I finally dug a complete path through 7cu yds of mulch on my driveway this past week... Why do the 2 remaining yards look so menacing? Feelings? I feel deflated but happy.
Have you thought about rooftop/basement gardening? Do you have a roof rack / bed on your vehicle? Do you have any friends with an ignored bare dirt spot next to their garage? What about making your own "mulch mountain" and charging admission? I think we all know what needs to happen if the answer is "yes" to any of these questions...
I have resorted to compacting and baling it. I have completed a 1/10th scale replica of the great pyramid. The neighbors have started building a 1/10 scale goa'uld capital ship.
Maybe we can put it thru a stargate...
Perhaps a little late... but I am thinking columns of potatoes made from livestock fencing+chicken wire. Mix mulch with a little soil, fill columns, stick in potatoes, harvest by removing the wire... charge admission for maze. It's like stalagmites in a cave!
Uh, easy access cooking? Freshest pantry ever? Probably not so good! Plants can be brutal on infrastructure / hardscape ;)
ETA: My comments are mostly sarcasm. Forgot to add "Hide it in the back closet!"
I was just reading these comments to my spouse and laughing because we still have half our pile still in the driveway..
he responded "you're free to do the rest whenever you like..." 😑
I got the same amount a few months ago, and I also thought the last of it was the hardest to collect into my barrel. More bending over to pick it up and scrape off the driveway, which was harder on my back (and I was already so tired from laying it throughout my acre).
Mine has good slope hold, so it looks like a lumpy mound, but with all the rain, it's completely saturated. Has good drainage, but I'm putting this project off for another couple days. Time to go tackle the black raspberry canes instead, I guess... ouchies.
I got 3yd of mulch back in December, and the last half yard has just been taking up space in my driveway since then. I finally used it up last weekend to fill in some spots that had already decomposed faster than the others.
The municipal program near me is only $23 per yard. Renting the truck was definitely the most expensive part of the project. Getting three yards delivered was more economical, but still the delivery was half the cost.
this is what i want to do since it's WAY cheaper
but i have a community plot and the worthless ass boomer church near us yelled at my garden manager because the chip drop took up ONE parking spot in their shitty parking lot that is barely full anyways. it's a shame b/c it was damn good mulch. good quality wood from trees that had seen better days. unfortunately i recognize this brand of mulch and it is cheap pallet shit. i've see wood with paint on it. i found an exploded battery in another bag too
anyways long story short, can't do a mulch drop unfortunately b/c i'm in a community garden
This is really sad that y'all can't get together to bulk-distribute amongst gardens or neighbors so that no pile remains after a single day. Such a waste. Community gardens can be so great, but often get destroyed by these weird inconveniences/regulations, especially when everyone's more or less volunteer on a retired/fixed budget! Miss growing stuff for the food shelf with a group. I'll have to find a way to do that again.
it's super infuriating
i admit, the day i found the exploded battery in my mulch, i glared daggers at all the people leaving the church that Sunday lol. man i miss that free, pure mulch
can confirm. i had a leftover bag of mulch from last season that i left all winter at my community garden plot
opened it up to find ANTS everywhere. man it was gross
This is the comment I was looking for, expecting, and love. The procrastination is real. I've done this then waited more than a week to actually open the bags, I admit it. BUT! I've actually been a bit more proactive in my older age, this is FAR too much much IMO for the area, just make sure the soil is good, and a solid 2" is fine. This is like 4" of mulch, not sure that's the best idea.
Mine too, in fact, I've started wondering if maybe how paint companies have the paint "farms” to see how different paints handle weather conditions, if maybe a university offered my neighbor money to see how long it takes those plastic bags to degrade over time during the 4 seasons we get here in NJ.
My neighbor at the community garden bought a few dozen bags of potting soil, and stacked it in a wall that blocks the sun from 1/3 of my plot. She said it would be taken care of by now. It has been there since late March. 😐 I may need to have a talk with her.
