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Re: Flagstone vs concrete

Interesting how many people expressed interest in our broken concrete!
Instead of responding to everyone individually, I'll respond here and hope
that Chris tolerates my slight deviation from the topic of perennials.

As I mentioned in my first e-mail, we have used broken concrete rather than
flagstone for walkways, a patio, and retaining walls in our yard.  I spent
days on the phone, calling companies that install concrete, companies that
install swimming pools and truckers that haul concrete from demolition
sites to the landfill.  I soon learned to ask for broken concrete that was
NOT reinforced (reinforced concrete has steel rods going through it),
between 4 and 6 inches thick and at least 12 - 18 inches long.  Smaller
pieces are generally not useful for pathways or walls, and the last thing I
wanted was a truck full of rubble!

If we were closer to the worksite than the local landfill, most companies
were happy to deliver the concerete.  They also saved the dump fee they
would have paid at the land fill.  We had to make room for the truckloads
of concrete, so be sure you have an area that is easy for the trucks to
access and leave their loads.

We also found that concrete comes in different colors!  We used the
gray/white stuff that is most common in our backyard and saved the
pink/brown pieces for the front yard.  The pink/brown is closer to the
color of some flagstone and looks better with the color of the soil here.

We laid the patio (that's a virtual "we,"  I did most of the calling and my
husband, stepson and a helper did most of the hard work) as you would any
flagstone and/or brick.  Leveled the surface, spread some sand, laid the
pieces to look random.  The walls are stacked without mortar and hold up
three terraces.  Since we don't have a freeze here, we don't need to worry
too much about heave.  But my next door neighbors took some of our
leftovers and made low garden walls that they mortared and it worked
nicely.

The wall stacks were done as you would flagstone as well -- pieces
staggered to maintain strength.  The stairs were done as any stone stairs
would be and they are mortared.  On the patio, we left most of the pices
unmortared so we sould plant between the stones.  However, we DID mortar
the areas where we expected heavy traffic (i.e. from the back door to the
stairs), and where we want to set up a table and chairs.

In the unmortared areas, we filled the spaces between concrete pieces with
a mixture of decomposed granite ("DG in landscape terms), and composted fir
bark.  When I planted (mostly mixtures of thyme), I mixed some
water-absorbing polymers into the planting mix (I used agrasoke) so that
the plants between the cracks would be able to hold enough moisture in
their very well drained medium.

Everything is doing very well.  Overall, we paid $250  and that was only
for the delivery time of one of the truckers who was willing to go way out
of his way to deliver the pink/brown stuff.  The concrete itself costs us
nothing!  And we feel really good about keeping tons of the stuff out of
the landfill.

Hope this is enough info to inspire you to do the same!

Nan

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Nan Sterman, "gardening addict"
Olivenhain, California
Sunset Zone 24, USDA Zone 10b or 11
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
So goes an old chinese proverb:
         If you want to be happy for a few hours, get drunk;
         If you want to be happy for a week-end get married;
         If you want to be happy for a week, barbeque a pig;
         If you want to be happy all your life long become a gardener 


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