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Tile as mulch

 
gardener
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Location: Cincinnati, Ohio,Price Hill 45205
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As the title says.
I have been thinking about trying this for quite some time.
My hesitation stemmed from a fear of creating habitat for slugs.
This bed kept drying out and ,Alliums are fairly slug resistant, so I tried it here.
I chose light colored tile, but I think I will blacken one side of each if I continue to use them.
The dark side will be for early spring and late fall.
IMG_20260624_120623277.jpg
A mix of green onions and walking onions, w/ a few turnip greens greens .A side benefit, the soil isn't disturbed by watering.
A mix of green onions and walking onions, w/ a few turnip greens greens .A side benefit, the soil isn't disturbed by watering.
IMG_20260624_120704121.jpg
No slugs!
No slugs!
 
steward & manure connoisseur
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Location: South of Capricorn
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Smart idea. I also have so many slugs/snails that that was the first thing I thought when I read your thread name.... but I suppose the good thing is that slug/snail habitat also makes an easy trap: if they're hanging out there in the daytime you can just come through and grab them.
If you have tiles hanging around, it seems like a great use for them.
 
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I use broken terracotta pieces around the base of my fruit trees for something similar. Holds moisture underneath and the worms seem to love it under there. Never had a slug problem with it but I'm on free-draining soil so that might be why. The idea of blackening one side for seasonal use is clever, never thought of that.
 
William Bronson
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We have a growing population of "Lazarus" Lizards.
I think they are why we don't have more slugs than we do.

I think other inflexible, modular, biologically inert items might work as mulch.
Aluminum pans, or ceramic plates, for instance.
Aluminum flashing,would be more flexible but still ridgid by comparison to black plastic mulch.

Petrified hessian/ concreted burlap is another possibility for a ridgid mulch.
 
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