Mulch Madness

 

       In spite of being old enough to have a 23 year-old grandson, and having bought a condo (and paying a hefty HOA fee for the landscaping), I found myself outside spreading mulch. 

       In meetings with the owners and our board in the past we’ve deliberately chosen not to have the landscaping company lay down mulch because of the cost and impermanence of it.

          And yet one well-meaning – and younger – resident of our building here thought it’d be a swell idea to put mulch around our bushes. So, she ordered so many bags of the stuff that it took a semi to deliver it. And then told us about it.

          Frankly, I was just fine with the grimly charcoal-colored dirt in our flower beds. Granted, we’re in a drought and the mulch will help to keep the shrubbery from drying out as quickly, but we now have so much mulch on them that I wonder if the sparse rain that we see at this time of year will even get through. In addition, mulch has a short lifespan in Florida. When it does finally rain, it comes down in such torrents that all these good intentions wash away.

          I didn’t mind pitching in the money, and yes, the place looks better.

          However, after glancing out the window and seeing not only my fellow residents working, but my 85 year-old next door neighbor Bud sweeping errant flakes from the sidewalk, I was shamed into going out to help.

          Yes, I can heave a giant bag of mulch on end, slash the opening, and then drag it to scatter the contents. And yes, the raking wasn’t onerous. And herniated disc and gimpy knees aside, I’m in very good shape.

          But as I tell the bagger at the grocery store who’s loading my bags as though it’s a contest to see how much you can fit in them, just because I can lift that doesn’t mean I want to.

          Next time, I’m going to ask point-blank what provisions have been made for the manual labor portion of the project. 

        The point of condo living is NOT to be part of the landscaping crew.