I’ve used this method with much success but the game changer was learning I could go to Sam’s Club and pull “slip sheets” for free- these are the 4x4 plain cardboard sheets that are found between layers of product on the myriad pallets found in the store. I wanted to share this with the GA family! No cutting down boxes and ripping tape off. I fold it in half and pile the cart high!
Who else is sitting here sipping coffee watching Laura plant all these plants? She's a beast in the garden not to mention being a momma. Wow just wow Laura you amaze us!
As someone who works at a plant that produces cardboard, using it for flower beds works great but I would never use it with vegetable or edible gardening. The chemicals that are used to produce the cardboard are toxic and not made for consumption. Keep that in mind also if you live on a well system that it eventually makes it's way into your drinking water.
@@JD-2-k3gI also used them at the bottom of my raised beds. My beds are 17” tall so hopefully the root systems won’t make their way all the way down there.
I’ve been gardening for 35 years, I wish I had known about using cardboard and compost to make new beds years ago! I used to double dig to work in soil amendments, sometimes using a rotor tiller. Before doing that I’d have to remove the sod! It was SO MUCH work! I love this no dig method!
The problem with removing sod (other than the time and labor) is the vegetation, top soil and roots are all removed, leaving only subsoil. By leaving the sod intact and covering with cardboard & mulch, you pretty much have good soil with valuable nutrients below that is ready to plant in someday, if you like.
QUESTION Why does the print and color on the cardboard matter, when used in a bed where you don’t grow food? I get that you wouldn’t want potential chemical dye in the soil for growing vegetables . For for flowers and trees I wouldn’t think it mattered very much, unless one is very environmental conscious . Many people do spray anyway, I’s the printed cardboard worse than weed killers ?
@@malina1239 online resources say that colored ink on cardboard, newpaper & other papers, may contain some toxic heavy metals. Even if food isn't being grown, these toxins can eventually find their way into our water. On the other hand, most American & European boxes are printed with non-toxic inks unless they are shiny. I don't remove tape or labels because they seem to work their way up to the surface where it is easy to pull it off.
Laura, the cardboard method is a game changer 😊 I’ve also used brown paper grocery bags 2 to 3 layered on top of each other ,especially in my raised beds and it works beautifully , the paper bags break down by summers end ! 😊
I'm just here to say that this is the first gardening video I found my husband watching over my shoulder at the start, he then proceeded to tell me how WE need THAT! I was so excited he finally sees gardening as the great thing it is....... Then he says 'with THAT dozer I'd be doing all kinds of cool stuff! But I could also use that 5 car garage, you know to store the dozer in!' 😐
I’m on a 1/3 acre that’s a blank slate and I’ve done the cardboard method! I think it’s easy and is instant gratification to our space. 10-10 recommend!🙌🏼
I started marigolds inside and this is the first time my seedlings were strong. Our walkway is lined with marigolds and all but 1 survived. So proud of myself. I cant wait til next year now lol
Yes! I was hoping someone would mention UK's Charles! He goes into why you do better not disturbing your soil structure. I thought I was just being lazy ( not wanting to cut sod) but it's actually the best for your soil's health. He doesn't even wait for cardboard to break down to plant. Just plants right in the thick layer of compost.
I reclaimed a chunk on our property this winter/spring with this method and now it is our flower cutting garden! The seeds and seedlings are thriving and the only weed that is coming through is bindweed and as we all know, not much is going to suppress that so were managing that manually as it pops up. Bonus when we ordered a new mattress and they left the box. Then I asked what other boxes they had in that delivery truck and they gave me a truckload!
Cardboard IS the gardener's friend! (Especially when dealing with noxious weeds like Bishop's weed!) It doesn't eradicate it (nothing does,) but it does knock it down enough to make it doable. I only wish I'd known about using cardboard 30 years ago! Looks beautiful!
I have done this for years, newspaper and paper grocery bags also work great. This is nothing new been using this for years, I actually have cardboard on my walking paths as I type waiting to have rock placed! I have been gardening for 40 years and this is a common method to use in Illinois. Have a great day everyone.
As a Girl Scout leader of many years, if you are looking for free cardboard contact a local Girl Scout troop between January and March. They may be willing to save empty cases for you. My troop personally dumps tons of them. You can also reach out to local counsels to help you find one.