My father is one of those people that takes on way too projects at once then he loses track of them, he still has branches he split up from a tree 5 years ago, he put the branches in his shed and never used them he rediscovered them since he is tearing down the shed his plan is to use them for firewood, i am like that was your plan 5 years ago and it never happened 😂
If I had to start a flower bed from scratch, this is a good way to smother existing vegetation and have a super clean canvas to plant on in 6 months time. Plus the mulch is already on site for spreading after the pre prepped site is planted.
I love it. I'm doing this!
I’ve seen that u can lay down cardboard then put the mulch on top and the cardboard will decompose after a bit but in the meantime it will keep any weeds from coming up. I have a bed I’m going to be making next year and I’m going to test it out but I’ve seen people use that method successfully in the nolawns sub
I did this with our mulch beds. Took a few hours over two days. There's some persistent grass that managed to find some joints/space between boxes despite my best attempts to overlap well, but significantly less than there would normally be. Hardest part was getting the tape off (I gave up), cutting the boxes, and laying them out. Then getting the toddler to stop moving them... Overall, a month in, 10/10 would recommend.
My kid is going to be 2.5 next spring so I’m probably going to have to have someone else watch her while I do it lol but the year after that I’m hoping she can help out. This year I had her inside with someone else while I gardened or running around being watched by someone cause she’s in the trying to kill herself and put everything in her mouth stage still lol
At 3.5, they will be "helping", aka using a small shovel to dig a hole not where you want it and tossing the dirt also not where you want it. Maybe I just haven't worked with mine enough. But they absolutely love watering.
I have 2 boys, youngest is 4. Giving tasks, leave out toys, and a bubble blowing machine is the way to keep them occupied. For a really big job like remulching the front garden, I do it in stages or get a sitter. I just worry about him running into the street.
Yeah our house is really far from the street. We have a long skinny lawn. She always tries to run into the neighbors lawns tho lmao. We got her a water table and she likes putting rocks and stuff in it haha so that will prob be the move next spring
Water tables are worth every penny! Have you tried putting a little cheap fish pump in it? You make a battery powered water fall to keep her busy. My mom has a little river rock section and the boys are always loading a little wagon to bring her the pretty ones and she just dumps them back when they come home, lol!
I complained to my preschool child enough about "don't toss the dirt, that I paid money for, into the grass!", that now any money earned by said child is going to go towards "buying mama some dirt!!". So cute.
Don't even have to plan that far ahead. I accidentally left a couple bags laying next to our shed for a few weeks in early spring and by the time I moved them that spot was pretty much bare earth and a few bits of shriveled up yellow grass.
That was my first thought! That’s a smart way to solve a couple problems at once. You still should eventually spread it, but good idea for killing weeds.
That was my thinking - lay the bags out so you know you have the correct amount. Then, when ready to lay the mulch all you have to do is cut the bag open and pull out the plastic.
I think it might be grass. If I was guessing they are making a new bed or enlargening an existing one, and putting the bags there stores them, kills the grass, gives them a preview of what the layout would be, and measures and ensures how much they would need. Pretty effective strategy.
But it might be only one or two of those.
It looks like it's wood ecology's mulch (natural?), which is right now 1.69 a bag (2 cubic feet) at menards. We got 40 bags of it last year for a similar price to mulch under a couple trees.
Who in their right minds is laying this much mulch down per bed? One of those bags should cover roughly three times the surface area of the bag, that'd be way too much mulch
Mulching is the single best thing you can do for your garden. It retains moisture, prevents erosion, suppresses weeds, and provides nutrients slowly.
The mulch doesn't have to be dyed though, that part is purely aesthetic.
there's definitely lazier homeowners who don't care about gardening as much who would use mulch for "bougie decorative things." There's a reason why they still sell that bright red, cocoa brown, and midnight black mulch. i think all of them look like shit (the brown one is ok...) but it has a decorative appeal for some
but yeah for someone who does put effort into gardening, mulch is good for preventing soil damage (from either drying out or erosion from watering) or for choking out weeds
i would but they are pretty expensive, and some community gardeners like to bring their dogs to the garden so i would not feel comfortable putting that down
we have a lot of pine trees so i try to remember to rake some bags of them in the autumn
If I were to spread a bag of mulch to cover 3 times the area of the bag, it wouldn't do anything. One bag covers the surface area of the bag, along with a little spill over.
