Dateline: 20 April 2014
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I like to lay out garden beds and planting rows with string and stakes. I've used cotton and sisal strings in years past for this purpose. But after learning about Mark Albert's remarkable caterpillar cloche system (as explained in This Book) I decided to invest in a roll of polypropylene baling twine. Mark says the polypropylene twine can be stretched very tight, without breaking, and it will not sag once stretched. He's right on both accounts. I had to buy two rolls because that's how they're sold. It was 10,000 feet of twine, which should be more than a lifetime's supply for me. After a couple of years using this product, I can tell you it is truly ideal for gardening, and a lot of other uses around the homestead. If you want a lifetime supply of nonpareil twine, invest in a roll of polypropylene baling twine. I bought This Twine at Tractor Supply Company (I see it is now 9,000 ft. and the price has gone up a few dollars since I bought my rolls).
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| A simple knot like this can be used to join two pieces of twine. |
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5 comments:
On the Baler twine: They sell two types of twine, the natural brown color and the orange plastic type twine.
They will also sell it in two different sizes. It will be in a 9000 feet bundle and a 16000 foot bundle. the difference is the smaller bundles are for a square baler and the larger bundles are for the 4 x 5 foot round bales. My boys do hay all the time and I am often the runner to go get it.
The plastic twine doesn't seem to decompose much-we don't use that type. Our baler only likes the natural brazialan twine. So we only get that one.
Good idea on the baler twine.
I wish I had read this yesterday before I staked out my first garden rows with regular string. By the time we got to digging the pathways down to create raised beds the string was all saggy and everyone was complaining. Guess who is going to tractor supply today!
if you have a hand made hand operated rope maker you can easily turn this twine into any thickness and length of rope. get several colors so all the neighborhood kids can tell their ropes apart.
The longevity of this stuff is what makes me shy away. I've wrestled with this stuff in places where it has lain in the dirt for years. If you tie a strand around a tree it will kill it eventually, because it will not rot. A survival kit should have some of it, since the shelf-life is longer than a human life...
While I haven't used it for gardening, I have used masonry string when hanging vinyl siding. It isn't natural fiber either, but comes in smaller spools and is made to stretch without sag. It isn't designed for load-bearing, but garden-marking would be a great use for it.
While I am here, FWIW I have the ripping and dado work done for my cider press and grinder. HDPE is ordered and I am already telling my friends to plan to come for cider-making this Fall! :-) Thanks for the excellent plan book.
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