This is one way:
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toxcrusadr
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- Joined: Thu Sep 09, 2010 4:50 pm
- Location: MO
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toxcrusadr
- Greener Thumb
- Posts: 970
- Joined: Thu Sep 09, 2010 4:50 pm
- Location: MO
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ButterflyLady29
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- Joined: Mon Oct 19, 2015 9:12 pm
- Location: central Ohio
To get where I want it to be I need materials I don't have in my area. Sand or fine gravel is one of them, some amount of clay is another. 100% of any of those three (clay/silt/sand) is not a bit good, and the goal with heavy leaf compost is to at least split it up some.
The result so far though is that it still packs together like an adobe brick. I use a top layer around the outside now to let excess water drain out on the sides - but fill the centers the rest of the way with soil. Drain holes are punched in the tire containers at the level of the bottom of the mulch ring.
https://youtu.be/V_1f2ImiDLA?list=PL3ww ... Lid2x8cw9I
The result so far though is that it still packs together like an adobe brick. I use a top layer around the outside now to let excess water drain out on the sides - but fill the centers the rest of the way with soil. Drain holes are punched in the tire containers at the level of the bottom of the mulch ring.
https://youtu.be/V_1f2ImiDLA?list=PL3ww ... Lid2x8cw9I
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toxcrusadr
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- Joined: Thu Sep 09, 2010 4:50 pm
- Location: MO
Compost will certainly help improve soil texture regardless of what problem you have with it, which is nice. The stuff is magic.
We have mostly clay here in MO except in certain areas around the big rivers where the silt blew out of the valley and made loess hills, which I believe are very uniform silt sized particles. Exposed vertical faces will stand up for decades with hardly any erosion despite heavy rains. Amazing stuff. I haven't poked one to see if it's set up like adobe but it might be pretty solid. Whenever I can get river bottom silt or sand for my clay, I grab it. I'd trade you a load of clay for some silt if it wasn't so far to tote it.
We have mostly clay here in MO except in certain areas around the big rivers where the silt blew out of the valley and made loess hills, which I believe are very uniform silt sized particles. Exposed vertical faces will stand up for decades with hardly any erosion despite heavy rains. Amazing stuff. I haven't poked one to see if it's set up like adobe but it might be pretty solid. Whenever I can get river bottom silt or sand for my clay, I grab it. I'd trade you a load of clay for some silt if it wasn't so far to tote it.
Got news - my other hobby is cars&trucks. I have a Festiva hotrod right now (B6T engine), and a stock Festiva coming home as a DD and road trip machine about a week from now. My first road trip target is Texas to grab a few sacks full of genuine cactus soil...
Missouri ain't that far when you get 40 a gallon.
* I figured out where to get clay though. CAT LITTER is made out of clay - they pelletize it into granules. If you get a basic cheap kind without deoderants in it, it breaks back down into clay in no time. (Ain't dollar stores wonderful?
)
Missouri ain't that far when you get 40 a gallon.
* I figured out where to get clay though. CAT LITTER is made out of clay - they pelletize it into granules. If you get a basic cheap kind without deoderants in it, it breaks back down into clay in no time. (Ain't dollar stores wonderful?
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ButterflyLady29
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- Joined: Mon Oct 19, 2015 9:12 pm
- Location: central Ohio
Let me give you some advice: THINK OUTSIDE OF THE BOX!
That stuff comes from somewhere, and if you figure out where that is you are ahead of the game. I BET there is a sawmill near where you live. You can get trailer loads of sawdust there.
They also love horses and they have dairies in Ohio - somewhere nearby is a LOT of manure that you can get cheap.
Here's the kicker:
Every state has a highway department building roads, and also a railroad that each have quarries that have all kinds of stuff that they pass on to places that refine it. Those raw materials can be found cheaply....
Think about "ROCK DUST", a favorite of John Kohler. Does it seem to you as it does to me, that you can get it from a quarry mining operation? Go there instead of a store. Every state that builds roads has one somewhere. Every state that has RAILROADS has quarries all over them.
Every state that engages in these activities has a source for materials - and as a result, other materials. Materials that they consider WASTE materials. You can get them, if you know where to look.
Again - think outside of the box. What is waste to some, is a goldmine to others. If you are walking up to a cash register - chances are you went to the wrong place
*Lumber yards and sawmills have sawdust falling out of their pockets
That stuff comes from somewhere, and if you figure out where that is you are ahead of the game. I BET there is a sawmill near where you live. You can get trailer loads of sawdust there.
They also love horses and they have dairies in Ohio - somewhere nearby is a LOT of manure that you can get cheap.
Here's the kicker:
Every state has a highway department building roads, and also a railroad that each have quarries that have all kinds of stuff that they pass on to places that refine it. Those raw materials can be found cheaply....
Think about "ROCK DUST", a favorite of John Kohler. Does it seem to you as it does to me, that you can get it from a quarry mining operation? Go there instead of a store. Every state that builds roads has one somewhere. Every state that has RAILROADS has quarries all over them.
Every state that engages in these activities has a source for materials - and as a result, other materials. Materials that they consider WASTE materials. You can get them, if you know where to look.
Again - think outside of the box. What is waste to some, is a goldmine to others. If you are walking up to a cash register - chances are you went to the wrong place
*Lumber yards and sawmills have sawdust falling out of their pockets