Re: unloading compost?

Hello Susan and all compost lovers,

I don't see anyway around it.  Shovel it into wheelbarrows and haul it to
where ever!  About 6 years ago when I heavily got into using compost for my
raised beds (pure sand here) I had some dumped onto two layers of 2 ml
plastic in the driveway. It was 4 yds.  I thought I was never going to get
through it. A big mountain. UGH! All my beds are only excessable by small
pathways. Nothing is easy here!!!  So, I made myself do 4 large wheelbarrows
at a time. Then did something else and returned to do 4 more.  8 was about
all I could handle in a day and still have energy to actually do some other
garden work!  I made myself do it before 10AM. I then ate a donut, a
popsicle or something, figuring 'I deserved a break thatday'!!! BRIBES
WORK!!! I had learned that 4 large wheelbarrows heaping full = one yard. So
figured my 8 was about a yard.

Then I started working, designing gardens, and using a landscaping crew. I
hire them.  Some jobs are up to 90 yds.  And no, they are not just dumped
where they are used <G>.  It is the same thing.  One wheelbarrow at a time.
With 3 guys, about 30 yds can be done before they give out - IF it is loose
and not too heavy. One stays on the truck shoveling into two carts, and the
other two wheel it to the location. Then I do the raking and leveling! The
last of one truck of 4-5 yds is then put on a tarp while the shoveler goes
and gets the next truck!  Much more can be done if it is a job close by.
They stimulate each other with the 'macho' thing!!!
And I think nothing of it these days, but my middle-age is showing, for
sure!

At home, I still use my own large compost pile (I have an acre in mostly
gardens with a lot of large oak trees) about 'every other year with cold
composting'. The trick is to build it high and then move on to another area
next to it continuously...one is now 6 ft at new points and maybe 20ft x
10ft after two years. The part I am using is 3.5 ft high and ? (until it
runs out).  I do not make a big deal about it.  No screening...There are
some leaf clumps visable and twigs left in it...and those darn plastic tags
which I just toss into a bucket as the wheelbarrow gets full.  Am doing only
about 4 a day right now since it is up a hill and down a vale...etc to where
it is going, and I need energy to redo some daylily beds.

Two years ago two other females and I demolished a complete pile in a
different area that was probably 10 yds. It is now high again and still
cooking for the next batch from that area.  I have two areas hidden behind
trees or large shrubs just for the ease of carry stuff to them doing the
gardening season.

What advice besides sharing the above can I offer?  HIRE someone. And you
have fun doing the planting, planning, dividing, etc.  Not a wimp either!
Some teenage boys act like it is hard work, but I have seen the landscape
company whip them into shape real fast!  Not by demanding, but by example.
They just 'DO IT' and make no big deal about it!!! To me it is worth hiring
a company to haul.  I figure in my jobs - one man, one hour, for one yard;
shoveled and hauled a distance. That is for ONE man working alone. 4 yds is
good, and with more the going gets slower.  A landscape company gets 30
dollars an hour, truck, tools insurance, and all.  Sometimes you can get
'the help' on a Sat or overtime for 12 dollars an hour if the compost was
already delivered or you have your own.  I have one coming this Sat to do 8
yds being delivered!  He will haul, I will spread and topdress.

Then there is the trade.  'Work' for plants!

Oh, BTW, one yard is covers an area 10x10 with 3 inches.  That is my rule of
thumb...any other ideas on that?

Hope this helps....I love my compost!!!! I will do no installation without
8-12 inches of compost.  You should see the plants grow in one year....makes
my garden look sick!!!

Bobbie
Bobbie Brooks,  MA    zone 6.5
Gardens In An Old Fashioned Way
http://daylily.net/gardens/bobbiebrooks.htm
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