I recently read somewhere that you could till scraps of cotton fabric into your garden to amend the soil. Has anyone done this? What about 100% cotton batting? I have a bunch of scraps that are too small to use and was thinking about doing this. It sure would be pretty! This would be a flower garden not vegetable garden. Maybe if I plant the scraps, I'll grow a wildflower quilt!

I have never heard that and am curious too :lol:

Never heard of that but cotton is vegetable material so in theory it might work. I would not be inclined to put it straight into the ground though- do you have a composting area? Usually things degrade better if there is a good mix of "green" and "brown" (woody, which would include cotton I suppose).

Another thought- if the cotton is treated it may resist the microbes in the soil.

Let us know how you get on!

I've not done or heard of that; but I love throwing my tiniest of scraps (thin, thin strips) and my thread scraps from embroidery out in the front yard for the birds. I have bushes around the side of my house and they nest in there in the summer and I can see my threads interwoven in their nests.

Yes, i have a compost pile. I can put some in there and some directly into the garden and see what happens. right now, we still have about 5" of snow ;-(

interesting concept. i think i'll put my tiny scraps in a container and try.

I know my husband takes my small bits & threads for the compost bin.

I was on google for awhile before making the original post. i kept trying to search on till + cotton fabric, garden + cotton fabric etc. but had a brain burp and didn't try looking under compost. I just did and cotton fabric is one of the items listed under many sites as being good to add to your compost pile, so looks like another use for all those crumbs too small to quilt with.

The birds love small strips! We once had a robin's nest that had a lovely yellow piece of nylon rope holding it together. Cotton would be much more eco friendly.

This is a great idea!!! I have been throwing my small scraps out and tons of string/thread pieces. I have lots of woods behind me and tons of birds. I could put them out and noone would see them...I will give it a try.

they have to very small and have NO chemicals on them....they do take forever to break down...best to use them to stuff a dog pillow or pincushion really...

I really like this idea!

My question is will they not get tangled in the tiller tines?

yes they will unless they are less than 1"...and even then...

Never thought of adding very small scraps to my compost bin. I do add all of the dryer lint.

I use leftover thin uneven strips of quilting cotton to tie my tomato plants to stakes. Also I put scraps of batting in the bottom of my large planting pots to keep the potting soil from washing out and still allow drainage.

I don't know about composting it, but it's spring and I'm sure the birds would love some for their nests. It'll be fun to see some colorful scraps up in the trees, too!

I was wondering if I planted the scraps would they grow up to be bolts?

off to try that..hehehhe

When I have little scraps (very rarely) or thread waste I put it into my compost pile. Sometimes I just put my stuff for my compost straight into the garden. It works just the same as my compost pile, but composts faster!
I usually line my garden with newspapers after planting and just water over top of it. As we cut the grass throughout the season, we usually add that to the top of the newspapers. When the papers are pretty full, we add the extra grass to the compost pile.

does this help with weeds??
I do it all organically, so my lawn has weeds, we won't srpay anything..

Yes, it is true you can compost 100% cotton.
You can find this information at the Maryland Cooperative Extension, under Backyard Composting,
Troubleshooting and Often Asked Questions.

www.hgic.umd.edu/documents/hg35.pdf

Always check with you local Cooperative Extension, when you have garden questions. It's a great source of information.

Yep....the weeds do still grow underneath the paper, but very little weeding now, only in the rows, between the plants!
The first year I did it, I did like they recemmended and tore the paper into strips (easier to blend in at the end of the year) had weeds grow up all over the place. It breaks down just fine with the tiller! The grass clipping help some as well.
However, the best way I have found to control the weeds is to place the paper down at least four pages thick, then I lay the next layers of paper over the edges by at least six inches. then a good watering, then grass and sprinklers as normal.
I know this is a lot of newspaper this way, but it works so well. Takes me a bit of time to lay it in a big garden, but well worth it (just don't try it on a windy day till you get the grass on it). Sometimes I haven't saved enough so I do it as I get the papers and grass. Then, at least I am only weeding part of it!

