I don't understand why you get a plague of grasshoppers; I rarely see one. I'll trade ya some mosquitoes for grasshoppers! We never had mosquitoes till a few years ago. Since then the nasty bloodsuckers have multiplied exponentially and it's nearly impossible to sit outdoors anymore.
Back to wattles: I wonder if you could stack - or wrap - them two high, stabilizing them with rebar, to make a deeper bed. You're the first I've seen to work with them and I'm fascinated.