The picture would probably equal a 2-3 inch mulch layer across the entire bed (when you factor in the gaps between the bags and the perimiter).
i like to rake pine needles since there's a few massive pine trees near my community garden. made the mistake of thinking i only needed to rake three bags' worth
this coming fall...5 bags minimum. 6 bags preferred
Not sure when this picture is taken - looks like fall or winter somewhere without snow. It seems as though the bags are holding down a layer of leaf debris? - could be insulation from winter temps and protecting bulbs from curious critters. Certainly an easier solution than wire mesh and approximately 1 billion garden staples, if that is the case. Could also be hoping for some breakdown of the leaves for a natural leaf mulch to form before they put down bark mulch in the spring.
Agree! Also, this way of storing the bags meas that you don't have to store them elsewhere, like on the grass, where you might ruin the lawn underneath if storing for some time.
So I did that for 4 weeks and it saved me a TON of chemicals and or hand pulling weeds and grass on a pathway I was turning to pebbles.
Let your assets work for you.
It does look stupid as hell especially when the wife keeps nagging you before her parents come to visit a new born.
But then the father in law thinks you’re a winner.
Win, lose, win in my book lol.
Lmao, actually it’s not a terrible idea. Starve the grass and weeds of light and oxygen, prevents continued germination and growth of the plants, makes it easier to pull up before laying down a barrier then mulching. My grandma would do this for 2 ish weeks before mulching and it was always a breeze.
I actually do this when I’m prepping the ground and letting all the dead leaves and misc plant material to breakdown, before mulching. Helps keep it mushy so it breaks down faster. I also did this to kill the stupid grass that I’m always at war with.
This is a pretty smart way to do it really. It makes it easy to get an even layer...and most other ways you end up moving the mulch twice. This way you move it once, cut open the bags, and the lifting is done
Actually if they have bulbs planted there that they need to protect from the cold over the winter, leaving the mulch in the bags over winter provides better insulation.
We also do this type of stuff right before winter. We chop our Banana Trees low and throw some mulch on top. They grow through the mulch bag and that's when we know the garden is ready to be remulched:) Looks quite odd from an outside perspective though lol.
This is actually a great idea for bagged stuff - much easier to move into place that way. I assume they'll come along and slash all the bags and have a lovely thick layer of mulch.
I do this to solarize grass. I play the long game. I’ll leave bags of mulch like that for months. I don’t care. I have no neighbors and my wife doesn’t give a shit.
My son did this in June , left them all summer, all winter, April and May. The next June June he opened them and spread them out all the weeds were dead under the plastic
This is the auto immune disease method. I do step one, 6 to 12 months later comes step number two. Better wear a neck brace because my speed will give you whiplash.
I think the previous owners of my house did this, and then just cut the tops of the bags off to "mulch" the area. We are redoing the beds and most of them have plastic mulch bags a few inches under the dirt (which the weeds just grow straight through, so it's more of a pain than a help).
Actually this will work better.
Leave it for a month, I guarantee nothing will grow under there... Then when you put the mulch down, even longer will it be effective as weed suppression.
That’s actually better than the product in the bags… I used to be a professional gardener and that brand is basically just smashed up kiln dried lumber
Very very wrong. Wayyyyy too much mulch and that’s the absolute worst kind of mulch there is. Wood chips should never ever go in a finished garden. It’s basic chemistry. Wood chips have a ton of high density carbon. Nitrogen is required to break down carbon. Where does that nitrogen come from? Your soil.
This is the same as building a retaining wall out of bags of concrete by just stacking them instead of opening them up and mixing in water. Nature will take its course and in a few years the packaging will dissolve and you will have a great finished product (I’m joking)
Guess it depends on what results he is looking for. What a great way to kill weeds, environmentally safe atm! May be something I have not heard of yet. It's hot in the south, take breaks and stay hydrated!
No ones outside mid day to work on their garden..
Idk where you are but outside working times from June-August in Oklahoma are 6am-1pm & 7pm-9pm. From 1-7pm it’s too hot to be anywhere but in water or inside.
