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what does one do with screened rocks?

Posts: 194

posted 13 years ago

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I just screened a bunch of soil to fill our new raised hugel beds and now have a pile of rock. What would you do with it? I already have lots of woodchips on our walking paths and like how they work there for said purpose.

Kelly Ware

Posts: 74

Location: Flathead Valley Montana

posted 13 years ago

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Some plants love rocks around their roots. Sepp grows great strawberries, beets, radishes and more with rocks covering the soil. I do a rock belt, or small terrace and put my strawberries there.

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Casey Halone

Posts: 194

posted 13 years ago

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what would be the pros and cons of a round gravel mulch vs say woodchips or straw?

Dale Hodgins

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Location: Victoria British Columbia-Canada

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posted 13 years ago

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I doubt that you have the quantity of rock necessary for this but if you ever end up with tons of screened rock they are excellent for building rubble trench foundations. Not only do they bear weight as well as concrete does they provide unsurpassed drainage for your building. Those heavy castles in Europe rest on rubble trench.

In garden situations they can be used to create a French drain.

Paul Cereghino

gardener

Posts: 864

Location: South Puget Sound, Salish Sea, Cascadia, North America

posted 13 years ago

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Funny -- I just watched a bunch of people screen rocks for the purpose of making concrete

Advantage of rock as mulch is the thermal mass for heat storage to moderate flux of temperature between day and night (desert or alpine), and durability. Some talk about rock piles as dew collectors (cool rocks and warm morning air?)

Paul Cereghino- Ecosystem Guild
Maritime Temperate Coniferous Rainforest - Mild Wet Winter, Dry Summer

Susan Doyon

Posts: 153

Location: Massachusetts

posted 10 years ago

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I am putting what we screen (smaller and flatter rock)on woodland paths in the areas that get wet in the spring and large rock in wooded dips caused when they built the street next to the property that I want to fill to control water coming in off the road

wayne fajkus

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Posts: 3073

Location: Central Texas zone 8a

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posted 10 years ago

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we had to put rocks over the dirt of some potted tomato plants. Darned raccoons kept digging out the tomatoes. This stopped it.

Sometimes the answer is nothing

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Maieshe Ljin

gardener

Posts: 384

Location: SW VT, sandy loam, valley, zone 5a

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posted 1 year ago

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They can be good to provide a barrier between larger stones and soil in stone fences or walls, like for terraces for cultivation, cellars, wells, and so on, thus protecting the stones from frost heaving. I am also using gravel now to grow a prickly pear in a pot. Aside from that, the preheat replies too. I don’t know any other uses, but surely there are many.

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. -Proverbs 4:7

Timothy Norton

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Posts: 4240

Location: Upstate NY, Zone 5, 43 inch Avg. Rainfall

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posted 1 year ago

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I take my screened rocks and put it under the drip line from roofs that don't have gutters. It provides a nice delineation between my home's foundation and the start of a chipped perennial garden. The larger stones create a wall that separates the bed from the lawn.

Nothing like walking outside, seeing all the rocks you pulled out of the ground and feeling like you achieved something.

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