Sidecar this, garden that

Last weekend, Jenn and I decided that it was time to start on the mulch plans for the season. We need a fair bit of mulch, as we have not renewed the mulch in the backyard landscaping since we moved in to the house almost three years ago, plus we made a garden in the front yard. Here's the first load of mulch, with some tomato cages and a roll of landscape fabric:

Eight bags, each three cubic feet, for probably 250 pounds of payload.

The garden is largely planted, albeit a bit early, as there is still some danger of frost over the next couple weeks. We have an assortment of protective coverings ready to deploy, rather than remove the plants from the garden area.

In other cargo-capacity news: For my recent anniversary of appearing in this world, my mother gave me some money earmarked for the purchase of an Xtracycle Sidecar to fit my Big Dummy. The Xtracycle web site indicated that the Sidecar was out of stock, but I noticed a bit over a week ago that there were some available. Mine arrived earlier this week, and I found time to mount it and a deck for it yesterday. Here it is in the "ready to haul stuff" configuration:

 And in the "on the bike, but stowed for now" position (although it's only being kept there by inertia as pictured--I have a cargo net on the deck that can hold it in place):

 When I went to get the plywood for the deck, I had the Sidecar frame on the bike. I found that it interferes with the trailer if I try to turn hard to the right. I expect even worse interference if the Sidecar is in use, so I've decided to consider them not compatible with each other:

The plywood in question is simply cheap Lauan 5mm sheet stock. When I bought it, I had the lumber store rip cut the sheet at the proper width for the Sidecar, and again to fit as a floor for the trailer. I stained the piece I cut for the Sidecar with some stain left over from another project, mostly to reduce water absorption if the thing gets wet.

I discovered that the holes marked on the Xtracycle template were off by about 5mm. It's not a big deal--I have enough material for two more decks, after all--but it meant drilling some holes after partially installing the deck. When I make a replacement for this one, I'll know.

Also: Astute observers may note that I mounted the deck on the underside of the Sidecar frame. I did this thinking about reports from others who have the Sidecar who have found it hard to keep some cargo loads from scooting off the deck. The frame makes for a decent retaining lip in this case, as a load I'm likely to carry with the Sidecar is not likely to break the plywood. If I find myself using it for heavy enough loads that I'm worried about plywood breakage, I can get longer screws and thicker plywood (or make a second layer to add to the existing layer).

Load-testing of the new toy will happen over the next several days. I have no shortage of semi-heavy stuff to use for mock payloads.