How can I reuse or recycle … seagrass matting?
A neighbour is throwing out some old seagrass mats. They’re about 6ft long (2m) by 4ft wide (120cm) but are water/mud damaged up the entire length of one side.
They’re a basic horizontal weave – like really, really big bamboo placemats – so are quite flexible if you roll them with the weave, but hard to roll against it (if that makes sense).
Any suggestions about what could be done with them?
(I’m calling it seagrass matting because that’s what it looks like to me – if I’m wrong though, please let me know what it is.)
Put them down in the pathways of your garden to keep weeds down.
Keep the weeds actually, use these to build forts out of.
Can they be cleaned? If so, they might be used for sun shades on a sunny side of a porch or patio.
You could also put them on the garage floor, under where your car sits when it is parked, to act as drip mats for oil, etc.
They’d give grip to tyres in places that get slippery with mud in the winter. Would also be good for making wind breaks for firepits.
If you know anyone with an allotment they’d be really good for excluding weeds – put cardboard underneath to exclude light completely. In fact, if you’re near Leeds I’d take them off your hands for that purpose!
Make placemats out of them for ur garden lunches, with assorted napkin rings !!!
I would use them in the spring as mud mats where the dogs come in and out to help cut down on the amount of filth their paws pick up while the ground is soft.
Found this, quiet interesting, and decorative too :
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=83742.0
I used it for the top of my girlfriends chicken pen, its better than a solid roof as it lets some light through and allows bugs collect within it (somehow, before they drop onto the chucks as a snack)
Spread on a flower bad, make halls and then plant. Great alternative to mulch.
Spread in the attic for extra insulation.
How can u clean seagrass matting.
I have a 6×4 seagrass mat at my front door and it does get dirty, any suggestions !
To clean it, let it soak in water for an hour or so and then rinse the dirt out with a shower head, hose or watering can. Be careful as it will be really heavy and quite fragile when wet – preferably don’t move it again until nearly dry.
Alternatively, just keep it dry, hang it over a washing line and beat dust/dry mud out of it like a rug.
Re: garden uses: Don’t forget that although the grass will decompose and eventually rot down, there are probably artificial fibres holding all that grass together which will not. Don’t allow it to decompose in your garden if you don’t want hundreds and hundreds of tiny nylon threads woven thickly into your soil for years and years to come.
(This is the bitter, weary voice of experience speaking….)