Well it took a couple of days, but I did get back to the landfill, where they make the mulch. Just so you have an idea of how deep I like it to be to have the desired effect (see earlier post) here is a picture, partly through the process...BTW, it is $7.50 a "bucket" and a bucket does half my 1500 sf garden...
Sorry this is not relevant to your mulching project. However, I wanted to write to thank you for the tip on using a concrete wire reinforcing grid as a support for tomato plants. Since I live in France, the idea has now been re-exported here (although I have yet to see it used elsewhere here).
Some further thoughts on this method. I use deep bed plots that are approximately 3 meters by 1.5 meters. The concrete wire reinforcement grids that are sold here are a pretty good fit for this size of bed. I only had to cut about 50 centimeters along the short side of the standard grid to arrive at the right size for the bed. If you cut the grid so that there are free standing metal rods protruding on the width side (that is, remove the wire from one end of the square to form a "U"), this allows this end of the wire grid to be inserted into the ground just inside both sides the container. This forms a sort of cloche and the tension of the wire also presses against the sides of the container providing even more stability to the quonset-like shape of the setup.
Another nice feature is that if you want to set the plants out early, the grid can be set up in the bed early in the season and covered with heavy plastic sheets. When the weather warms up, the plastic sheet can be removed and wire grid frame then used to support the plants. Given the standard size of the beds used, the grid can be easily moved from bed to bed as needed. ( I'm thinking of adding some grommets to heavy plastic sheets to allow for ease of attaching and detaching the plastic and to prevent tearing).
The grid costs about US$15 here.
It's a pity you do not update this site more often.
Posted by: Vivian Darkbloom | May 05, 2011 at 04:58 AM