Re: [gardeners] Pinetree

George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sat, 31 Jan 1998 15:19:09 

Actually it can be anything less than a full brick, even down to an eighth.
At least that's what I've heard the masons I worked around say.

George

At 01:17 PM 1/31/98 -0700, you wrote:
>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
>
>