Roger Coppock wrote:
WARNING! DO NOT DO THIS! ASPHALT ROOFING SHINGLES
ARE TREATED WITH HERBICIDES AND FUNGICIDES! Also,
particulates, many of them poisonous, collect on
roofs during dry spells. Here in Southern California,
we have had fatal incidents of poisoning by collected
rainwater runoff from roofs. Trying to use shingles
as garden mulch is not a good idea to say the least.

Yes some are treated as the case of NorthWest USA where moss and other
plants love the living conditions of wet moist asphalt. So they treat
their roof shingles. But I use the untreated roof shingles. And I
suspect that I have started and created an entire new industry for
asphalt roof shingles as plant mulch. Where some are treated in the
future to contain slow release fertilizer and are designed specifically
for mulch. Currently I bend and fold my shingles when I want to size
them for a situation when a small piece is wanted instead of the full
length and that annoying plastic thin strip in the middle often becomes
loose so that problem can be alleviated with ready made shingles for
mulch purpose. But then again these specialty shingles for mulch would
command a higher price than roofing and so I would stick with the
regular untreated roofing shingles.

The above complaint by Roger is unwarranted for untreated roof
shingles. Has Roger ever realized that most tar paper pots are just a
another application of roof shingles to that of horticulture. I mean,
obviously if pots are made of the same material as roof shingles it
stands to reason that plants would do okay perhaps even thrive.

And there are other benefits such as lying flat so the mower does not
chew them up-- the heavier weight shingles not the lightweight
shingles. And the benefit for those alkaline-base soil pH such as mine
benefit from the sulfur and acid content of shingles that slowly
leaches into the surrounding soil. If your soil is highly acid already
then maybe shingles would not be a good idea-- I have not seen shingles
applied to acid soils to know if they are harmful.

There is one disadvantage that I know of which I am currently
evaluating is the fact of ants and their desire to nest under forms of
cover such as mulch. I do not know if ants eat the roots of the nearby
plants which they are nesting. The verdict is still open as to whether
ants damage the tree for which they nest in the mulch.

But I use roof shingles also as border edging to my onion gardens and
potato gardens and corn rows. The corn seems to love the mulch because
they show no signs of stress to our recent drought.

I hope it rains tonight as forecasted because if it does not rain
tonight there is no other storm system in sight for the next week and
that threatens our area with 2 months without rainfall.

Our ground is starting to "crack open". Anyone know the physics
explanation of why soil and ground makes open cracks upon drying? I
guess the question applies to clay soil not sand because sand does not
crack upon drying. Interesting phenomenon.

Archimedes Plutonium
www.iw.net/~a_plutonium
whole entire Universe is just one big atom
where dots of the electron-dot-cloud are galaxies