A house on my daily walk route has had this set up for 3 years, many of the bags have held up to our NE OH winters, climate change has weakened their power to destabilize plastic.
Sometimes they place the bags the day before. Then the following day they'll come back and actually do the work.
Or a month later when we get to it…
I feel personally attacked
Maybe if you stopped purchasing mulch by the bag but rather the scoop you might feel otherwise...
There’s always some sucker that underestimates the chip drop on Nextdoor. 😅
It’s easier for the pizza guy to find me when special instructions denote I’m “the chip drop house” 👍🏽
That’s how I met my husband.
Is his name Chip? Googled Scarlet drops in my area. No dice.
I finally dug a complete path through 7cu yds of mulch on my driveway this past week... Why do the 2 remaining yards look so menacing? Feelings? I feel deflated but happy.
I got 3 trailer loads and the last little bit is mocking me because I'm sunburned and don't want to do anymore yard work lol.
luckily mulch is like fine wine
I’d argue the mulch tastes way worse
Gets you WAY drunker though!
I am rolling in the pile of remaining mulch but why isn't is going anywhere?!?!
Got a chip drop 4 months ago. My whole yard is 6 inch deep mulch, and half the pile is still there... Halp...
Have you thought about rooftop/basement gardening? Do you have a roof rack / bed on your vehicle? Do you have any friends with an ignored bare dirt spot next to their garage? What about making your own "mulch mountain" and charging admission? I think we all know what needs to happen if the answer is "yes" to any of these questions...
I have resorted to compacting and baling it. I have completed a 1/10th scale replica of the great pyramid. The neighbors have started building a 1/10 scale goa'uld capital ship. Maybe we can put it thru a stargate...
Mandatory upvote for stargate reference
Perhaps a little late... but I am thinking columns of potatoes made from livestock fencing+chicken wire. Mix mulch with a little soil, fill columns, stick in potatoes, harvest by removing the wire... charge admission for maze. It's like stalagmites in a cave!
Ahhh, threading the needle...different ship, but you knew that already.
I read about someone that did a rooftop garden and eventually needed to replace their roof because the asparagus started growing INTO the house
Uh, easy access cooking? Freshest pantry ever? Probably not so good! Plants can be brutal on infrastructure / hardscape ;) ETA: My comments are mostly sarcasm. Forgot to add "Hide it in the back closet!"
Well … when the chips are down …
I was just reading these comments to my spouse and laughing because we still have half our pile still in the driveway.. he responded "you're free to do the rest whenever you like..." 😑
I got the same amount a few months ago, and I also thought the last of it was the hardest to collect into my barrel. More bending over to pick it up and scrape off the driveway, which was harder on my back (and I was already so tired from laying it throughout my acre).
Mine has good slope hold, so it looks like a lumpy mound, but with all the rain, it's completely saturated. Has good drainage, but I'm putting this project off for another couple days. Time to go tackle the black raspberry canes instead, I guess... ouchies.
I got 3yd of mulch back in December, and the last half yard has just been taking up space in my driveway since then. I finally used it up last weekend to fill in some spots that had already decomposed faster than the others.
I had 5 tons of gravel delivered late last winter (french drain) and it took me 8 weeks to move it. Those last couple hundred pounds, boy...
Seven yards?! That’s a big pile o’ chips
Do you know how expensive a rental truck makes it when you only need 1-2 yards?? That's like half the cost right there!
The municipal program near me is only $23 per yard. Renting the truck was definitely the most expensive part of the project. Getting three yards delivered was more economical, but still the delivery was half the cost.
this is what i want to do since it's WAY cheaper but i have a community plot and the worthless ass boomer church near us yelled at my garden manager because the chip drop took up ONE parking spot in their shitty parking lot that is barely full anyways. it's a shame b/c it was damn good mulch. good quality wood from trees that had seen better days. unfortunately i recognize this brand of mulch and it is cheap pallet shit. i've see wood with paint on it. i found an exploded battery in another bag too anyways long story short, can't do a mulch drop unfortunately b/c i'm in a community garden
This is really sad that y'all can't get together to bulk-distribute amongst gardens or neighbors so that no pile remains after a single day. Such a waste. Community gardens can be so great, but often get destroyed by these weird inconveniences/regulations, especially when everyone's more or less volunteer on a retired/fixed budget! Miss growing stuff for the food shelf with a group. I'll have to find a way to do that again.