I absolutely LOVE doing the cardboard method. I learned about it a few years ago, and since then it is the only way I make a new bed. Not only does it suppress grass and weeds, it holds moisture and attracts worms. My horrible clay soil (so bad you could make pottery out of it), actually improves in the cardboard and compost areas. I have one new bed that I just put it two weeks ago, and it looks great, and I am hoping to get another one cardboard and composted in the next few days. It was so wonderful to see that you use the same method in your gorgeous gardens. Thank you for showing us.
Laura, you and Aaron are what this country is really all about. I love when I see where you and Aaron are now I I think about Aaron saying how he had to sell his lap top to buy the house. So many sacrifices for where you are today once again I love your hard working attitude. I wish I had half.
Great to show this! I use 12 layers of newspaper overlapped, wet down and then covered with fine mulch in old flower beds. I have purchased rolls of newsprint for this. Also brown paper bags work well. Cardboard works best for grassy areas, but I do soak it down and sometimes put some landscape staples in it, then put fine mulch on top. I like to keep it wet for a couple of weeks because if it dries out a big windstorm can shift it around.
I did the cardboard process a year ago to extend my flower beds in my small track home yard, and it turned out fantastic! You are right when you shared how much labor it saves. Fun to see it done on a larger scale!
So happy that you're showing this method of using cardboard to block weeds. It works GREAT! Love all your videos with your cheerful enthusiasm and knack for accomplishing huge projects easily. You make anything possible.
But having a large space to plant they have big machinery to help with the dirt and it looked like men who obtained the cardboard ,put it into trunk and brought it to farm. Wish I had even one person to help in my small yard especially since I've gotten older and can't get up and down as used to,but I love the flowers,helping the pollinators,and milkweed bushes to help the monarch butterflies. In Florida the soil is rich but very easy to hoe ,no clay and hard soil.
Greeting's from Ireland, We live live in a cottage in rural Ireland which we bought over twenty years ago. We have four flower bed's and lot's of pot's in the front garden. I dug up the flower bed's with a spade twenty years ago and planted them. Ten year's ago I picked up a book in a garden centre by Charles Dowding on no dig gardening. A decision was made and we fenced off the bottom part of the back garden and created a no dig veg garden and used homemade compost that I was already using to mulch the front flower beds. Now that I am retired, I have more time on my hands and I'm thinking of creating no dig flower beds out in the back garden. I wont need to buy plant's because early next spring I will be digging and splitting up mature plants in the front garden and planting them into the back garden.
You work so hard Laura. There should be a holiday for your efforts and to praise all hard working gardeners creating their color spots of beauty for our pollinators ❤❤❤
I live vicariously through y’all for the start of a lovely sunny gardening season 😆I’m in Scotland and we take a little longer to get going 🙄(wouldn’t be anywhere else though). You keep my spirits up for a sunny Summer 🎉😂❤
I have a Douglas kitty too!! Everyone that meets him thinks his name is so funny, glad to meet another one from the rare Douglas kitty tribe LOL. His full name is Douglas Lamar English lol. I got sidetracked, happens easily! Back to your video...thank you for showing us how you did your cardboard. As you said, there are many others saying it works but seeing the lawn vs. woodchips vs. cardboard is really helpful for deciding which route I want to go. 😊
Many years ago when we built our home; I used to get a gardening magazine called Garden Gate and that’s where I got this idea. You can also use 5 sheets of newspaper paper black and white ink only. It kills the grass and makes great nitro humus for the plants. Works amazing.
Charles Dowding a market gardener in the UK I think really is responsible for promoting this method n making it now so popular. His gardens are beautiful n so productive. Check him out! He has written many books as well. Nice man, so knowledgeable.
Good morning, Laura ☕️I used the cardboard last year and it worked well! So much easier than pulling up the grass. That border is gorgeous! Paul & Bethany are amazing workers!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 The cut flower garden is filling up nicely!😍Have a Blessed Day 😊🐈🐈
Love watching Laura work. Her method is so efficient, organized and time saving. My kind of style. I sometimes get frustrated watching other gardeners who don’t have this skill and seem to waste so much time and work so unorganized. Must be the type A in me that gets triggered. 😆 But Laura, I could watch all day. ❤
No questions today...just a thank you. You're truly an inspiration and an encouragement. I have been wanting to do this and I'm currently saving cardboard, but haven't done it yet as I too have been skeptical. You showing this gives me the push to just go for it! Thank you!
We use grocery paper! It’s much thinner but we save up when we make groceries. We do not use it on this kind of a scale. We layer it just the same and we don’t worry about tape or staples or print since they are typically plain brown paper.
