Saturday, April 27, 2013

3-tab shingles in the garden!!!



Yes!!! That is exactly what I said!! 3-tab shingles in the garden!!
And what do I use them for???? Well,,,, first,,, you must cut them up!!
Maddie approves of my gardening skills!!!
All cut and ready to use!!!
I use them to give me a perfect edge for the flower beds!!! My own  re-purpose of  roof shingles!! These have been in the yard for over 10 years!!!
I still have to re-edge the lawn about once a year, but what a perfect mowing edge!!!
AND!!!!! They come in different colors!!! How cool is that??!!
Here are the shingles that I just put down today after getting them all cut up.
I will be continuing with the shingles and bricks all the way to the far corner in the upper Right of the photo. I let the weeds and grass get a little out of control, but I am ready to attack that area. Once done, I will be bringing in more soil and doing a lot of new plantings!!! FUN!!
Our front yard. I have TONS of trimming to do and I need to re-edge along the brick. I haven't done it for a few years, so past time!!
One of my beautiful Japanese Maples. I love these plants, they are amazing!!
I found this gigantic moth next to our sliding glass door on the back deck. He's huge!!!
OK, got to go. Time for dinner and I am starving!!! Have a great rest of the weekend and Enjoy the Earth!!!
Martha :^)

55 comments:

  1. I love that idea! Keeping grass from creeping into flower beds is the hardest thing for me. I thought about digging the trench around them like a lot of people do, but I like this so much better. And you only have to weedeat or edge around once a year, or you have to replace the shingles once a year?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Marti!! The shingles don't need to be replaced very often. Mostly they get replaced if they get destroyed by the weedeater!!! If I edge twice a year with my straight edge shovel, they do much better. My husband likes to weedeat often so our shingles get a bit messy, but still, I don't replace for several years!!!

      Delete
  2. What a great idea! I've got some of these kicking around because I can't throw anything away. Now I know how I'll use them. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I bought some shingles today. The ones I had in the shed weren't 3 tab and were too light.lk I'd rather they be closer to earth color. I plan on edging with them Monday.

    Lowes has stuff already cut to size, plastic mesh kind of stuff in a roll, like the circles you can put around trees. It looks like a mulched circle or strip. I thought about just buying that, for about 3 seconds until I did the math and figured out it was over a $1 a foot for it. 8 feet for $9-10, and the bundle of 26 shingles was $14. No brainer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope they work well for you!! Let me know!!!

      Delete
  4. Genius idea, Martha! When old shingles are replaced by sturdy new ones, it's great to see that there are creative ways we can make use of them. They now keep the grass from growing to your flower beds, and they also serve as handsome decorations. Good job!
    Nelson Mcglaughlin

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you!!! I think they are great and I am still doing it in the yard!!!

      Delete
  5. Do you lay them in a trench or on top of grass?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I dig a trench the width of my square nosed shovel, about 2 inches down, then lay the shingles down on the dirt.

      Delete
  6. Do you overlap the shingles?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Brilliant. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are very welcome!!! I am still doing this too. I just love the way my yard looks with the nice sharp edge.

      Delete
    2. Wow. Great idea!
      We just reshingled our shed and can probably use the old ones for this project.

      Delete
    3. Great idea! We just reshingled our shed and probably can use the old ones for this project.🤞

      Delete
  8. Do you secure the shingles with landscape staples or do they not need it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They don't need staples!!! And once the sun hits them and warms up that tar strip, they magically glue themselves together!!!!

      Delete
  9. I’ve done several walkways with these and they look really nice. Love them as edging so new ideas for this spring!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great idea for using them for walkways, non-slip too!!! I would love to see phontos!!!

      Delete
    2. I have used them under rock and mulch. They are a great barrier and keep the rocks from sinking under my drainage spouts. I typically cover them so I can fold them and break them into the size I want.

      Delete
  10. Have you ever used shingles under rocks for a walkway? I am think will hold up better than landscaping fabric under rocks?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No I have not done that but I think that is a great idea and I will try it out!!!

      Delete
  11. I love this idea. The previous owner put shingles on 2 sides of my house...this would work great and I have extra shingles.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Awesinw!!! Good Luck with that, hope it all works out well for you!!!

      Delete
  12. Do you cut them?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes I do. I cut them with my garden scissors which are just a pair of paper scissors that I use outside. I use scissors to cut long grass at times, they are sharp and work well to clear a space before I dig the grass out.

      Delete
  13. Hi there! This is such a fantastic idea. I noticed it's been on here for quite awhile. I am so surprised at how the shingles look like real stone. Ive got some left over shingles & I'm going to use them to do a brand new flower bed I'm making. So I'll do it right the first time. Thanks for this awesome idea 👍

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for visiting and your comment. I hope it goes well for you!!! I am still lining my flower beds with the shingles, it always looks so good and gives me that easy to follow mow line!!!