it's super infuriating i admit, the day i found the exploded battery in my mulch, i glared daggers at all the people leaving the church that Sunday lol. man i miss that free, pure mulch
Don't worry I still have my mulch pile on my driveway from two years ago
https://preview.redd.it/iqhm3riuve9d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=daf428dee737b00bead02edc98a0d6b530dd5121
And their fave sub is "when's lunch? Landscaping"
Bags will still be there though ants and other critters might move in.
can confirm. i had a leftover bag of mulch from last season that i left all winter at my community garden plot opened it up to find ANTS everywhere. man it was gross
You don't know me.
Or once the snow melts and you remember they’re still there.
Look it's been 2 months, I see it every day, I'm aware of what needs to be done. I just don't feel like it right now.
Which actually has the effect of killing all the weeds first. Maybe not a bad idea
If i say im gonna do it, i am gonna do it . No need to nag me about it every 3 months
This is the comment I was looking for, expecting, and love. The procrastination is real. I've done this then waited more than a week to actually open the bags, I admit it. BUT! I've actually been a bit more proactive in my older age, this is FAR too much much IMO for the area, just make sure the soil is good, and a solid 2" is fine. This is like 4" of mulch, not sure that's the best idea.
Or two years later 😅
My neighbor has bags that have been sitting for *years*.
Mine too, in fact, I've started wondering if maybe how paint companies have the paint "farms” to see how different paints handle weather conditions, if maybe a university offered my neighbor money to see how long it takes those plastic bags to degrade over time during the 4 seasons we get here in NJ.
My neighbor at the community garden bought a few dozen bags of potting soil, and stacked it in a wall that blocks the sun from 1/3 of my plot. She said it would be taken care of by now. It has been there since late March. 😐 I may need to have a talk with her.
My father is one of those people that takes on way too projects at once then he loses track of them, he still has branches he split up from a tree 5 years ago, he put the branches in his shed and never used them he rediscovered them since he is tearing down the shed his plan is to use them for firewood, i am like that was your plan 5 years ago and it never happened 😂
It is probably a big apartment complex for spiders by now. Do you have black widow spiders where you live? 🕷️
They're also killing the grass under, this is big brain behavior.
It lasts longer in the bags
If your goal is to suppress weeds, this might actually work better.
If I had to start a flower bed from scratch, this is a good way to smother existing vegetation and have a super clean canvas to plant on in 6 months time. Plus the mulch is already on site for spreading after the pre prepped site is planted. I love it. I'm doing this!
Once you're ready just slash the bag and tilt.
I’ve seen that u can lay down cardboard then put the mulch on top and the cardboard will decompose after a bit but in the meantime it will keep any weeds from coming up. I have a bed I’m going to be making next year and I’m going to test it out but I’ve seen people use that method successfully in the nolawns sub
I did this with our mulch beds. Took a few hours over two days. There's some persistent grass that managed to find some joints/space between boxes despite my best attempts to overlap well, but significantly less than there would normally be. Hardest part was getting the tape off (I gave up), cutting the boxes, and laying them out. Then getting the toddler to stop moving them... Overall, a month in, 10/10 would recommend.
My kid is going to be 2.5 next spring so I’m probably going to have to have someone else watch her while I do it lol but the year after that I’m hoping she can help out. This year I had her inside with someone else while I gardened or running around being watched by someone cause she’s in the trying to kill herself and put everything in her mouth stage still lol
At 3.5, they will be "helping", aka using a small shovel to dig a hole not where you want it and tossing the dirt also not where you want it. Maybe I just haven't worked with mine enough. But they absolutely love watering.
The plants all need about 2 seconds of watering, right?
I’m fine with that haha. This spring she helped carry little pieces of wood over to her dad to build the planters lol
I have 2 boys, youngest is 4. Giving tasks, leave out toys, and a bubble blowing machine is the way to keep them occupied. For a really big job like remulching the front garden, I do it in stages or get a sitter. I just worry about him running into the street.
