Comments on: Using Phone Books In Your Container Garden

By: Mike Lieberman

Mike Lieberman — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 20:38:00 +0000

They are such a pain.

By: Elena/SimplyNu

Elena/SimplyNu — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 18:05:00 +0000

Great idea! Now I can feel good about having those pesky phone books.

By: Mike Lieberman

Mike Lieberman — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 23:29:00 +0000

Good call on that. Thanks for the tip.

By: Mike Lieberman

Mike Lieberman — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 23:29:00 +0000

Good call on that. Thanks for the tip.

By: Cprgreaves

Cprgreaves — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 12:32:00 +0000

“… wrapped the phone book in a plastic bag …” Just a thought: Why wrap them in plastic?
Leave them free to soak up water if the plants get too wet (rain, hand-watering etc.) and you’ll be less likely to attract the dripped-on people underneath.
Bonus: As the weather dries, some minor raise in humidity will occur near the plants.
Double-Bonus: After a year of leachate soaking into the books, they’ll be ideal as bedding for a vermicomposter!
P.S. Don’t fret; there’ll be another crop of books next year …

By: Accidental friend

Accidental friend — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 22:10:00 +0000

He did not wrap it up perfectly, so at some point the inside will get some moist and starts to break down, even if it is wrapped. Those bags get chipped in a land field [birds, 4 legged animals, tossing it around with machines & stuff] so do not worry about the phone-books, they will disintegrate, it is those bags and duct tape that will not break down in field in a long run, if not separated & recycled.

By: Accidental friend

Accidental friend — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 22:05:00 +0000

Colored covers are not the best for the soil, I think Mike did right, he may later recycle those phone books when he no longer needs them, discarding different materials accordingly in a different group /sorting out the recyclables.

By: 101 Uses for a Dead Phone Book

101 Uses for a Dead Phone Book — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 21:27:23 +0000

[...] Lieberman, aka theÂ Urban Organic Gardener, uses phone books tolift container gardens up off the cold metal fire escape. “I think itâ€™s the most use a phone book has gotten in [...]