I think I can finally move again without feeling pain in every inch of my back and arms. Remember in my Great Wheelbarrow Showdown post how I mentioned that my husband and I spread six yards of compost on our front and backyard? Did I mention that I was the one who shoveled absolutely every bit of compost into the Wheelbarrow and Yard Cart? Yep, me and my big buff muscles. Ouch!
Anyway, in my Great Wheelbarrow Showdown post, my "test" results for the best actual wheelbarrow had the Lifetime Wheelbarrow beating out the Lifetime Yard Cart and a traditional wheelbarrow. The Lifetime Yard Cart could hold twice as much dirt as the Lifetime Wheelbarrow and it pushed fairly easy considering the amount of weight in it. However, it failed the wheelbarrow tipping test because once you dump the load, you can't control how much you dump. More importantly, you really can't set the Yard Cart back down once it's tipped.
But, if you're spreading compost, mulch etc. where you want an evenly distributed and steady line of dirt, we quickly discovered this Yard Cart tipping negative can actually turn into a huge positive if you have two people. My husband and I ended up figuring out a technique that cut our compost task down to three hours, compared to the almost eight hours it took us last year! Honest! (BTW, did you know Lifetime now makes a composter?!)
Here was our trick. First, we used both the Lifetime Wheelbarrow and the Lifetime Yard Cart. Having two pieces of hauling equipment definitely sped things up since we made fewer trips. I would fill both the Lifetime Wheelbarrow and Lifetime Yard Cart with compost, then push them to my husband to dump them. He would spread the compost piles out with a rake while I refilled the Wheelbarrow and Yard Cart. Our timing was impeccable. As soon as I started wheeling back a load, he was raking his last pile. Getting a good assembling line rhythm was essential.
But, the real key was the Lifetime Yard Cart. Even though we couldn't use it as a wheelbarrow to dump several small loads, we ended up getting the most even and continuous lines of dirt with it. How is that possible when I said it failed the tipping test? Well, Mike would tip it up (and leave it tipped) and then simply drag it backwards while I used the rake to pull out a steady stream of compost. The front of the Lifetime Yard Cart is angled kind of like a big scoop so the compost almost naturally fell out as Mike drug the cart along. The even lines of compost made Mike's raking job much quicker .
This obviously is not the intended use for the Lifetime Yard Cart, but it sure worked for us! So, I thought I'd share in case our technique can help ease the workload for some of you. Sure, it's not as easy as having the luxury of a bucket loader to help haul and spread the compost. (Or better yet, hiring someone to do it for you!) But, given the equipment we had, the Lifetime Yard Cart was a huge time saver!
To give you a better idea of what I'm talking about, watch this video to actually see how it worked. Good luck!