In the Little Yellow House: Baby Steps: Mulching the Yard

I'm mulching. As soon as the upgraded pool base was filled with gravel, it was my turn to order 5 cubic yards of mulch. The goal was to order early and spread it before the plants and weeds came in to give everything a good covering (since the past couple of years I haven't been able to get ahead and get under the plants as much as I needed). I ordered the mulch a week later than planned, but spring is late too and I'm making good progress now. Unless something unforeseen happens I'm on track to finish by the end of April.

I like mulching. Moving and spreading 5 cubic yards is a full body workout. Bend, twist, lift, squat, hold, bend stand, twist... I might move slow, but I feel it in every muscle the next day. I love being outside in the fresh air, I love how it transforms messy worn out winter garden beds into a crisp blank canvas for this year's garden to emerge. (Bonus - mulch helps plants retain moisture and suppress weeds.)

We also pulled out the oversized thuja in the front yard. Not only was it way too big for the spot (I purchased it back when I didn't fully understand how big a 4' ball really was), but it was severely damaged by winter snow. It looked terrible. So Mike pulled it out and we replaced it with a rejoice doghobble. I've never heard of them before but it was exactly what I was looking for when browsing the local nursery... they are hardy to zone 6, evergreen for winter interest and have red foliage and white flowers in the spring. It will only grow to be about 3 ft and can be trimmed (unlike the thuja).

This year each load of mulch is like a rallying battle cry, an act of defiance against my illnesses, purposeful step into reclaiming my former strength and self. The more I can do, the more I can conquer each day, the more evidence I hold in my hands that I actually am doing so much better than I was last year. It doesn't always feel like it (as chronic illness is never a straight path), but having something with measurable year-over-year progress is the proof I need to get through a bad day.

The past two years, mulching took forever, done in small baby steps for as much or as little as my body could handle. Last year I was mulching into June. Every load was an accomplishment. This year I'm not just surviving, I am determined to reach my previous benchmarks from when I was healthy. Or really even surpass them since I used to only need 3 cubic yards, then 4, and now 5 as I add in more and more garden beds (can't stop adding flowers).

So far I've done the front yard and the first third of the backyard (which is where we have most of the garden beds so it's more than 1/3 done, but space-wise it's accurate). And that's with widening the garden bed to meet the pool base circle (since we can't mow between the base and the garden beds, it made sense to make it a mulched area).