Earl and I have had a crash course in mulch these past four days. First we went to a local lawn supply company to learn the pros and cons of each type. This wasn’t out of some passionate desire to become mulch experts; rather, it was because Earl wanted red mulch and I wanted dark brown. I thought that learning what was best for our trees and plants would help us reach a compromise. I thought wrong.
Matt Adent was a veritable source of helpful information. For instance, the dark brown mulch is totally organic, keeps its color all season, and is plant friendly. It also decomposes, so that you need to replenish it from time to time. The red mulch isn’t organic at all; it’s made from chopped pallets that have outlived their other lives in warehouses and garages. Once the wood is ground, it is dyed red. And, because there is no bark in the mulch, it doesn’t decompose. Which means it’s pretty permanent. I suppose if you like it, that’s a good thing.
I think the basic problem was that Earl had been driving around St. Joseph looking at other homes and their various degrees of landscaping. He’s a visual, literal person. In the meantime, I had been planning in my head how I wanted this year’s lawn to look. I don’t have to see something to imagine how it’s going to look. Neither of us told the other what we were doing.
In the end we were still on opposite sides of the mulch pile. But I decided dark brown wasn’t worth holding out for, although I pretty much made up my mind not to like red from the get-go. We came home still not in agreement, but with fifteen cubic yards of red mulch on order. Earl’s credit card took the hit.
The next day two dump trucks delivered the mulch, which was plopped in piles on our driveway; and yesterday we started the spreading. The main concession I won was that Earl would work outside with me hour for hour, as I don’t think I could have been very gracious about spreading giant red polka dots around our forty trees by myself. I must admit Earl hung in there. He loves the mulch too. After every tree that we dressed, he’d exclaim, “Oh, this is beautiful.” Or “Oh, I always wanted to have my home look like this.” To which I replied each time in my flattest voice, “I’m glad that you are happy.”
We have about a third of the yard to go; and today, in spite of the rain, we plan to finish. Earl is already dressed in his rain gear waiting for me; but I told him I’m already working on a mulch project and to start outside alone. I will say this: I still would have preferred dark brown mulch, but the red is growing on me. Either that or I’m becoming resigned to the circus motif. And, truthfully, Earl’s pleasure with it is worth something.
I hope he feels the same way next year, when I get to pick the color.
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