      Delete
  14. I never thought of using for that got a whole bunch of usedonehadallinda if diff ideasvit. This one I will definitely try . U used some for a walkway was tired of walling n thud but iu used the dinsiln they work lrettygood

    ReplyDelete
  15. I want to make a labyrinth with them on virgin prarie but am concerned about the toxity…any thoughts out there?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I really don't know except that where mine have been for years there is growth around them Remove them and the space fills up with vegetation.

      Delete
    2. Used shingles to create my labyrinth and it worked great. Plants between the circles were healthy looking.

      Delete
  16. That's what tomato worms turn into.

    ReplyDelete
  17. nice idea but I would worry about the asphault aspect leeching into the soil. BTW that moth is a Sphinx type and yes they are huge. I had one rest on my screen door all night recently. Such an intricate pattern!.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I really have no idea about the leeching into the soil??? Nothing has a problem with growing around the shingles so maybe not a problem??

      Delete
  18. I am so happy I found this pin! This looks so natural and fantastic. I've been trying to figure out what I could use around the sloping ground of a stump I turned into a rose planter/bird feeder to protect the Lantana and black eyed Susan's at the bottom.. . This is perfect, THANK YOU

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are very welcome!!! I love using them and being able to cut them with scissors makes them so easy to use!! Have fun with your project!!!

      Delete
  19. I cut my first shingle and they look bigger then the ones you are using. Could you measure from the edge to edge of grass?

    ReplyDelete
  20. Oh my goodness! I LOVE this idea! It looks like you cut them vertically...do you then "hide" the upper half under the garden border (rocks or edging)? I was wondering if I could "hide" or bury the upper half under mulch? I don't have enough hard materials to put on top of them...Thank you for sharing!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The "upper half" of the shingle section (cut along each half-vertical slit) is hidden beneath the "lower half" of the next-placed shingle piece. The adhesive strip that runs horizontally along each shingle helps stick the pieces together.

      Delete
  21. Great idea. I am going to do this the next sunny day. They are getting far a few between.

    ReplyDelete
  22. My neighbor layed the entire front of their yard between the street and sidewalk just north of us with shingles, then mulched on top of them. Everytime the wind blew alot of the mulch ended up in my grass and sidewalk which was very annoying! So fyi don't expect the mulch to stay on the shingles when it's windy! They ended up tearing that out and replaced it with rock which is now along our entire property line so now I get rocks in my yard and also the heat off them is trying to burn the grass.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I'm thinking I'd like to do this under and outside my white picket vinyl fence as I'm sick of weedeating.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Are shingles bad for the soil

    ReplyDelete
  25. This idea is GREAT!!! I love that you could get different colors of shingles that would work in different regions (my soil is reddish- kind of a weird color). For your readers are concerned about the toxicity of shingles- I did some checking ( to be clear, I'm not a materials scientist, just a geek girl- this is what I learned online from reliable, science-based sources). Shingles made after 1989 are OK, but don't use those produced prior to that time because they might contain asbestos, which is carcinogenic. Be careful if considering recycling shingles because many roofing shingles can last 25+ years easily. New shingles are not considered hazardous waste, however they can potentially cause soil contamination. I'd avoid using them around beds that have vegetables in them. But putting around flower beds and under paths would probably be OK since you're not planning to eat the plants growing there. That being said, the contaminants that leech into the soil will be there a really, really long time, potentially forever (or until they degrade into something else). If you want to read further (or you just love science!) this article is the most thorough I found: https://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/9780784484050.019#:~:text=Integrating%20recycled%20roof%20shingles%20into,as%20well%20as%20groundwater%20pollution.

    ReplyDelete
  26. That is a hummingbird moth, and they are useful pollinators.

    ReplyDelete
  27. This looks fantastic! Thanks for sharing such a good idea!!

    ReplyDelete
  28. I love the looks of the shingles, but would keep the grass/weeds from just growing over the shingles? I have brick pavers around all of my landscaping and it grows over them. I can currently drive the mower over the pavers but it still doesn't leave a finished look.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The grass is still going to grow over the shingles eventually. So I edge the grass every so often to keep it looking neat. I was going to try getting electric sheers to see if that would help keep it neat longer and easier.

      Delete
  29. They sale rolled asphalt roofing that's 9 in wide and about 34 ft long. I want to use this under a fence line to stop weeds and vines from growing up the fence and making it easier to cut. My concern is holding the edges into place. Any suggestions?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wonder about putting bricks in the center to weigh the roofing material down? It may work. My concern with putting things, like stakes, on the edge is that they would work themselves up in time and you could risk mowing over them.

      Delete
    2. I've seen plastic/resin(/fiberglass perhaps) screw-type stakes that should do a better job of remaining in soil.
      Another alternative is larger screws/bolts, perhaps with a washer to prevent the head puncturing through the edging material.

      Delete

Thanks for leaving me a comment!! :^) I will try to get back to you as soon as possible with a personal email. If your are a no reply commenter, I will leave you a reply on my blog!
As of 1/10/14-all comments are reviewed before posting due to an increase in spammers :(