Cali Concrete

[Jimbotomateo]

Originally Posted by Jimbotomateo

The trees in our front yard are 37 years old. They're being cut down right now because they're pushing up the house foundation!. Sad because they are really huge and beautiful. Here's the weird thing. Nobody knows what they are yet. The leaves are in bunches like a bush would grow. The leaves are only a quarter inch wide by one and a half inches long. I'd love to use them n the beds but don't know if they would be problematic.. Jimbo

This is getting stranger as we go .. Tree guys mom claims they are bushes and they use them at Disneyland and other places and trim them to look like animals.. I can't reach half way around the trunks and they're at least forty feet high.

[MendozaMark]

Originally Posted by Worth1

That is because it is so wet they come to the top.
I have seen the streets and gutters full of them after a hard rain.
They like food and moisture but not too much.
As long as you keep feeding them they will stay and multiply.
The board idea is good too they like to hang out under boards.
As for plastic dont even think about it for the most part it is a big hassle.
The have roles of thick brown paper at Home Depot at the paint section I use as a mulch or cover.
It is biodegradable and will last one season.

Worth

Do you have to install some sort of irrigation for the brown paper mulch Worth ? Or does it allow enough water to permeate into the immediate soil area ? I would imagine after some time it breaks down and is not an issue but at first maybe it would cause run off. I need some kind of bulk weed control for my rows. I have a garden plot of 110 ft x 100 ft that was tilled and rowed last year but is green and brown with weeds. I'm thinking about some biodegradable plastic mulch for a few rows, then paper for the rest. I hoping to switch to straw or hay mulch after i get the weed layer killed off this year.

Cheers !

[Worth1]

I put the soaker hose under the paper.

Worth

[MendozaMark]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I put the soaker hose under the paper.

Worth

Thanks !

[Jimbotomateo]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I put the soaker hose under the paper.

Worth

Back to full circle.. After mixing in potting soil the new dirt looks fantastic. There were less worms in the containers than the mixing box and that's my fault. I should have piled all the potting mix in a big mound. I think they would have fared better.. The leaves in front receive very little sunlight and my wife thinks they are moldy because she's attempted to rake them and become sick from it. I'm going back to the paper and the good news is I have something to hold it down with. My dad gave me a lot of old telephone pole insulators several years ago . Finally a good use for these things!.. their the ones you see in antique stores.. Lots of good ideas for mulch here!.. Guess I'm just trying to minimize bringing in unwanted critters.. No plants have popped up yet but these eighty degree days should help.. . Jimbo

[Jimbotomateo]

Should I mix in the plant tone and cover with paper now or wait til seedlings are ready to plant out.?

[Worth1]

Do as you wish I would do it now.
Even thought it has a smaller number for everything it cant be compared to stuff like miracle grow and other like fertilizers.
It works better and lasts longer.


Worth

[Jimbotomateo]

Originally Posted by Jimbotomateo

Should I mix in the plant tone and cover with paper now or wait til seedlings are ready to plant out.?

Picked up Neptunes harvest in San Luis Obispo. Explained how the raised beds were made to the Hydroponic guy and that I could slide a shovel handle easily thru the mix and he said I should be good to go all year. I told him I was thinking about making feed tubes from inch and one half pvc I have left over and he liked the idea. He suggested that I should scratch the Neptunes into the mix and use the tubes for water only. He also thought I shouldn't add anything for a month because the mix is good the way it is now. Later in the season he thought I may have to add the tomato tone. I easily slid the pvc 10 inches in mix and pulled a core of it out. Questions are how big do I drill the drainage holes , how many, and where? What size holes I mean.. He also says next year I'll have to add lime, especially since I used 8 cubic feet of peat moss. I guess it's to stabilize the PH. What do you guys think?. Thanks . Jimbo.

[Worth1]

1/4 inch holes 1 inch apart.
Wild guess but what I would do.

Worth

[Jimbotomateo]

Originally Posted by Worth1

1/4 inch holes 1 inch apart.
Wild guess but what I would do.

Worth

Sounds reasonable . . Thanks. Jimbo .