Compost Delivery Gets Stuck in the Mud

Compost Mountains

Our site rep, Larry, has arranged a compost supplier to provide us with 7 tonne lots. It’s made from the contents of the green waste bins collected by the councils, composted and ready to return to the land.

Now 7 tonnes may sound a lot and it is a about 12 cubic yards in volume but it’s only about 2 cubic feet per square yard, less than a wheelbarrow full. If I’ve done my calculations correctly.

Larry came round and told me the deliveries has commence so I went to the site where there were already two mountains by the gate. I checked the quality, by the highly scientific ‘crumble in the hands method’ and pronounced it great stuff.

While I was waiting for the lorry to arrive, I did a little more light digging. That’s light as in back breaking, by the way.

The Compost Lorry Gets Stuck

So the lorry arrives, goes up to the top end of the site, reverses into the side path and gets a bit stuck. So he commences to drop the load being as near to the plot it’s going to as possible.

It’s quite a site when an entire big skip is unloaded, very impressive.

Anyway, he tries to pull forward but the left side is in soggy ground and long story short, the wagon is totally stuck

Much digging around wheels and inserting bits of concrete later and it is, if anything, more stuck.

So Larry takes the driver back to his farm where he picks up a huge John Deere tractor and returns with his wife to try and pull the lorry out. Well I’ve never seen a tractor skid before. The wheels whizzed around, digging holes into the path and the lorry stayed stuck.

Johnny from the next plot to me had arrived at some point and he’s really experienced with engineering stuff. I think he worked with oil rigs in Africa at some point. Anyway, if you have a mechanical problem, he’s your man.

He organised us into getting some sleepers and putting them under the stabiliser jacks so they lifted the rear wheel and broken slabs were pushed under to give some traction.

The tractor pulled away and the lorry roared. And remained stuck.

Back to the front wheel, which was dug in and using the power lift thing on the rear of the tractor, we managed to lift it and more digging and slabs were pushed under that wheel.

Once more into the breach, dear friends. And the lorry stayed stuck.

By this time we’re working in the near dark but Johnny isn’t finished, although Larry and I are nearly finished for good. He redirects the tractor and finally we see the lorry rise from the ruts.

It’s now about half six and pitch black, so I head home for torches and using the light from Johnny’s motorbike and Larry’s car they get the lorry reversed down the path and out.

He’s continuing deliveries tomorrow, which is good. I thought he might just say that’s your lot after today!

What an afternoon!

There are more photos of the fun in gallery – Allotment Photographs