Mulch Resource Idea

[Monica Gehrig]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to share with you a free mulch resource that Green Our Planet has been utilizing. We've connected with our school district's tree crew supervisor and he agreed to drop off their wood mulch from tree pruning! Over the last few weeks they have been generously dropping large loads of wood mulch throughout our CCSD school gardens/orchards.  

We are super excited about it because as you all know wood mulch, especially when it's applied 6-12" thick, is very beneficial for fruit trees. It contributes to the soil health as it decomposes and it also helps suppress weeds. We have a never-ending battle with bermuda grass so the more mulch we can get in the orchards the better! 

Do any of you have a similar agreement with your school district or city tree crews? If not, it may be worth looking into. We hope this continues long into the future for the sake of our trees and soil! 

Have a great afternoon :)

Monica 

[Moses Thompson]

A few years ago we had a school parent who worked for a landscaping company get us mulch deliveries and the deliveries continue even though the parent has moved on, and we've picked up a second company that drops for us. In return we cross promote those companies on our social media platforms:

Mulch Drop

One of our school garden coordinators just started with City of Tucson and just last week got us two loads of Mulch from City of Tucson Transportation, the folks who maintain street trees and trees growing over powerlines. 

The kicker for these, and all much drops, is having central locations with lots of space and easy truck access. And you've got to be able to take the drops when you get the call. 

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[Erica Curry]

I've previously used Chip Drop several times. Works pretty well, at least here in Portland, Oregon. Their website says they are active in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and all over the US and Canada!

Happy mulching!

Erica Curry | FoodCorps | she/her — FoodCorps.org

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[Monica Gehrig]

It's awesome to hear your stories. Thank you for sharing them with me! 

What a wonderful closed system we could create if all the yard and trimmed tree goodies could be composted and put back on the land. Utilizing social media to tell these stories is a great idea as well as using stumps for seating!! 

Erica, you mentioned Canada and it reminded me that the city of Calgary, AB has an amazing compost program. You can check it out here. This is my dream for Las Vegas :) 

Hope you all have a great day! 

[CTSMadison]

Here in Madison, Wisconsin, if you call a local tree care company, you can be asked to be put on their woodchip drop-off list free of charge.  Except during Covid-spring of 2020 (big demand, diminished work force), this has worked very well for us.