landfill/recycling for landscaping

[sun burn]

The recycling thread just made me wonder whether it would be a good idea to start shaping the earth by using old bits of plastic and metal junk we have around here.

For example, I could build a mound by first digging out a hole, putting the earth aside, then filling it with the junk. Fill in the gaps as I go with the dirt and gradually build up a mound on which to plant a lovely garden on it.

What do you think people? Is there anything wrong with this idea.

I've got one cute sculptural idea. The mounds should be half domes. Make a lot of round domes in a large expanse of grass or a field (i'd love to see it in a field). I think i could enter this idea in a public art competition actually. To keep the shape, it might need a frame of recycled steel and wire first. You could also do something more representative if that was your fancy but I usually find that approach a bit crass.

[pebble]

Cool ideas sun burn. Metal might be ok (depending on what it is), but I wouldn't use plastic under the ground. Plastic is s significant pollutant (although at some point I'm sure the fungi will help us with that). Plastic can be used above ground though - I have a friend who baled it and used it as a wall in her garden.


Are mound gardens good in your climate? Here it's too dry for that. I do like the sculptural idea though.

[Mudman]

I think its a great idea as long as you only use non toxic that won't leach into teh soil.
I am planning on doing a similar thing with an old Beetle body I have laying in the yard.
Just trying to find someone to give me some fenders, I gave them away to a VW enthusiast a while ago as the ones on the car were in good condition.
Will turn it into a garden and have creepies climbing on it and maybe a tree growing out of the middle, not sure what type though.
If you build mounds make sure the soil you use has a high clay content, this will reduce the amount of drying out and then a good compost layer on top.

Try and find a copy of the book Living Sculpture by Paul Cooper, some very inspiring work in there.
All the best
Kurt

[pebble]

Older vehicles often had lead in the paint (especially red I think). If this flakes off it's a problem in the garden (a problem for humans, and probably others as well). You can get a kit from a paint shop to test the paint.

[matto]

ecolicious.com.au are doing some cool gardens with recycled stuff.Checkout their website for a aquaponics system with 99% recycled gear!

[Possum]

Hmm, interesting question which we're also pondering.

Incredible mountains of junk were left for us, by the previous owners, in a convenient pile on the crown land. Apparently they thought we would be grateful for a head-start on a bonfire pile. Yeah...no.

An old couch, a chipboard bookcase, two shopping trolleys (one converted into a billy-cart, and the store doesn't seem interested in picking the other one up), a tarp, corrugated iron, demented corrugated iron water tanks, a barrel of oil. I could go on all day. Not much of it seems useful for landfil for our garden, which was DH's intention. We're thinking of using the corrugated water tanks as raised garden beds, the scrap metal guy will take what he can, but apart from that ... a skip will deposit it all into landfill. Not sure on the procedure for disposing of oil, but we'll figure it out.

Sorry for getting OT. :oops:

I like your idea of little domes. That sounds really fun. I suppose some mesh would be good to hold the shape. Or could you use hessian? What would you plant on them? Ground covers or something else?

*off to find this recycling thread you mentioned...*

[sun burn]

This triggered some interesting responses. I'm glad I posted.

Possum, hessian sounds good but it will rot. I was going to use wire to hold the shape and maybe also some steel bars. Thanks to who said use clay. I guess I could bag the soil with a few small holes for roots to get in to help it hold for a while.

I was thinking grass would be good to emphasise the sculpture but if i lived in teh south I would also consider trying something like small flowers with a nod to Jeff Koons fabulous puppy. http://www.google.com.au/images?hl=e...w=1265&bih=622 That was made with pot plants.

I also thought through a bit further and could build seats into the spheres. the possibilities are endless with this one simple idea. Imagine what you can do when you start to fill up cars and other junk.

Possum before you send all that off to the tip, keep it for a year, and see if you can turn it into garden sculpture. You never know you might get to like it. i'd like some of your corrugated iron as a temporary retaining wall for a bed I am making. I need two more pieces. (nearly got one today for $2 but i couldn't carry it in my car. I need dad's car and trailer).

I don't see why you can't use it for landfill for your garden. If you want to make a mound, don't you just push it in a heap and then cover it with dirt? Or dig a hole and bury it with the stuff you dug out. I can't see the harm. Of course with that amount of junk, you'd want a bulldozer to dig out the ground and shove it all together.

Mudman, describe your beetle story. Are you going to bury it or fill it up and plant it. Does it have a roof or is it a convertible? It could be nice if it had the roof on and things were growing out of the windows but only if it was nicely painted, I think. Make sure you post pictures when you've completed it.


http://whisperingcraneinstitute.blogspot.com/ Look at htis living sculpture. scroll down to the entry is down at 15 December.

When you google images living sculpture you find lots of interesting things. Life wihtout google was much less inspiring...

[sun burn]

Plastic seems to take a really long time to decompose, especially when buried. Are you sure its so toxic. But actually i wasn't thinking of burying my domestic rubbish this way, more like things that would require a special paying trip to the dump - metal stuff mostly, though i know at hte dump they would probably recycle it. but that takes energy too doesn't it.

I went to the dump today. I was annoyed that you can't fossick and they don't even have a tip shop for resale of stuff. What a waste. pardon the pun.