charge of the delivery, we decided that two cubic yards would more than suffice. We don’t have a huge yard, but much of it is landscaped with gardens and various patches of shrubs and trees. That first year, when the truck arrived and dumped it in our driveway, I was happy to think of all the trips to Lowes I’d otherwise have had to make, bringing four or five bags of mulch home at a time, sometimes having to make a few trips in a single day. As glad as that made me, I was also somewhat daunted by the enormity of two cubic yards of mulch. I was also surprised by how quickly it went, and how much more I actually needed.
A number of years passed since that happened. I’ve been amending the gardens gradually since then, buying a bag or two here and there as necessary, but this year the ground was bare enough to merit another delivery. Unfortunately, the memory is fallible, especially mine of late, and the one thing that I recalled more than anything else was not the enormous amount that two cubic yards was, but rather how we didn’t have nearly enough. So I ordered six this time.
If you’ve ever ordered mulch or know how much that is, you are probably laughing at me right now. I would be too. It’s absolutely laughable, as was my horrified look as the truck dumped out an amount of mulch that would fill the entire inside of our house about three times over. Now, I rarely get overwhelmed. Even when I should be, I usually don’t feel it. But as I walked outside and was greeted with a wall of mulch that went up to my head, I felt it. Overwhelmed.
The first thing I did was to consult the weather calendar, because if it was going to rain anytime in the near future, I’d be screwed, and I needed to know if I was going to have to find some make-do tarp to cover it from water. Luckily, the skies showed clear for at least three days. I could do it in three days, I thought. Turned out I could do it in two afternoons, but I’m paying a bit of a price.
My hands are worn.
And I haven’t felt this good in forever.
Bonus: I got it all down before the snow fell again.
