Re: unloading compost?

For some people who can never ever get enough compost, this may sound nuts,
but here's what I did with the recent 6 cu yds I got (vs. 4 that I paid
for):  They had dumped it in our front driveway, so I couldn't leave it
there very long.  I lugged a large amount via garden cart to my compost bins
(which are across the lot longways and up a small but sharpish incline.
Shovel in, shovel out.  That was *hard* work.

Then I got a great idea: I emailed and called all my friends who are
gardeners (should have emailed you, Susan!) and gave them this deal:  You
can have as much great compost FREE as you will put into my compost bins.
Every bit was gone by the first weekend, and there were some happy gardeners
leaving here.  I didn't have anywhere else to put more, so I was happy too.

Don't know if these recycle places do deals on large amounts.

Diann

-----Original Message-----
From: PRIMROSES [s*@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU]On Behalf Of
Susan Campanini
Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2000 2:48 PM
To: shadegardens@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
Subject: [SG] unloading compost?


        With all this talk about compost--what kinds, how much, when to add
it, etc.--I'm waiting to hear how other gardeners do the hard work of
unloading the stuff.  We get a little "home compost" from the bottom of our
own pile of leaves and weeds, but we need more than that to topdress beds
and build new ones.
        So we borrow a friend's truck and go to the municipal yard waste
recyling center.  There we get buy pretty nicely rotted and screened leaf
mold with a good crumbly texture and/or mushroom compost (usually rotted
horse manure with sawdust).  They load it in with big equipment.
        Then we get home and that's when the problem begins.  We're usually
not putting a whole truck full on a given bed and so we want to put some on
a bed and some in big empty garbage can-type containers for use in smaller
projects. We also don't want to just dump it in the driveway. But the back
breaking task of shoveling--from the truck into the wheelbarrow and then
shoveling from the wheelbarrow into the can (and later shoveling out of the
can back into the wheelbarrow to take it closer to the bed)--can be really
time-consuming, not to mention exhausting!
        Does anybody have a solution?  We've tried brainstorming about ramps
and pulleys and all sorts of things, but it all seems too complicated in the
end....

P.S.  Finally finished all the fall planting:  600+ bulbs in the north yard
and new trellises and plantings for wisterias and climbing hydrangea.

Susan and David in Urbana, Illinois, zone 5b
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index