Bulk compost - how to bag them myself without a truck?

11 years ago

So there's a couple of places around here that sells bulk compost and I calculated the cost it will save us a bunch. So right now we are thinking about starting with two raised beds for veggies and we need about 2.5 cubic yards for compost in total.

However, we don't have a truck, nor does anyone we know have it. We can do delivery but since we don't live super close to one of these sites, delivery will tack on more cost that makes it not worth buying the bulk, and also they usually have a minimum requirement that we don't need that much right now.

So we are thinking about bagging ourselves and putting in our SUV and maybe making a few trips over a weekend to get it all. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to use to transport the compost? Should we get some large rubbermaid bins? Or use heavy duty trash bags? Or any other way? Thanks!

Featured Answer

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

11 years ago

Rent a pick-up for this purpose. Home Depot and UHaul have them available for very reasonable rates. Depending on size of the bed, most pick-ups will hold about a half yard. Still significantly less expensive than either delivery or purchasing pre-bagged goods.

You may find trash bags or even rubber totes/buckets cumbersome....... 2.5 cubic yards is a little over 500 gallons :-)

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (8)

amanda_m
11 years ago
Once upon a time I went and got composted horse manure this way. It was me, a shovel, a stack of super heavy duty trash bags, and a mountain of horse pooh.

It was a lot of work, but I got home with a lot of manure. You can do it, just be aware that this stuff is HEAVY and you won't be able to fill the bags full. If you did, no way could you get them into your car.

Have you considered calling UHaul and seeing if you could rent a pickup or small travel trailer, the kind you pull behind? That would make your life easier.
Related Discussions
Using Bulk Corn Meal or Soy Bean Meal to Improve Garden Soil
Q
Comments (13)
If you want to improve the soil structure then something like Nature's Helper (fine, aged bark chips) or another 'soil improver' would be better than vermiculite. The vermiculite is a permanent solution, so in one way, it's good, but it will NEVER break down and will be there for years to come. The benefit from adding OM, which will eventually be broken down by the microherd in the soil, is that it will all eventually improve your soil, making it more permeable and more fertile. The vermiculite will most likely do nothing, long term, for the improvement of your fulvic and humic acids. I would check to see if there is a municipal source of compost, and see if they will deliver - if they won't, then borrow a pick-up truck, if you don't own one, and get a few loads. It should be free, or nearly so, esp. if you pick up. I know there is a commercial operation near here where a freind got a pick-up load of mushroom compost and top soil for about $30 (about 2 cu. yards). Have you been adding the manure and compost to your garden beds for the past few years? I repeat what I wrote earlier - if you have been adding 4" or more of OM each year for a number of years, then you probably should have pretty good soil by now. If, however, this is only the second year or so you have been adding, then, yes, you could probably add more. One source of free or nearly so, OM is the local tree services, and the companies that trim the powerlines - they end up with truckloads of chippings, and are usually happy to dump one or more loads if you ask. The main draw-back is that the chippings are fresh and pretty coarse, so you have to be able to let them sit for at least a year - 2 is better - before using them. They do make a decent mulch, 'though you have to pick out the bigger pieces. If nothing else, it's a good "brown" additive to your new compost pile. You might also see if you can get the "spoiled" hay or straw. If nothing else, and for the future, see if you can get the bales people have used for fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving decorations. By the time that they have sat out in the rain for a few weeks, they aren't really usable for either feed or bedding. Most people would probably give them to you, rather than have the garbage collecter take them, if their garbage service will even do so. I kinow nothing about the cotton by-products, they aren't locally available, so will let someone else comment on that.
...See More
Bulk compost not ready?
Q
Comments (8)
I would never compost a pigeon. Yuck. Rat with wings. However, Rabbits are yummy, so why not eat the dead bunny? Maybe catch and cook? I'm heading to the grow them and eat them mentality. Rabbit stew is on my menu this late winter. As for composting animals/meat, it works if you can tumble as the poster above mentioned. However I did meat in my first pile, chicken and beef, and it definitly added a 'nasty factor' to the smell even when it was turned 3 times in as many weeks. I almost puked on the 2nd turning. I now just toss the meats into the garbage, and considering moving to a non-beef diet anyway. Too many chemicals, and can't afford the good 'organic' meats anyway at Whole Foods. Now for steam. A 'cool' pile can still give off plenty of steam when turned in a cool morning. However if the plume of steam was as you mentioned, my guess is the pile was active, hot and indeed not 'finished'. Like wine, aged compost is preferred in most cases. Partial composted materials work fine in my veggie garden for mulching. I use shredded stump material, free from neighbors yards that have the tree removed. I get the wood to burn (heat the house), and also the mulch to layer on the garden. I also use shredded/mulched leaves/grass bagged and picked up at neighbors (they are fine people indeed) for my compost piles and gardens. If compost is not finished, and it is winter gardening you want, wait for a month or so until it matures a little more. If however you are winter resting your garden (and I'm assuming veggies here, for I'm a veggie gardener mostly) for spring planting, just put down the hot stuff and work it into the soil immediately (don't spread it around and let the nitrogen get lost due to exposure to the sun/wind/rain. I bought my first materials for my veggie bed (sept 05) from the city of Plano TX, and it was nicely finished and matured compost mostly made from leaves, shredded trees/limbs and grass clippings. I wouldn't recommend this to others due to the nature of not knowing the contents of a commercial or public compost. Who knows what folks spray on leaves, grasses and so forth. If you are going organic like I am, making your own compost is best, and ensure your source of materials is non-chemically treated as I do. I get all my materials from the 10 or so neighbors around me in town, and I know them all, and all of them do not put chemicals down on their lawns or spray their trees. I'm blessed and I hope you are too regarding having aware neighbors. Pudgy
...See More
No truck or trailer need ideas on how to get cheap sand
Q
Comments (7)
The cheapest thing I can think of for you to use is woodchips. Every tree trimming service is the country is looking for a place to dump their chips where they won't have to pay to dump them. Contact them and tell them where you live and see if they will bring them next time they cut in your area. I got twenty loads one time that way. They won't work with you unless you make it easy for them. Give them a map to your location. (several of them) Put a big orange stake in the ground where you want the pile and tell them where it is so they can just come by and dump without worrying about finding you and all that stuff. They will do it if you make it easy for them. One day you will come home and there will be a big ol pile of chips for you! Let them compost or just start speading them around the yard and garden.
...See More
Best Way to Tie Up Bulk Bags of Wholesale Garden Material?
Q
Comments (32)
@gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) The problem is not what to do when the bags of stone are at the final destination. The problem is how to safely transport the material in a car or truck from the wholesale supplier to the job site. In our area, you get to a wholesale supplier and they give you empty one cubic foot bags and a shovel. It is self-serve. Once the bag is full, how do you secure it so that when a 100-pound bag of stone falls over, you do not get loose stone everywhere in the car or truck?
...See More
Ernie
11 years ago
Your plan sounds good, but, if you have access to them, I'd go with rubbermaid tubs over bags. I use a lot of pine bark fines for potting mix, and I can easily fit 1/2 of a yard in tubs in the back of my SUV (Jeep Cherokee w/ bag seat folded flat). I would imagine that the compost will weigh more than pine fines, so the tubs will probably get a little heavy. Then again, I do it by myself, so the two of you will probably be fine.
glib
11 years ago
If you have a hitch on your SUV, the best option is to rent a trailer from a tool rental company. These are low (so easier to load), open and quite large (so you can pull more), and all you need is to spread a tarp to keep it clean. Here they are also cheaper than regular trailers.

