Posted in Projects to Make, Garden Ideas |
Shingles Revisisted
October 7th, 2006
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You may remember a previous blog post about the shingled pathway I made into the woods from my yard (picture on the left), and a walkway I made inside my vegetable garden (picture on the right). The instructions on how I did these are on this blog at:
http://www.frugalbydesign.com/blog/2006/07/03/shingled-pathway/
I wanted to give you an update, now that this has been down and in use for some time and has all settled in so that it looks “natural”, I guess you could say. I moved a few shingles this year so that I could put an arbor in the vegetable garden, and under them was great dirt, with no vegetation at all ( I loved that). I had very few weeds that I pulled from the pathway, but none from the parking area and under the benches (where I had also used them) or the vegetable garden. I attribute this to having a lot of overlapping and layers of shingles.
Putting in landscaping that cuts down on maintenance is an added bonus for me.
I was asked last year about the shingles leaching bad stuff into the ground. My online research at that time indicated that did not happen. Now, having had the garden pathways down through this whole growing season, I can say that my harvest quantity was not in any way adversely affected. My gardening productivity increased because I was able to easily move between gardens (I have a separate strawberry garden, blueberry garden and vegetable garden with the compost bin accessible from all of them.
I did not find the shingles to be slippery when wet although I did kick one or two of them accidentally while moving around. That didn’t cause any great concern to me, pattern wise, as long as the line of them I used to mark the garden edge remained straight. That line, by the way, makes a great “mow strip” between the yard and the garden. I am contemplating laying shingles around the fruit trees as mow strips to cut down the need to weed whack there. Accidentally weed whacking fruit tree bark is not good from them and can lead to infection.
I was fortunate in that the shingles I uses required no tearing. Ones for the pathway were triangular scraps made when my roofers cut the ends off shingles as they laid them on the roof. The ones for all the other areas were ones torn off a roof by the roofers. I just used whatever sized pieces they gave me. The smallest of the small were used under the benches and tables. Recently I decided to move a picnic table that I had put shingles under, to a new location. I found even the small pieces easy to pickup and move. I just put them in a wheelbarrow and took them to their new home.
My experiences this year have not led me to regret my decisions last year around the shingles. I did ask my roofers last year to leave me a pack of unopened shingles, which are in the garage. Now that I have had a year with working around shingles, I may do more projects next year with that unopened pack. I have also given thought to using them on the ground in my potting area. I don’t want stuff to grow there,and want frugal “flooring”.
I just had a thought…I want outdoor “rooms”…little sitting areas. Shingles would make great outdoor “flooring” in these rooms.
Your Frugal Decorating Diva,
Nancy
Josh on 28 Mar 2007 at 5:18 am: 1
A neighbor just did a roofing job and threw out a whole bunch of shingles. With these, and some old aluminum siding, we just made up our planting beds. Thanks for posting your experience.