A bit of "Yak Shaving" in the garden

Mulch in the Garden
Originally uploaded by dewelch

We engaged in a bit of "yak shaving" (Reference 1) (Reference 2) in the garden this morning, but at least it turned our more productive than a typical "yak shaving" exercise. "Yak shaving" is when you start out to accomplish one task but through a series of steps you end up (figuratively) shaving the yak, which is not what you intended to do at all. (SMILE)

I really hadn't planned on doing much work in the garden today, as it is supposed to be into the 90's by the afternoon. Then I saw that I needed to empty the kitchen compost bin into the larger bins out back. Of course, while I had the lids off, and since it was going to be warm, I might as well soak down the compost bins so they can use the heat to work a little harder. After this I noticed the bird feeders and bird bath were empty, so I might as well fill those, as well.

We had user our chipper/shredder for the first time last week and had some excellent mulch. I had the idea that we could use this to dress the rose bed we had recently cleaned up. Then I thought, "heck, we can use the large cardboard box the chipper/shredder was delivered in to underlay the mulch to cut down on the grass.

Unfortunately, we needed to soak the cardboard before we covered it with mulch and the hose in that area had been disconnected while some work was being done on the house. After re-hooking the hose, I could see it needed a new washer as it was leaking around the wind-up timer that I use to run the soaker hose. I always keep some washers in the garage, so I replaced the washer and re-attached the hose.

Now, after placing the cardboard, we realized we didn't have nearly enough mulch to cover, so we need to make some more. We had the leaves from a couple of rose beds in the back to work with so we gathered them up. When I went to start the chipper/shredder the engine wouldn't budge. Ok, open the discharge chute and look for a clog. Nothing. Hmmm.. Finally I tip the unit on its back and turn the engine over with my hand. Plonk! out comes one 3-inch long twig that obviously had gotten wedged in exactly the wrong position. Button up the chipper/shredder, put on my goggles and dust mask and fire it up.

We ran about 4 boxes full of leaves and small twigs through the machine and I found that I had filled the entire output bag in about 15 minutes. Cool! This should be enough to finish up the rose bed. (It wasn't, quite, but we will get some more in a day or two to finish up the small part of the bed we couldn't cover.)

Finally, after about 2 hours we had completed our project ( and a few others) and were ready to hit the showers. Now I find myself here in front of the computer, sharing my morning with you, very happy that I didn't have to shave too much of the yak today, but it was close. (SMILE)