This past weekend, during the wonderful spell of warm weather, I continued my work on the garden path. I didn't get a tremendous amount done but did get about 10 feet on each end of what I already had. Better than nothing I guess. I also put up some long overdue metal trim on the clerestory section of the roof, so that is completely finished. Anyway, the landscape timbers here are pinned in place with 2' rebar driven down through the timbers. Once those are secured I simply fill the walking space with gravel.Here, the ground outside the path is where my fruiting plants are; raspberries, blueberries etc. and on the inside of the path is the vegetable area. You can see the garlic poking itself up through the mulch there. Lot of people say you can't grow that garlic you buy from the grocery stores but that is what I planted. Heck, I don't know if it will work or not but every clove I planted sprouted and looks healthy so far. It's been so cold this winter I didn't think it would sprout so soon but it has. The store was having a special on a 3 lb. bag of garlic so I said, what the heck. Won't hurt to try. I did not plant the whole 3 lbs. though! I only planted about half of it.
This gravel is what we call '89-10'. It is a fine crushed limestone and you can even get it in a light brown color. It is great for paths because it packs very hard and it's tough for weeds to grow through it because it's so dense. You just soak it with a hose after you place it, or just let it rain on it, and then you can pack it by hand or just walk on it. It is relatively cheap. On this recent load I got around 13 tons for $150. Now, for paths and general landscaping, 13 tons goes a long way. The price does fluctuate some, as with anything that must be hauled, depending on the current price of gas.Speaking of gardens, HERE is an article on the USDA's recent deregulation of genetically modified alfalfa; I'm sure a lot of you have read it by now. Sounds like Monsanto lined the right pockets this time. I know there are a lot of panic-mongering, woo-woo organic sites out there that get a little overly dramatic about some of these issues but this is one that could really cause some serious harm. And yet another case of our government being bought by corporations. Now, more than ever, people need to be taking more control of the food we eat. Please consider growing as much food as you can and growing only open pollinated varieties. I know a lot of people are really busy and don't have the time like I do but this is really important. The government will have us all down to eating nothing but corporate food from factory farms if they can.
And yes, I also know that the USDA in Maryland reads my blog every morning. I have two separate site meters that confirm this. Maybe they are just interested in house building! Maybe. Even at that they are wasting taxpayer money reading blogs when they should be working. Just like our government.
4 comments:
Path looks good at least you won't be walking in mud. I like the idea of that kind of gravel maybe use that at the summer place leading to the porch and if I get to do a small patio out back that would work well.
I like what you've done with the path so far!
You are going to have one amazing garden this year!
Glad you had enough nice weather to work outside a bit!
hi just a heads up a lot of this crushed rock like decomposed granite looks great but contains a silica additive that is known to cause lung cancer
Hello Anon! Yes, it may contain silica, most crushed stones have traces of silica but I consider this fairly safe because it is completely outside, thus a WELL ventilated area. It is usually also damp when you get it and can easily be wet down, in fact, it should be wet thoroughly to set right and this also greatly reduces the amount of dust stirred up into the air. At any rate, everyone should use their best judgement and decide for themselves whether or not they want to use stone of any kind.
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