almost free goodness for garden

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amos
1010 crawler
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Posts: 360
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2016 7:29 am
Location: Piney Woods of east Texas

almost free goodness for garden

Post by amos » Fri Mar 23, 2018 5:33 am

Here in my town we have a municipal compost site. 40 acre site with 3 city employees who collect tree trimmings,trees,leaves,etc and grind it and start compost process.
Mulch is a little on the large side but the compost is as good as it gets.
Used the dump trailer to get 26 yards of the mulch and 9 yards of the compost for the factory garden spot yesterday.
Mulch is free:take all you want and they load it. Compost:you can get "1 bucket load" (2.25 yards) free with your water bill as proof of residency per week.
If you want more it's $31.25 a bucket.
So, all the garden soil goodness I got came to $93.75 which I thought was a heck of a deal.
Already spread and turned the compost into soil at garden spot and plan is to use mulch to mulch garden and take 3/4 of the 26 yards and turn it into another spot and let it compost in place this year and maybe have a good size extension to garden for next year.
Funny side note: I do have a retractable load cover system on the trailer but never use it.It's the law down here that load must be covered. Route took me past our police station and I swear I drove past every cop on duty yesterday. Then I had a state trooper pass me as well. Nothing but a wave from them.Nice spring day and everybody down here in a very good mood.And I was doing a max of 40MPH so wasn't making a mess of our streets.
Amos
Pushin hard or diggin deep life is good.
What's ahead is what matters. What's behind is already done.
A fool of a man is he who doesn't ask questions...
God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason...

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Stan Disbrow
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Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 3:13 pm
Location: Raleigh, NC

Re: almost free goodness for garden

Post by Stan Disbrow » Fri Mar 23, 2018 6:14 am

Hi,

Back in 96 we had a major hurricane hit, Fran. Busted or uprooted about 1/3 of the trees in a hundred mile radius of Raleigh. So, lots of chipped up debris to be dumped. One spot they used is a played out sand quarry, owned by a trucking company. Starting in 06, they began cleaning it out. They will bring a dump trailer semi load from there to our farm for $200. Every couple of years I get another load. He backs it thru the garden gate and I spread it around with the 420c. Then, till it in. Wonderfully composted stuff and, risking the pun, dirt cheap. :)

Stan
There's No Such Thing As A Cheap Crawler!

Useta Have: '58 JD 420c 5-roller w/62 inside blade
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amos
1010 crawler
1010 crawler
Posts: 360
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2016 7:29 am
Location: Piney Woods of east Texas

Re: almost free goodness for garden

Post by amos » Fri Mar 23, 2018 7:31 am

Morning Stan,
We get tornadoes in my neck of the woods and not very often that close(causing major and wide spread tree damage). Yours sounds like making lemonade from lemons :D
At our big box building supply stores compost is $3.95 for 1.5 cubic foot. Mulch is about same for a 3 cubic foot bag.Down right pricey.
Employees at factory keep asking what I'll be planting: I do this for relaxation and stress relief and give almost all of the vegetables to them for free(wife and I partake as well).
I keep 4 assorted tractors,some implements,a TLB,and a Case loader landscaper at a secure lot by my factory (no room in barns at farm) so I got what I need to do a good size garden there. All this is equipment I bought cheap and fixed so it's really not a huge capital investment.Plus I get to play in some dirt while at work :D
Amos
Pushin hard or diggin deep life is good.
What's ahead is what matters. What's behind is already done.
A fool of a man is he who doesn't ask questions...
God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason...

User avatar
amos
1010 crawler
1010 crawler
Posts: 360
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2016 7:29 am
Location: Piney Woods of east Texas

Re: almost free goodness for garden

Post by amos » Fri Mar 23, 2018 4:46 pm

Was a plantin fool today: tomato,bell pepper,hot banana pepper 20' of okra,12 squash mounds,20' of cucumber,20' of radish. Another few weeks of warm weather and it's corn,creme pea time.All this a factory plot.
At house raised beds more tomato,some bell pepper,collard greens,some okra seedlings,asparagus from several years ago,apple,cherry and blue berry.
Also put 200 pounds of lime at factory spot and another 200 pounds on next years extended plot.
Tired as all get out but got a lot done.
Amos
Pushin hard or diggin deep life is good.
What's ahead is what matters. What's behind is already done.
A fool of a man is he who doesn't ask questions...
God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason...

User avatar
amos
1010 crawler
1010 crawler
Posts: 360
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2016 7:29 am
Location: Piney Woods of east Texas

Re: almost free goodness for garden and plantin update

Post by amos » Sun Mar 25, 2018 7:41 am

More plantin saturday:32' sweet peas and built trellis for same.40' green beans(bush type). Cherry tomatoes,more collards,more peppers.Next week another load of compost for corn area.Maybe some creme peas in April too.Going to need 40 or so tomato and pepper cages.
Spread the mulch on the garden extension area with the Case LL.Still have a couple of yards of mulch for this years garden too.
Back is screaming at me this morning.
Might get a few fruit trees: easy enough to dig the holes with the JD 410 TLB :D
Amos
Pushin hard or diggin deep life is good.
What's ahead is what matters. What's behind is already done.
A fool of a man is he who doesn't ask questions...
God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason...

Ray III
2010 crawler
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Joined: Sat Aug 25, 2007 1:39 pm
Location: Troy, NY

Re: almost free goodness for garden

Post by Ray III » Sun Mar 25, 2018 8:10 am

Around here, DOT will watch you drive by with your untarped load, scrap car tied down with rope, etc. Unless it looks like you are a commercial guy with lots of $$$, then they will want to see your ELD, have scales under each wheel to find the one that's overweight, be under your truck with a tape measure, check every marker lamp bulb...

My company makes mulch and topsoil and processes a lot of that yard waste compost. I can't bring home enough of it, it is the best soil amendment plus fertilizer there is.

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amos
1010 crawler
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Posts: 360
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2016 7:29 am
Location: Piney Woods of east Texas

Re: almost free goodness for garden

Post by amos » Sun Mar 25, 2018 9:29 am

Morning Ray,
I see you're in the more liberal North-East.Politics aside Texans are a bit more laid back(except Dallas,Austin,Houston,and other 500K plus population centers). Nothing odd about seeing a farm tractor in our downtown area,still stop in the middle of neighborhood roads to talk to neighbor,etc.
I've been all over the world and lived in other states. Still came back to Podunk NE Texas to settle and start my business.Older I get the more I see the wisdom of that decision I made decades ago.
DOT and road use laws do have merit,but as I said earlier as long as you're not acting moronic and a hazard you're usually OK to go about your business.
I was dragging a 16' cargo trailer(empty at the time) in South Dakota and got "interviewed" at 2 weigh stations. Down right odd but with the U-Ship guys hauling without authority it did make some sense.
Here in Texas I blow by the weigh stations and never get a 2nd look.Same in Louisiana and Arkansas.Oklahoma is broke so they are pretty strict and fine happy(absolutely TERRIBLE roads there too).
But in August when day time high is 100+ with 60% humidity and the low at 3am is 85 it is a tad bit miserable....
Amos
Pushin hard or diggin deep life is good.
What's ahead is what matters. What's behind is already done.
A fool of a man is he who doesn't ask questions...
God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason...

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