Mulch time

To mulch, or not to mulch,
That is the question...
Whether 'tis nobler in the garden
To bear the winter weeds of outrageous growth,  
Or to take arms against a sea of green,
And by opposing, end it. 

(Sorry, Hamlet)

Anyway, the leaves are falling from the maple tree across the street, and this is the first time in years I haven't run back and forth with my cart and rake.  Leaves are an excellent mulch in the Northwest, keeping the weeds down organically, and making a nice winter home for worms. The only problem is, I need so much to cover all the flower beds. A person gets tired, and raking them up by a school is a drag (think gum wrappers, plastic straws and dog walkers.)

So I thought I'd treat myself and have a load of compost mulch delivered instead. Which turned out to be more complicated that I thought:

What kind?
How much?
How deep?

Oh my, is that a midget lady?  I'm tired just looking at that giant pile, and I need about 6 yards to cover the beds 2 inches deep!  However, as John pointed out, for less than the cost of having it delivered bulk and spread by hand, the blower truck can bring in a whopping 10 yards, which is their minimum. 

Once I had Cedar Grove municipal compost blown in by truck, and then spent years picking out bits of plastic, trash and even chips of glass. Never again.  I'm going to try a wood based product this year called "GroCo." It looks and feels like very fine bark, which it is, but supposedly full of plant nutrients that leach down over the winter.  I might not be able to use the entire 10 yards, but I'm sure I can find a place for most of it under the trees and along the fence borders.