We needed a tree-size camellia bush pruned so called Jim Meyers of Hedgehog Tree Care. We had a specific goal: to give the fruit trees on either side of the overgrown Camellia bush room to grow…while keeping the bush’s screening capabilities of the massive apartment behind us. To the left you can see him making some major pruning of our HUGE bush.
Jim loves his job and did great work, plus dumped a load of wood chips in our driveway. After 2 days of shoveling and hauling we and our chickens are no longer walking in backyard mud. Instead, we’ve recycled a waste woodchip product into an eco-friendly ground cover that will slowly decompose. Landscaping companies have to drive and pay for disposal of their chipper content in a landfill somewhere. You are helping by taking chips off their hands for free.
You as a homeowner can recycle the waste product as pathways, dog or chicken runs, ground cover, and more. It’s not ‘pure’ – in that it could have pine needles, leaves, even the occasional pop can, burger wrapper, or stick mixed in with the wood chips (that are various sizes). But as recycling goes, It’s a win/win situation.
Above you can see woodchips/pine needles mixed on most of the yard, and straight woodchips used as a pathway to the chicken coop. The hose running in the middle of the picture is draining a rain barrel, and the brown areas are my spring gardening areas cordoned off from curious chickens.