NO FOR THE BIRDS! They can choke on the small strips. Better yet, use it for tying down tall plants, tomatoes, vines but not to let the birds put into nests or even let the birds have the opportunity to get them. You can use embroidery thread in small pieces that they can use for their nests. I always save my threads over the winter and put them into the shrubs and the birds pick them off, but please not the fabric. Edie

Fabric takes a long time to decay. The dye in the fabric will contaminate the soil. The soil will be unfit for organic gardening. I don't know the purpose of gardening with quilt scraps but I do know the dye will contaminate. Hope this will help.

I compost them because, yes, they get tangled in the tiller. Stuff things with them? I could have a couple of sofas by now.

I know that newspapers makes a great mulch. Just think about where all that printing ink goes. Printers ink and dye contaminate the soil. I am sorry to be a downer. Just think about it.

On the other end of the scale, we had a lot of LARGE pieces of polyester double knit and did not want them for quilting. DH sewed them together on his treadle and made a garden quilt for covering the garden on frost nights. Works great, doesn't blow away, doesn't decay (we leave it out most of the time). And it is colorful.
He made it HUGE and I wound up cutting it in half to make the pieces more manageable. It was very heavy all in one piece.

Newspaper Inks

Newspapers were once printed using dyes and pigments which contained hazardous minerals like lead, cadmium and chromium. But according to the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) efforts were taken to address this issue, and slowly heavy metals were phased out of the inks. To encourage more and more recycling of the newspapers, soy-based inks were developed that made newspapers absolutely safe and devoid of any harmful inks.

NAA states in its website that most heavy metals were phased out of printing inks in the 1970’s as per the new regulations set by EPA. It also says that although there are a few metals that are still used in trace amounts to make certain pigments, they cannot be considered hazardous because of their very low concentration.

from
http://www.brighthub.com/diy/lawn-ga...les/71007.aspx


I will have to try this, I battle weeds every year.

Yes, I was wondering about the chemicals in the fabric and dyes. I'll check it out.

Now is also the perfect time of year to put your scraps out for the birds to build nests with. We feed the birds all winter long and in the spring rather than putting suet in the suet holder put in your scraps. :-)

I have used small scrap strips as tomato ties and they are still in pretty good shape at the end of one season, so I would say it may take a whole for the pieces to break down in the soil.

yes! I do not put my scraps straight into the soil, but I always put them in my compost bin, along with all my shredded paper.

Use them on the outside of pots.Put out a box of the birds to use for nests.

Yepers!!! I have thrown out thread scraps, and later found the colors in many nests!! the birds love the threads and scraps to buld nests.... try it !! it is fascinating how a bird can weave these pieces in their nests!!! :-o

As long as you don't let the fabric clump together, it should break down, obviously, but the other thing it will do is keep the soil from packing together (as in, too much sand in the soil) and the batting should hold moisture so your plants have more access to water, longer. Good to know and think about the composting issue.
The thing about composting, especially if you are just starting out - - it gets hot as it breaks down which is why putting compost directly in your garden can be a problem - - however, I don't think fabric would have that same issue. Without the chemicals on it, it is still not in the same category as rotting fruit and fresh manure. Cotton and wool is more like hair in the composting process - - I am not sure how those items break down, but I do know that they are not considered "hot" ... this will be an interesting thread to keep track of. <wave>

I organic garden, and would not use fabric in my compost due the chemicals, but I have been assured that newspaper is commonly used in todays organic composting!

I think I will try the newspaper cover and maybe put some straw on top instead of grass clippings, since we have so many weeds!

NOW, if I thought a mole might eat the fabric and choke to death, I would stuff the holes with my very best scraps....
but since there is no guarantee he would eat it, I just dug out the beds 3 feet down and put chicken wire down and an organic landscaping cloth, then filled the beds back in...darn moles....

Thank you, I stand corrected.

I do this too! So fun to see a nest with my stuff hanging out :-D

I don't think you have been proven wrong on the fabric issue. I was thinking the same thing. The dyes in fabric are not meant to be eaten, but maybe the harmful to humans part washes out in the process. On the other hand, if you wear lipstick, you are eating cadmium every day! They don't consider the amounts in it to be dangerous. It is a carcinogen and even paint tubes have the warnings on them with some manufactuers even finding replacement pigments for the cadmium.