Gravel Gardens

I personally feel though that green plants are better than gravel. For a start we need every little bit of oxygen producing land we can get surely? Brian

In message , Brian-Gaff writes

Lot more green on a tree than a lawn.

Mind, this years pond blanket weed must make up for something!

In message , Tricky Dicky writes

... and a bag of sugar, and some copper pipe ...

:-)

and a length of jetex fuse

BANG

Despite the illiterate ramblings of a self claimed chemist some time back t o my solution to moss on a gravel drive claiming that vinegar would feed th e moss.

Vinegar - Vinegar is a great organic homemade weed killer. Either white or cider vinegar will work. The acetic acid in the vinegar works to kill the l eaves on the plant but not the root. Vinegar will kill back (kill the leave s but not the root) any plant but works best on young plants because they d o not have enough energy stored in the roots to regrow their leaves. If vin egar is applied to more established weeds enough times, the plant will even tually deplete its stored energy reserves and die.

In message , Charles Hope writes

Popular back in the day was a drinking straw filled with the same mixture as the pipe. Allegedly.

Natural fibre soft string dipped in sodium nitrate and dried was a good way to make a classic "Tom and Jerry" fuse.

I say that with impunity because no right thinking nutjob would use a fuse like that!

I've used white vinegar to wipe down bits of wood that got mould on in the shed. It kills some 80-odd % of mould species, dries off clean and seems to not damage things.

If I want 100% death, I'll use bleach - which has the advantage on, say shed flooring, that it stays in the ply and seems to prevent mould reoccuring.

I've successfully killed all the moss in my gravel drive with a mixture of bleach, detergent and caustic soda, a cupful of each in 5 gallons of water.

We found that used sparkets soda syphon bulbs patiently refilled with the std mixture through a slightly enlarged end made very good torpedoes. What we did not allow for was metal fatigue so on its third or fourth use one turned into a mine halfway along the run which was a water feature that had started life as a small swimming pool built by WW1 German POWs staying in what was then a rectory while they worked on nearby farms , it had long become more a home for ducks that my mates Mum Mrs T kept on it . These were distinctively unimpressed at being mined and led by the one that found itself suddenly 3ft above the rest on a water spout took off en masse with much quacking and flew to the horizon never to be seen again. Mrs T was puzzled for many year after the incident as to the sudden absence which took place around 1969. I confessed about 7 years ago. The Ducks may have long gone by I can still see the scar where a bit of shrapnel caught a patella and bounced off, lucky it wasn't anywhere softer or an eye.

G.Harman

ck to my solution to moss on a gravel drive claiming that vinegar would fee d the moss.

or cider vinegar will work. The acetic acid in the vinegar works to kill t he leaves on the plant but not the root. Vinegar will kill back (kill the l eaves but not the root) any plant but works best on young plants because th ey do not have enough energy stored in the roots to regrow their leaves. If vinegar is applied to more established weeds enough times, the plant will eventually deplete its stored energy reserves and die.

Yes. That was my answer. Cold water bleach with a bottle of vinegar added. Killed the moss stone dead. Turned it orange actually. It was nearly imposs ible to remove even using a Stihl powered brush. I just gave up and learned to love it.

Annually we wipe down the window frames on our boat with vinegar. It keeps the moss away there also. Makes it smell like a chip shop for a while.

Greenery is a depressing eyesore IMV. Left untended it just gets more and more unkempt and overgrown. I'd pave both my lawns over with reinforced concrete if I had my way. The gravel idea is merely a compromise solution between me and the wife which I've been reluctantly forced to agree to.

Slate chippings are rather nice, you can get green, blue, purple etc.

And then it flowers

I take it you don't visit National Trust gardens on the weekend. Or if you do, you wait in the car.

Simon.

Yup, flowers with weeds and looks 10x worse.

I'd sooner have a walk round an early 1970s multi-story car park, m8.

Our crematorium fills a walk-in skip with cut flowers every week. To us humans they represent er.... pretty well everything. Think of any occasion where they don't figure prominently

They don't compost them? Shame.