I’ve been trying to find a simple, reasonably green way to “draw” our hardscaping ideas onto the ground. That would let me play with different configurations — see how the pool works over here vs. over there. I think I figured out how to do that. I hope you’ll come to my funeral.

Contractors in landscaping and construction use spray paint to mark out planting beds, walls, stairs, etc. But I really, really wanted to avoid toxic spray paint in our yard. Then I found this: Landscape Chalk! Chalk — that sounds pretty benign, right? And it says “environmentally friendly” right on the can…

Bear in mind, this is a Rust-Oleum product. If you take a look at the ingredients you’ll find it’s made with toluene, acetone and xylene. Yum! Proven carcinogens. Known to cause birth defects. Oh, and also potentially fatal.

On the bright side, Rust-Oleum claims their spray chalk won’t hurt turf. Perhaps this is what makes it “environmentally friendly.” If only I had some turf.

Best news: I now own four cans. So don’t come over without a haz-mat suit and a respirator.

Tags: garden, hardscape, landscaping

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 4th, 2010 at 5:11 pm and is filed under garden, green. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.