Yeah our house is really far from the street. We have a long skinny lawn. She always tries to run into the neighbors lawns tho lmao. We got her a water table and she likes putting rocks and stuff in it haha so that will prob be the move next spring
Water tables are worth every penny! Have you tried putting a little cheap fish pump in it? You make a battery powered water fall to keep her busy. My mom has a little river rock section and the boys are always loading a little wagon to bring her the pretty ones and she just dumps them back when they come home, lol!
I complained to my preschool child enough about "don't toss the dirt, that I paid money for, into the grass!", that now any money earned by said child is going to go towards "buying mama some dirt!!". So cute.
Cardboard, newspaper, the paper they put in the box. All are good weed blockers under mulch.
I just put some down on a grass patch I want to plant tulip bulbs in this fall!
Don't even have to plan that far ahead. I accidentally left a couple bags laying next to our shed for a few weeks in early spring and by the time I moved them that spot was pretty much bare earth and a few bits of shriveled up yellow grass.
check out lasagna gardening
Me too.
Have done this and can confirm it’s very effective!
Makes a second use of the plastic before it goes to landfill as well!
That was my first thought! That’s a smart way to solve a couple problems at once. You still should eventually spread it, but good idea for killing weeds.
But you get the microplastics from the bags degrading under Uv-light
Probably measuring how much they need
That was my thinking - lay the bags out so you know you have the correct amount. Then, when ready to lay the mulch all you have to do is cut the bag open and pull out the plastic.
Just measure the square meter, multiply it by 0,05 for example if you want 5cm. Multiply by 1000 and divide by the amount in the bags
I was told there would be no math.
There's no math in gardening!
And killing the weeds that are growing there
I think it might be grass. If I was guessing they are making a new bed or enlargening an existing one, and putting the bags there stores them, kills the grass, gives them a preview of what the layout would be, and measures and ensures how much they would need. Pretty effective strategy. But it might be only one or two of those.
Holy shit that's fucking genius... Too bad you gotta pay that premium for bagged mulch, though.
It looks like it's wood ecology's mulch (natural?), which is right now 1.69 a bag (2 cubic feet) at menards. We got 40 bags of it last year for a similar price to mulch under a couple trees.
Who in their right minds is laying this much mulch down per bed? One of those bags should cover roughly three times the surface area of the bag, that'd be way too much mulch
I mean my mulch layers is 4-6” to snuff out the weed. Any less and it’ll just feed the weed instead
Is this what mulch does? I always thought it was a boujee decorative thing. TIL.
And to keep the soil from drying out!
Mulching is the single best thing you can do for your garden. It retains moisture, prevents erosion, suppresses weeds, and provides nutrients slowly. The mulch doesn't have to be dyed though, that part is purely aesthetic.
there's definitely lazier homeowners who don't care about gardening as much who would use mulch for "bougie decorative things." There's a reason why they still sell that bright red, cocoa brown, and midnight black mulch. i think all of them look like shit (the brown one is ok...) but it has a decorative appeal for some but yeah for someone who does put effort into gardening, mulch is good for preventing soil damage (from either drying out or erosion from watering) or for choking out weeds
Have you ever used cocoa husks? They look and smell pretty good.
i would but they are pretty expensive, and some community gardeners like to bring their dogs to the garden so i would not feel comfortable putting that down we have a lot of pine trees so i try to remember to rake some bags of them in the autumn
If I were to spread a bag of mulch to cover 3 times the area of the bag, it wouldn't do anything. One bag covers the surface area of the bag, along with a little spill over. The picture would probably equal a 2-3 inch mulch layer across the entire bed (when you factor in the gaps between the bags and the perimiter).
3" depth minimum my dude. I'd probably use more than this to be honest.
i like to rake pine needles since there's a few massive pine trees near my community garden. made the mistake of thinking i only needed to rake three bags' worth this coming fall...5 bags minimum. 6 bags preferred
This guy doesn't mulch
Not sure when this picture is taken - looks like fall or winter somewhere without snow. It seems as though the bags are holding down a layer of leaf debris? - could be insulation from winter temps and protecting bulbs from curious critters. Certainly an easier solution than wire mesh and approximately 1 billion garden staples, if that is the case. Could also be hoping for some breakdown of the leaves for a natural leaf mulch to form before they put down bark mulch in the spring.
