Not really. :-) It's a Herb Circle that SWMBO wants me to build. It's an outdoor herb garden made with 12 slightly tapered 3' redwood 2x12 planks buried in a 12' circle flush with the ground. She found the design in a gardening magazine.
The magazine article says, "To prevent cupping and warping score the bottom of each plank with several 1/8" cuts using a circular saw."
My question is, does this really work?
TIA, Vince
Sure! And it decreases the friction when they slide against the metal in the ground. Just remember to lap them to .0001. %-)
Dave in Fairfax
Vince Heuring wrote in news:160520051813441341% snipped-for-privacy@dimensional.com:
She should read the old Mother Earth News articles, and plant in recycled tires painted white... :-)
The last time I priced all heart redwood 2x12's, I about choked. And it's a 90 minute drive from here to the Redwood Empire, at least according to the highway signs, so freight isn't the problem. And redwood sapwood doesn't have the rot resistance for which one seeks redwood in the first place.
The redwood is going to last about ten years or so, at least in my raised bed gardens. It's going to cup anyway, pretty much whatever you do. I mean, one side is dry, and the other is buried in dirt that you get wet three times a week, minimum. My advice is to price the redwood, then ask your wife if she wants the garden that badly. Proceed according to your best judgement.
Those precast concrete cobblestones make a nice herb garden.
Patriarch
I have to agree with Patriarch here. Build it out of something cheaper like paving stones or something. Even 2x12 spf will last many years and you can just build another when it starts to go.
I learned my lesson building a compost bin for my wife. I thought treated would get chemicals in the compost and pine or fir wouldn't last..... ah ha, redwood. I ordered out some 2x4 and some 1x8 and built a pretty nice bin with two hinged lids and fronts that slide out for shoveling and everyone was happy. Then, the material bill came. I had built the most expensive compost bin known to man! Ten years later, it's still out there and every spring I get reminded of how much it cost! When it finally falls apart, I'm buying her a roll of chicken wire.:-)
Mike O.
Amortized over 10 years, it's probably the lowest cost compost bin on the planet, especially if you use your current labor rate, which is based on your years of experience building quality compost bins, to build a replacement.
Lew
SFWIW, one of the recent This Old House episodes covered using cobble stones imbedded in concrete to construct an herb garden.
Think it will be around a while.
Lew
Not easy for building compost tumblers though....
On Mon, 16 May 2005 22:13:11 -0500, the inscrutable Patriarch spake:
I find it hard to believe that MEN would publish something like that, given all the chemicals which leach out of the old tires.
Yeah, take your portable defib to the lumber yard for large decking lumber. You'll need it.
It's not as bad up here as it was in CA.
Excellent idea. Also, rebarred concrete block makes a nice platform. Use a green concrete stain on it to blend it into the landscape once it's up and filled.
I just plant my basil in the ground-level garden with the rest of the goodies. My tenbuhten will have cantaloupe, buttercrunch lettuce, spaghetti squash, radishes, carrots, basil, broccoli, green beans, Oregon sugar pod peas, cabbage, and okra, all from seed. I picked up a packet of "mixed herbs" free at the home improvement store in town a couple weeks ago. It contains dill (ick), sweet marjoram, summer savory, and Italian basil, so I might give it a couple square feet, too. I'll till tomorrow and put last year's drip irrigation back into use again. What a difference in plant growth and lack of weeds!
------------------------------------------ Do the voices in my head bother you? ------------------------------------------
Gee. MON must have taken tips from my long deceased mother. She planted tires back in the '30s and '40s. Of course, come to think of it, so did everyone else in the neighborhood :-).
Mike wrote in news:uvoi819tou7ja4tr3m46lov4epcq8qr5ci@
4ax.com:
My compost bin has a concrete block back wall, and recycled redwood side boards. I'm fortunate that 'fast composting' works well here, though. Even a modest output of shavings from the planer or lathe seems to fill it up quickly.
Lew's right. Think of it in terms of labor invested ten years ago, when you were younger & stronger. The returns are that you don't have to rebuild any time soon.
Patriarch
Larry Jaques wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
I didn't say it was smart, just that it was published in a known rag back then. Lotsa stupid stuff said & done in the Seventies.
Patriarch
Other than being butt-ugly, I'd be real surprise to find a significant problem if simply were washed thoroughly initially. Many large tires were used as the rim for cattle water tanks for a while--they don't get bent easily as do metal ones. They became less popular mostly because they're just too heavy to move around.
Thing about the tires - if they're leaching, why are they used for retaining walls in Golden Gate Park, Larry?
Dave Hinz wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net:
So you're telling us they are completely safe, and the tire disposal fee and hazardous waste disposal fee and the rest of the handling taxes imposed here in California are bogus? Who would have thought?
I guess you just can't trust politicians these days... ;-)
Patriarch
| >>
| >>>>She should read the old Mother Earth News articles, and plant in | >>>>recycled tires painted white... :-)=20 | >>>=20 | >>> I find it hard to believe that MEN would publish something like | >>> that, given all the chemicals which leach out of the old tires. | >>
| >> I didn't say it was smart, just that it was published in a known = rag | >> back then. Lotsa stupid stuff said & done in the Seventies. | >=20 | > Thing about the tires - if they're leaching, why are they used for | > retaining walls in Golden Gate Park, Larry? | >=20 |=20 | So you're telling us they are completely safe, and the tire disposal = fee=20 | and hazardous waste disposal fee and the rest of the handling taxes = imposed=20 | here in California are bogus? Who would have thought? |=20 | I guess you just can't trust politicians these days... ;-) |=20 | Patriarch
Yep. We had the same kind of "Tire Tax" up here. When the local government lifted the tax -=20 we never found what the did with the money raised -=20 we still had the same, but larger, tire piles.
--=20 PDQ
There are many compelling reasons to regulate the management and disposal of waste tires, including concerns for public health, because of the breeding of disease carrying mosquitos, the potential for fire hazards, as well as the expense of cleaning up after tire fires. For these and other reasons, many states concluded that throwing waste tires into stockpiles presented environmental and public health concerns, and that burying them in a landfill consumed valuable landfill space and wasted a resource.
It's not because of leaching at all.
The chocolate bar I bought at the health food store had all that in it....
On Tue, 17 May 2005 14:21:03 -0500, the inscrutable Patriarch spake:
Oh, yeah. Everyone was still "coming down" from the Sixties.
------------------------------------------ Do the voices in my head bother you? ------------------------------------------
When someone asks "How much did it cost to build that?" and I tell them.....this weird look comes across their face. It's that "Your out of your freakin mind!" look. Nobody else ever wanted me to build em one.
Mike O.
Mike wrote in news:5mtk81hij3ll4ctpqlqal171juf619k75a@
4ax.com:
Then whatever number you gave them was a 'good number'.
I have a $3500 (materials only) garden shed that gets the same sort of response. Why does a garden shed _need_ a leaded glass entry door? :-)
Patriarch
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