You have certainly seen these trailers pulled by some lawn company truck, sometimes with mulch, other times with a power mower or other medium size equipment. U Haul trailers or trucks are too high, or difficult to access, and difficult to clean.
tn_gardening
11 years ago
I gotta believe that making several trips may eat up your savings. Especially since you said you don't live super close.

As gardengal48 stated:
Have you called home depot ($20 for 75 minutes) or the rental car companies ($60/day) about renting a truck?

And are you sure there aren't some landscaping/nursery folks that could work with you? Sometimes you can save a lot of time by simply calling and ordering the stuff (pay over the phone or pay the driver).
toxcrusadr
11 years ago
I'm always amazed at people who don't know anyone who has a truck. Are you guys allowed to be in Texas? :-]

Kidding aside, I like the rental idea, either truck or trailer. Menards has pickups for rent cheap.

If you do it yourselves, I'd go with Rubbermaid bins. The first time you rip a plastic bag and spill compost all over your nice SUV, you'll wish you had.
Lloyd
11 years ago
I use the 68 litre RubberMaid containers for hauling smaller volumes. People like them because I can use my two-wheel cart to place them close to where they want them. According to volumes, 11.25 of them would be a yard but round it up to 12 containers/yard. I fill them by lining them up in a row and use the skid steer.

Lloyd
jimla
11 years ago
I used to get bulk leaf mold using my Subaru stationwagon and a blue tarp. Lay down the back seat and crack the rear windows about an inch. Lay in the tarp from the back of the front seats and out the back of the hatch. pull one corner of the tarp through the open rear window then close it on the tarp from the driver's controls assuming you have power windows. Do the same with the other rear window pulling the tarp tight before you close the window on the tarp. With the tarp anchored in place, extend it up the inside side windows and start shoveling the compost on it. When full, flip the back of the tarp over the pile, close the sides on theflap and secure with bungies.

Bulk compost - how to bag them myself without a truck?

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

Comments (8)

amanda_m

Related Discussions

Ernie

glib

tn_gardening

toxcrusadr

Lloyd

jimla

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US