Reusing
November 19, 2009
Around here we do our best to live by the adage, Reduce Reuse Recycle. This weekend was gorgeous and sunny, so we decided to head outdoors to work. The previous owner had maintained lots of pretty flowers and shrubs, but we’re out to maintain as little as possible. If it’s not feeding me, I don’t want to have to spend a lot of time on a plant. So while Jason mowed the backyard, I pulled up all the weedy bits and scraggly shrubs from a couple of the main beds around the house. But what to do about mulch?
Aha! Our driveway was covered in pine needles, so we raked them up and spread them out all over the beds. It may not be the prettiest mulch in the world, but it was free from our own backyard.
See?
Ta da!
Entry Filed under: House Projects. .
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1.
Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog | November 19, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Way to be resourceful! I actually think it looks quite nice
.
2.
thisthriftedlife | November 20, 2009 at 2:09 am
Thanks!
3.
shanna | November 21, 2009 at 1:33 am
If you plan to put vegetable plants in those beds at some point you will want to take the pine needles out as they will make the soil very acidic and can possibly “sour” the soil, that is what my mom says happens.
It does look very nice though and good job on creatively reusing something destined for the compost pile.
4.
thisthriftedlife | November 21, 2009 at 3:01 am
Shanna, your mom is right–the pine raises the soil’s acidity, which is great for fruits like blueberries but not so great for others. But we’re going to eventually cover those beds with gravel and have a much bigger garden out back.