Ultimate recycling part II - that old shower curtain

I have always been a big fan of recycling - yes - even before it became cool!  Alaska has some big roadblocks to the recycle game however and there are a few things that we arent able to deal with effectively.  Our local recycle center http://www.valleyrecycling.org/   does a fantastic job and I certainly don't want you to think they are lacking.  I encourage you to visit their web site and see some of the wonderful things they are doing, but one of the things that is harder to deal with because of our location is....those old, done in shower curtains.  Plastic or fabric, they all eventually wear out and can't be cleaned well enough to look good in our showers.  But they make great landscaping fabric!  Under brick patios, or around flower beds, they keep weeds and grasses from coming up through the cracks!

These pictures show a partially completed rock garden area against the house.  I have peonys and lillies in these half rounds as well as grapes (they dont look so good right now) and clematis.

This piece of plastic happens to be an old shower curtain that  was too yukky for the bathroom, but perfect to keep the grass from growing up through the rocks.  It also makes an easy edge for the mower and helps to keep the weeding at a minimum.  I havent been able to weed this section yet as in the first round you see there are still plants that aren't up yet.  I risk great damage to them if I try to weed in there before I can see the plants.  The rocks in the black buckets are going to be moved to another area along the green house that I have done the same process and it needs more rocks on the plastic.  This is a zero cost landscaping effect as all of the items used were free or, in the case of the plastic shower curtain, a reuse from a previous purchase.

The shower curtain wasnt quite enough to do the whole area so I also used some soil and Pro-mix bags under there.  It is a thick mil plastic and should last for a long time.  You can use garbage bags as well - I know Im not the only one who sometimes pulls one out of the box and puts a hole in it before I even get to use it - but the garbage bags are a thinner mil plastic and dont last as long.  I had used garbage bags on this area before - it did last about 7 years though so not a bad result!

Voila'!  Here is the finished project - good to go for at least 7 years and easy care! 

Stay tuned for a brick patio redo and the green house entry projects that are slated for this summer using this process as well!  Happy Yardening!