Chipdrop

Perhaps you have a beautiful field of buttercup, attracting early spring pollinators. Or, maybe a landscape wall of blackberry, providing sweet organic berries for fun fall desserts! These can be environmental treasures, but they can also be big homeowner nuisances, I know!

If I deem these aspects undesirable, I can use Arborist chips, AKA wood chips, to manage them. For sure there's opposing opinions about using cardboard underneath, but let's not discuss that now. We'll talk just about the benefits of using the chips.  The bottom line is that covering the ground stops photosynthesis, and that stops plants from growing, whether you call them weeds or not. 

You can get Free arborist chips!  They are from actual chipped trees. Not bags of dyed bark from the store. They work to:

• transform wet ground and clay soil
• stop photosynthesis
• absorb water
• hold moisture in the ground
• they create a healthy ecosystem by building mycorrhizal fungi while breaking down
• they can help to level uneven yards
• they make a natural pathway covering so weeds don't grow
• they are FREE!!!

I use a lot of wood chips - and I get them for FREE!!!
​My first order from Chipdrop was approximataely 10​ yards. It was mostly pine needles, and a bunch of long sticks. It covered the entire front yard of this small city lot.

I got the sticks out in a pile for the outdoor firepit and spread the rest around to cover the entire yard 2 feet high.    And then I waited.​

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Over a couple of years, as the chips decomposed, I scattered native flower seeds that I got from others. I just wanted to see what the landscape would grow. Before this, it grew almost nothing in the crappy clay soil. I noticed that some things grew, and others didn't.  But I got a lot of information about the environment, and more things grew as I learned. 

Here's a picture of my current spring yard. It grows everything now!!!

This is how to get the most beautiful and timely Arborist Chips for your next project!

https://getchipdrop.com/ Here's how I write my request – modify your request as needed. Make sure to include a picture of the area.  It's best to order them right after a fall or spring storm, that way you get "windfall branches." Otherwise, summer drops tend to have more invasives and diseased tree debris.
 
       "Please dump chips in driveway on top of tarp. NOT up against garage doors & NOT into street. Prefer Hardwoods, but some evergreen is OK - CLEAN ** NO INVASIVES PLEASE** and very little pine needles if possible. Thank YOU!!!" 

• If you are not in an area that Chipdrop serves, then contact your local Public Works department and talk to the person in charge of tree trimming and removal. They will be happy to have a place to dump chips! Make sure to give them the statement above, as you don't want invasives from them either!!!

Happy Mulching!