but you should do it anyway
I'm here to tell you about chip drop.
there's a saying in Philly: you get what you get and, you like it.
chip drop is this. you can ask for no logs, no walnut, no pine. but you can't know when it'll come, how much there will be, how fine it'll be chipped up. you can't know. it's unknowable.
it will come on a 90F day in a ton load, blocking a gate you need to use to get your tools. it will come on a rainy morning as you need to get ready for work, and be up against a tree so there's a fire risk. it'll come in a small pile that will barely cover a patch, while you're on vacation. who knows? you can't know. it's chip drop.
you pay 20 bucks and it'll definitely come. you get it free and it could come tomorrow, or in 4 years. it's a crap shoot.
it's free wood mulch but you've got to resign yourself to anything and, you get what you get. and you better like it.
here's mine. it is up against a shed so it can burn it down if I don't get it spread out before a rain. it's blocking the gate, so I've got to walk a block to get to it with tools. it's a literal ton of wood chips. it was free.
people will say they want some of it. they will not show up to get it. ever. it's all yours, forever. you will have no help. you'll move a ton of chips and blisters will break, your back will scream. you'll text the people who wanted some. you'll post in local free/garden groups and ten people will excitedly ask where to go to get some, and they will never come for any. it's just you and a mountain of wood.
I'm sweating and cursing and burning up with the hay fork, but I like it. I'd better like it, I signed up for it.
i no longer live in Philly, but I will have that attitude for the rest of my life. you get what you get and you like it.
