The Great Pine Straw Adventure 2016

The Great Pine Straw Adventure of 2016

I grew up in a state where we used mulch to edge flower beds and such. We had both regular wood mulch and some rubber mulch for around the playground equipment. Seems kids don't like falling on pointy chunks of wood. Wimps. Anyway, there were also pine trees on the property, so I spent as much time pulling pine needles out of the mulch as I did weeding out the garden. It was a mini obsession. When we moved to this neighborhood (in a different state), I discovered people here prefer pine straw to mulch. It made so much sense when I actually thought about it, since pine straw can be obtained without damaging trees, is much cheaper, comes in bales and NOT in plastic bags, and it actually breaks down to fertilize the soil.  I guess if you have pine trees maybe you don't want to landscape with pine needles because you would just look like you hadn't raked the yard, so you go with mulch so people can tell you care. If you don't have many, or any, pine trees, then you are safe to go the cheaper route. All these "rules"!

When we first moved in, I decided to order fresh pine straw to brighten the existing beds. For the first week, I freaked out every time I looked out the window because what my brain said should be mulch was covered in the hated pine straw. I finally got accustomed to seeing it, just about the time the leaves started to fall. See, I also come from a state that doesn't have seasons, so I forgot fall actually meant "fall" in some places, and two weeks after it was delivered, my pine straw was being buried in leaves. Grrr. I felt so dumb. I bet my neighbors got quite the chuckle out of watching the newbie waste money....but not this year!

This time around, I ordered the pine straw early. OK, I should have ordered it at the beginning of April, and it is mid-May, but still not fall. I placed the order online Saturday morning, and they advised it would be 5-7 days for delivery, or up to 6 weeks if I wanted them to install it. Having watched a professional crew lay it last Autumn in a matter of minutes, I figured I would do it myself. Sounded both fun and way cheaper.  My mom ordered me the wheelbarrow/dolly thing from Amazon, but unfortunately, the original wheelbarrow got lost somewhere in Kentucky, so Amazon had to ship me a new one. This meant that instead of arriving on Sunday, the wheelbarrow wouldn't arrive until Wednesday. Shouldn't matter, since I wasn't expecting pine straw until Thursday at the earliest, so I would still have plenty of time to assemble it and all that. Naturally, Monday morning the pine straw folks had a delivery to make on our street, so they tossed my stuff on the same truck and I got it less than 48 hours after I placed the order, well ahead of my predicted Thursday (best case) arrival. This thrilled me to my toes until I realized...no wheelbarrow. So, pine straw but no wheelbarrow just means more work, and as problems go, I am still a pretty lucky monkey. On with the show.

The Great Wall of Pine Straw

There was this lovely pine straw calculator online that allowed you to put in square footage, and it would tell you how many bales you needed. Since I am adding a new bed to the back, and I am not totally sure how large I want it, I decided to order what I knew I needed, plus some, for a total of 60 bales. With only a $5 delivery fee, I could always order more. You know something? 60 bales of pine straw stacked in your front yard is a little intimidating, especially when you are looking at hauling it without the benefit of a fancy wheelbarrow. Nonetheless, I pulled on my official yard work uniform (nasty t-shirt, jeans, boots, gloves, and a baseball cap) and headed out. I've learned a couple of very important things: I am super lucky to live where the high was 76 degrees at 2 pm, and pine straw does, in fact, weigh less than mulch...even though after hauling my 40th bale I was beginning to wonder. Also, a crew of trained professionals can do the yard in no time flat, but being neither a crew nor a professional, it took me considerably longer. However, I got probably 30 bales down, and the rest moved around to the side/back of the house...by hand...all in one afternoon.

Bunker with moving blanket roof.

My youngest child did "assist" by building a pretty cool bunker out of half the bales and a moving blanket. Not sure it was a ton of help, but it was pretty funny. I tell you, I was so exhausted by the time I got the stuff installed that I wasn't interested in moving the rest around back..and then the smallest of the small ones started talking about how she would help more when the wheelbarrow arrived, because going down the hill IN it would be awesome, and she was sure pine straw made excellent air bags. I suddenly found the motivation to haul the rest around the house and down the hill, thereby hopefully avoiding the whole wheelbarrow kamikaze experience. I am sure there will be other reasons to attempt it, but crisis averted this time.

Update: Wheelbarrow arrived, was assembled, and tested by the cats. When they finally got bored, I decided to take it outside to test it myself. Pretty awesome. Then I saw some weeds desperately in need of whacking, so when the small child asked if she could haul some rocks for me, I thought nothing of it. 30 seconds later I heard giggling and squealing and knew that the child was now accompanied by at least one other child, and they were careening down the hill. I told them they couldn't ride down the hill because it was dangerous and because the other neighbors didn't want to hear them screaming. About 7 minutes later I was knocking on the neighbor's door because her child was bleeding on my bench. Seems when I said they couldn't go down the hill in the wheelbarrow, they took that to mean they should go down the driveway, instead. Poor kid tried to stop herself from running into the back of our car, and her foot got stuck between it and the wheelbarrow. Soooo much blood. I felt horrible, but the child was back to playing about 20 minutes later. No stitches. What a trooper.


So, there are stacks of pine straw bales along the back of the house, and now it is raining. All three weather apps on my phone predict more rain this week. (And Weather Kittens are never wrong!) I guess if I can't go outside to play with my pine straw I can start looking into the sod vs. seed options for the remaining "lawn space" out front. Mr. Man thinks we could actually grow some grass out back, despite everyone saying there is too much shade.  I WILL grow grass because I do what I want.