Re: CULT: iris health, gfavel, companion plants

Maybe because it's heavy and expensive? It seems like it would be a lot of work to use.
How do you manage it when re-working beds? Do you rake it off, dig, then re-apply it?
It does seem like it would be useful for heavy soil, but the combination of a lot of organic matter and a lot of gravel is a bad one for most plants in full sun unless there is also a lot of mulch (gravel or otherwise) and no burrowing creatures. Or regular watering. That kind of soil mix is very drought prone, difficult to rehydrate once it gets really dry, and many supposedly drought tolerant garden plants with fibrous roots don't tolerate it well (speaking from experience). Water drains through it fast, & doesn't re-wet. 

<I am amazed that
gravel is not used more often as a mulch then it is. >
--
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
East Tennessee Iris Society <http://www.DiscoverET.org/etis>
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
talk archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
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