Last year I spent a few hundred bucks hauling plastic sacks full of bark mulch from Home Depot to the house for a couple of garden beds. It was expensive, made the minivan a mess and is probably an environmental disaster since it is probably shipped half way across the country before it arrives at Home Depot.
This year, after some investigation, I was pleased to find out the City of Rye has a "mulch buffet" available to all of us at no charge. Here is the deal.
Run by the Public Works Department, the mulch piles are back (way back, past the recycling areas) behind the ball fields at Disbrow Park off Oakland Beach Avenue and are only open during the week (call before you go–the day I went the area was only open until @ 3pm: 914-967-7464).
The mulch buffet included:
- Fresh mulch from the day before consisting of ground tree (This is what I choose, see the pic from the back of the minivan)
- Month + old mulch that is dark that has started to decompose
- And my favorite, ground tree stumps with some rocks mixed in (what’s spring gardening without some ground tree stump to liven up the garden)
The Public Work’s employee there was helpful in pointing out what’s what. You need to bring your own shovel and any other equipment you need to fill-up your vehicle with mulch.
Happy mulching!
