Mulch much?

[Try to say post title three times fast. Heh.]

Here on the GP blogski, we’ve discussed both the merits and shortcomings of many non-traditional forms of mulch; rather, stuff that covers the ground that is referred to as mulch. Shredded rubber, marble chips, lava stone, dyed lava stone (ick), etc.

But this is a new one on me:



Naturally, I immediately shoved my hand in the biggest tub of glass (part of the Scientific Method). It was not…super smooth. A couple of pieces stuck, and there was a bit of sparkly-dust residue. I tried to remember not to rub my eyes for the rest of the day. Not sure I’m buying the recommendation to “use in pathways.”

"Aaargh! My Eyes!"

Pretty colors…soooo shiny. And recycled!

What’s this? A warning label on the aqua mulch: “Parents, please watch your children’s hands around the glass mulch.”Whoops.

Aargh! My eyes!

8 thoughts on “Mulch much?”

  1. This must be a VT/Blacksburg thing. When I went on garden tours with the VA MG’s a few years ago, almost every garden had clusters of hunks of colored glass displayed here and there throughout. It was beautiful. But I couldn’t help but think about maintaining that gorgeous sparkly quality of newly spread glass. As we all know, anything left in the garden for any time at all becomes covered (tainted?) with fallout from air pollution, surrounding vegetation, birds, etc. Shiny, colorful glass has a beautiful impact for immediate display but bodes poorly for issues down the way. Maybe this sort of thing is best used in containers.

  2. I have a neighbor who used glass mulch for a pathway in her front yard. Kids walking to school would grab fist fulls of it and throw it around. And, indeed, a maintenance nightmare.

  3. Nancy – This was actually in Dallas. Must be a Texas thing – ha! The large chunks of glass that you speak of can be attributed to one specific gardener.

  4. One of our recent State Highway projects used this in trying to make the tops of median walls (kind of like really long tall planters stuck between traffic whizzing by @ 75 mph) more attractive for the multitude of pedestrians walking over this stretch of freeway. Works, sort of, except that weeds tend to take root in it & removal of said weeds is not really a budgeted expense these days.

    I’ve used it in flower pots, particularly around succulents and cacti which wouldn’t need moisture retention. Purely cosmetic. I cannot imagine using it for a walkway. It’s irritating enough to have DG kicked up into my shoe – surely wouldn’t like having “not smooth” glass t
    here.

  5. The hotel/casino complex across from the airport in Green Bay,WI has used this mulch for a couple of years. I would presume it would be a maintenance nightmare especially with snowbanks.

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