By MAD21
I'm always on the look-out for a good deal. And finding ways to take care of my yard that are economical (and ecofriendly) is no different.
The family we bought our house from had done over $4000 worth of landscaping just before they found out they had to move due to a job transfer. It's a lot more that I would have ever done myself (too much money, I hate to weed!), and it's a lot to take care of, but it is beautiful, and I kind of feel obligated to take care of something they had put so much time and effort into.
The first few years we lived in our house, we were like most people when it came to buying mulch for our flowerbeds. We'd truck ourselves off to Lowe's or Home Depot and buy bag, after bag, after bag. When you have five large flowerbeds like we do, that can be very expensive. Even having it delivered was expensive.
At some point we learned that our local yard waste disposal site offered free mulch. We were like.. "YAA!" (The mulch is free if you shovel it yourself, or you can pay $10 to have a frontloader fill your trailer.) We'd heard some positive and negative feedback from friends who had used it. Some thought it was awesome, others complained that it brought unwanted weeds and bugs to their yards. But we had to give it a try for ourselves.
I'm so glad we did. Out of all the years we have used the mulch there was only one year that we had some issues with thistles, but even now we aren't positive it was because of the mulch. We've also since learned that because of the curing process these places use to recycle everyone's yard waste into mulch, nothing can survive. No weeds, bugs or anything else.
I highly recommend you contacting your local yard waste facility and find out if they offer mulch either free or at a significantly reduced cost. It's totally worth it.
Every Wednesday, fellow blogger Kristen at We are THAT Family posts clever ideas for getting things done. She calls it, "Works For Me Wednesday" or WFMW. Be sure to go visit her blog to read her post along with links to other blogs who are participating.