A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Landscape trials and triumphs The Frugal Gardening Forum Concrete and Slag, Chunks and Chips

I want to make a cactus garden. Rocks are pricey and big ones aren't too plentiful here. So, I got some concrete chunks from a tore up road. I asked the crew if I could and they said "Insurance will not allow you to enter the work zone. We leave at 6:30." :whistle: I got some to border and accent the garden with. Has any one used acid to color concrete with? How'd it go?

Slag is a byproduct of metal smelting and contains sulfur, aluminum, magnesium, phosphorous, calcium, ash, limestone, silicon and sometimes iron. Slag is even used in some fertilizers. It's those gray 'rocks' commonly used as rail road bed, the gray 'rocks' under and around the tracks. At work we have it ground into chips and use it to bed and fill around rebar that houses conduit for cables. I got some as filler for the bed. It was free, which is cheaper than bag after bag of pebbles. I haven't used this before. weeds have no problem growing in it around the tracks or in drive ways filed with it, though. Any experience?

^I don't know about your area, but in Idaho, you can go to the Fish and Game office, and get a $5 permit to go "rock hunting" anywhere you want. I keep saying that I am going to get one and go "rock hunting," but I haven't done it yet.

A permit for rock hunting? Never heard that before.

Here the farmers pay people to take the rocks out of their fields.