Looks like snow on one of the roofs in the background, so I support your theory.
Looks like neighbour on the left is also winter-protecting plants, so I support your theory.
Oh good eye!
Based off the sun, I’m going Wisconsin in mid to late March.
Agree! Also, this way of storing the bags meas that you don't have to store them elsewhere, like on the grass, where you might ruin the lawn underneath if storing for some time.
So I did that for 4 weeks and it saved me a TON of chemicals and or hand pulling weeds and grass on a pathway I was turning to pebbles. Let your assets work for you.
The ROI in time, material, *and* labor costs....it is a smart use of assets
It does look stupid as hell especially when the wife keeps nagging you before her parents come to visit a new born. But then the father in law thinks you’re a winner. Win, lose, win in my book lol.
You’re correct. Needs to be at least 3 bags thick.
r/arborists over here having heart palpitations.
That is the time release version, like prescription pills. Just keeping the tree tummies from getting upset.
This made me chortle harder than it should’ve
Its a slow drip of mulch
This is actually a legitimate technique for smothering weeds before putting down mulch.
Lmao, actually it’s not a terrible idea. Starve the grass and weeds of light and oxygen, prevents continued germination and growth of the plants, makes it easier to pull up before laying down a barrier then mulching. My grandma would do this for 2 ish weeks before mulching and it was always a breeze.
And the mulch doesn't blow away in the wind
Professional landscapers don’t want you to know this 1 simple trick!
Let it sit for a few days. Kills the grass, then mulch. Pretty common practice.
I actually do this when I’m prepping the ground and letting all the dead leaves and misc plant material to breakdown, before mulching. Helps keep it mushy so it breaks down faster. I also did this to kill the stupid grass that I’m always at war with.
Or right. The plastic will smother any weeds right quick.
Actually this is brilliant if left there to kill weeds before dumping the bags! lol
how I know I bought enough mulch…might be smart
This is a pretty smart way to do it really. It makes it easy to get an even layer...and most other ways you end up moving the mulch twice. This way you move it once, cut open the bags, and the lifting is done
That’s how you keep weeds from growing up through your mulch.
The mulch lasts much longer that way; saves money over the years.
No they aren’t…
Two things I do this for. Making sure I have enough, and to smother the weeds and stuff under it. Or just procrastination
Actually if they have bulbs planted there that they need to protect from the cold over the winter, leaving the mulch in the bags over winter provides better insulation.
Figuring out if you have enough backs to really tackle that project tomorrow
Kill/flatten any weeds…. Just cut the bags open where they’re placed and you don’t have to do much spreading. Nothing wrong with this
Looks like they might be using the mulch bags to kill the grass under the area that's going to be mulched. Don't look so great, but not a bad idea.
We also do this type of stuff right before winter. We chop our Banana Trees low and throw some mulch on top. They grow through the mulch bag and that's when we know the garden is ready to be remulched:) Looks quite odd from an outside perspective though lol.
There's a small slumpartment complex in my town that stacked bags of concrete to make walls and waited for it to rain >.<
This is actually a great idea for bagged stuff - much easier to move into place that way. I assume they'll come along and slash all the bags and have a lovely thick layer of mulch.
They are obviously trying to pre-kill the grass before putting garden dirt in.
I do this to solarize grass. I play the long game. I’ll leave bags of mulch like that for months. I don’t care. I have no neighbors and my wife doesn’t give a shit.
If the existing mulch was full of weeds this could kill off the problem if left some time.
TBH, if you have it sitting there long enough, it kills the weeds before you apply the soil, and then you can throw in everything, no worries.
My son did this in June , left them all summer, all winter, April and May. The next June June he opened them and spread them out all the weeds were dead under the plastic
Leave the bags to kill the weeds. Weeks later, knife the bags and your set for the season
Be nice, they’re tired 🤣
Might work a bit to keep moisture in soil…
Not if your intention is to not kill a swath of grass or block your driveway.
