Re: [gardeners] Pinetree
Jane Burdekin (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sat, 31 Jan 1998 13:17:12 -0700
Thanks for the brick bat explanation. I would have never thought it would
be a half brick, maybe a long brick but not a half. Jane
> At 01:33 PM 1/30/98 -0600, you wrote:
> >>At 08:51 AM 1/30/98 -0700, you wrote:
> >>>At 08:46 AM 1/30/98, George Shirley wrote:
> >>>>Pinetree must have recovered from the freeze in Maine, got my catalog
> order
> >>>>yesterday and a 1998 catalog. Found a source for Golden Queen
tomatoes in
> >>>>that new catalog so guess I'll have to get another order off to them.
> <VBG>
> >>>>
> >>>>Currently have two 36 pot flats going under the lights and over the
heat
> >>>>and have two more like that plus a flat of 3" pots sanitizing in the
> bleach
> >>>>mix right now. Does anyone have some garden space I can borrow? It's
> either
> >>>>that or dig up some more backyard. Hope Miz Anne's back can stand up
to
> it.
> >>>>
> >>>>We've been having a lot of sunshine and 70F days here with nighttime
temps
> >>>>down into the high thirties. Beautiful SPRING weather in SW
Louisiana.
> >>>>Thank you El Nino!
> >>>>
> >>>>George
> >>>>
> >>>George, during the time I was on OGL, there was a lot of talk about
no-till
> >>>gardening. What they were advocating was covering the lawn with
cardboard
> >>>(some said spray Roundup first, others said don't worry, it'll die),
tack
> >>>it down, and cover it with 4 to 6 inches of compost. Let it sit,
water it,
> >>>etc., then reach in and plant. Now you may be in a hurry to plant, so
that
> >>>might present problems. But it is easier than digging up the lawn.
> >>>Margaret
> >>>
> >>I've never had much luck with no-till gardening here, I think it may be
to
> >>wet. We average 65 inches of rainfall per annum and some times we get 6
or
> >>8 inches all at once. We experimented with no-till a number of years
ago
> >>and got bumper crops of snails, slugs, pill bugs, earwigs, and lots of
mold
> >>and mildew. Even on an average sunny day we will have 96% humidity. We
do
> >>mulch in the summer but not deeply. I'm solarizing the new patch along
the
> >>fence with polyethylene film weighted with brick bats and then will
turn
> >>under the dead grass and weeds. Still contemplating getting a Mantis
tiller
> >>as I have trouble using a shovel anymore.
> >>
> >>George
> >
> >
> >Out of curiousity what is a brick bat? I have hear the expression "hard
as
> >a brick bat" all my life and never knew what it was for sure. Also I
> >love my mantis tiller FWIW, we got ours about 12 years ago, and it is
still
> >running with very little maintenance. Jane
> >
> The half a brick or less that is left when the brick mason breaks a full
> brick to end a course. Does that help? Our brick bats are all half bricks
> left over from building this house 25 years ago. The first owners neatly
> stacked them in a corner of the yard and I found them 8 years ago when we
> moved here. Miz Anne and I have been known to knock on doors and salvage
> stuff out of other peoples trash. Got some good used doors that way plus
a
> good many cinder block, brick, etc. Anne's out picking up bagged leaves
as
> I write this. We ran out early this year and the neighbors just put
theirs
> out for the trash pickup. What a waste of good organic material.
>
> George, who's probably missing a little more than half a brick in his top
> course