removal of stuff, i.e. piles

Just a quick update today on my gardening projects.

When we moved in almost 2 years ago, we noticed that there were piles of trees, limbs, etc. around the back of the property. I added to those piles by removing small trees by the driveway and trimming branches off other trees. And also, the removal of shrubs that were not attractive and had become overgrown.

A quick note about the existing shrubs – I’ll be doing a post later this week on our collection of shrubs and trees. For the most part, I have a good foundation to work with, however, some of the choices have not worked out over the long term.

I think eventually we will purchase a trailer, but it’s not in the budget right now. A new trailer costs $1,000 and up. I’m going to wait to find a used one for $500 or less. In the meantime, I was anxious to get rid of the eye-sore piles!

We ended up renting a U-Haul trailer for 2 days. Our original rental was a 4×7 foot trailer. However, when my husband arrived at the U-Haul store, they only had 6×12 foot trailers left. This turned out to be perfect for the longer pieces.

The U-Haul rental was pretty cheap, though we had to invest in 2 items that we can use again – the hitch and the wiring harness. The hitch was $30 through U-Haul, and the wiring harness was $60. The trailer was $14.95 per day for the 4×7′. We still paid that for the 6×12′. However, rental for a 6×12′ is $24.95/day. We also had to pay $8 per day for insurance which was not optional.

If we had rented a wood chipper, we would have paid a minimum of $145/day, plus the purchase of a hitch and wiring harness. There may be an additional fee for insurance, though I’m not sure.

We took 2 loads to the dump which was quite an adventure. Our dump brings in dumpsters that are about 12 to 14 feet in height. Being 5’2′, I stood on the wheel area to toss stuff into the dumpster. My husband was able to stand in the trailer to do the tossing.

Our county accepts yard waste twice a year for about 30 days. We have plans to rent a trailer again in the fall to remove what we take down this year. We have 2 trees to remove, along with dead branches.