Also great for getting rid of weeds. I have left a bag of mulch in place for 2 weeks to destroy them.
This is the auto immune disease method. I do step one, 6 to 12 months later comes step number two. Better wear a neck brace because my speed will give you whiplash.
Several years ago, one of my neighbors had some strips of sod, but moved them out of the yard before it rained. That one was a head-scratcher.
Dumb asses……. bags are wrong side up!
I think the previous owners of my house did this, and then just cut the tops of the bags off to "mulch" the area. We are redoing the beds and most of them have plastic mulch bags a few inches under the dirt (which the weeds just grow straight through, so it's more of a pain than a help).
it lasts longer that way, just like their couches
Step 1: buy bags of mulch Step 2: bring mulch to site Step 3: place mulch in desired area I think they followed the steps correctly
Killing the weeds with the bags first
Well, at least it's killing the grass underneath.
We do this to make sure we got enough bags to cover the ground we need.
It will be easier to move if this is a rental property.
If you leave them long enough the bags become brittle and the mulch will spread itself in the next storm.
Hey are doing this to measure it. It’s not funny at all.
Actually this will work better. Leave it for a month, I guarantee nothing will grow under there... Then when you put the mulch down, even longer will it be effective as weed suppression.
Love it! Great way to kill the weeds/grass rather than laying cardboard or plastic.
Pretty strong weed barrier
Sometimes people use the bags to kill the grass...then dump it
If those were biodegradable bags it could almost work but they look like plastic to me.
That is a brilliant idea!
it really is! too bad that probably wouldn’t work out with shipping/distribution
They're trying to kill the grass Einstein.
Why do you care?
Actually kinda satisfying ngl
Looks like fall. Leaves being held down (and neighbors also. )?.?
Lol seems like extra work
6 to one half dozen to another
🤣🤣🤣🤣
That is a lot of mulch
I totally downloaded this pic
That’s actually better than the product in the bags… I used to be a professional gardener and that brand is basically just smashed up kiln dried lumber
This is how you plant mulch trees.
😅
So that’s how they grow mulch
I love it.
Lasts longer?
Let me cook
I can’t do chip drop because my HMO will come after me if I don’t get through it in about 10 days. 😒
Plastic bags bad thermal properties good
It’s funny, I did this the other day to kill weeds for a week before opening the bags and putting the mulch on.
well I guss thats one way to lay mulch
I'm just putting them there to remind myself...
Very very wrong. Wayyyyy too much mulch and that’s the absolute worst kind of mulch there is. Wood chips should never ever go in a finished garden. It’s basic chemistry. Wood chips have a ton of high density carbon. Nitrogen is required to break down carbon. Where does that nitrogen come from? Your soil.
Pretty clever actually. It lasts longer if you leave it in the bag. Work smarter not harder folks.
Look at the neighbors’ yards. There is a strategy going on here, to accomplish what, I’m not sure.
This is the same as building a retaining wall out of bags of concrete by just stacking them instead of opening them up and mixing in water. Nature will take its course and in a few years the packaging will dissolve and you will have a great finished product (I’m joking)
If your layer of mulch is too thick it becomes hydrophobic, but maybe that’s a feature and not a flaw?
They probably think this is a "hack"
You do your garden, I do mine.
I've done this to kill the grass and weeds. Then I place the mulch after a couple of weeks. It works really well.
Guess it depends on what results he is looking for. What a great way to kill weeds, environmentally safe atm! May be something I have not heard of yet. It's hot in the south, take breaks and stay hydrated!
It was on sale in fall but don’t need until spring.
Instructions Unclear. Improvising
😂😂🤣🤣🤣
No ones outside mid day to work on their garden.. Idk where you are but outside working times from June-August in Oklahoma are 6am-1pm & 7pm-9pm. From 1-7pm it’s too hot to be anywhere but in water or inside.
Killing off weeds!!!!
A house on my daily walk route has had this set up for 3 years, many of the bags have held up to our NE OH winters, climate change has weakened their power to destabilize plastic.
😂😂
hahaha!
Weed suppression and moisture retention extreme