Yes the cardboard method works well for sure! Reminder to people to not use the ones with the heavy labeling on them. Example: diaper boxes Breaking down the boxes is a good project for kids to be involved in!
Good morning! The area that was just mulched over the grass look so nice. Such an easy way to kill off a large amount of grass and make it look fresh and clean too!
I’ve used the cardboard method several times with great success…another thrifty and effective route is newspaper for smaller areas. Again, no glossy or highly inked/colorful supplements, (just black & white newsprint) works great with about a 5-6 layer thickness. Of course wind is a factor with newspaper, but I wet it down right away which helps. Both the cardboard and newspaper methods are eco friendly, budget friendly and effective! Thanks for spreading the word Laura.
I love using cardboard in my garden. It cuts down on weeds, tremendously, and worms love it once it has broken down. So when I shut the garden down for the winter (Zone 6a), I lay the cardboard down and cover with straw/hay, which also breaks down and feeds the soil. Although, I noticed this past winter that since our temperatures did not get too cold, some of the cardboard did not break down, which I took up and put into my compost bin. And these were only small pieces, like may seven total. All the Best to You!
I really admire your beautiful gardens, and I'm so jealous at the wonderful variety you have. I have soooooo much trouble here with deer and groundhogs that my choices are limited if I don't want to do all that work just to provide them with breakfast, lunch, and supper. Sigh. Either way, you inspire to get out there and get 'er done!!
Moved into our first house, no landscaping on the property. Used cardboard and layed 6-8" of chopped leaves from a trash pile, gathered up old woodchips and lawn clippings. Didnt have a truck, so I lined my Jetta's trunk with a tarp and hailed load after load 😂 it worked great! Had a few cases where wiregrass came through where it was thin, and you'll still have to take a little hand hoe to strip out the violets that grow through but it's SO much easier! Highly recommend. Plant it up densely so you dont have to weed it except once in a rare while. The insect life and variety exploded :D
I learned the cardboard method years ago from Eden garden. You can always add more on top later as it decomposes and add more mulch on top. The sod adds nitrogen back into the soil as it decomposes too. Love this method. Kudos to Paul and Bethany Bethany for their hard work!
Cloudless sky when planting lisianthus...looks like swimming weather.... couldn't believe the quail in Hartley clip shown on instagram ❤🎶 might have been drawn by the pond, with its waterfall & shallow end (birds r spreading the word) ...with dream stream might get more songbirds or grassland birds like sparrows. Red winged blackbirds like wet areas & so do winter seasonal to your area...yellow headed blackbirds.
The cardboard method, game changer! Used it several times over the last couple of years to create flower beds and currently a bed around a new patio. I make sure minimal print on cardboard and as you said remove tape. I layered it with compost, soil conditioner and mulch. The bed I’ve had the longest contains Hibiscus, A climbing rose bush and several other perennials and is doing fantastic. Lisianthus! I tried several attempts at starting from seedlings in January (inside of course). Out of 24 ended up with one! Slowest growing plant I have ever encountered. Patience is a Virtue I was not gifted with! The one however is looking fantastic since being potted outside about 2 months ago. Cannot wait to see it bloom. I will probably try again next year and now know what to expect.
In South Carolina, I remove the sod, put my chicken run compost full of weed seeds over the rock hard clay, then cardboard, then arborist woodchips. And it's still a fight to keep the Bermuda, crabgrass, and centipede down. In a couple of years it's beautiful to plant in though! I'm super glad this method works for some! So much easier.
I love the cardboard method. I put it under my woven weed fabric because of Bermuda grass. I did leave the bottom of my raised beds with just cardboard. Some of it will try to come up. Keep digging it it Out. And pull all tint weeds. It’s a pain but I have beds that have no grass. My favorite mulch is shredded leaves for raised beds or shaved wood chips for garlic and strawberries. Or shredded hardwood.
Laura we used landscape fabric two years in a row. The following year's I was planting new things. I hated when trying to pull weeds etc and getting the fabric. Someone where I live mentioned the cardboard method. It works and you don't have to worry about trying to get up the fabric. I stopped using landscaping fabric 9 years ago. We recently moved with a bigger back yard. I have ordered different things online. I saved the cardboard boxes and removed any tape. We went to the liquor store that had free boxes. We took the tape off and have them in one of our sheds. We used some of the cardboard for plants I had at the last place. So we planted those using the cardboard method. I love how it looks. It looks amazing! We did water our down as we had some gusty winds a few weeks ago. I am sticking with the cardboard method forever. I love how your area looks. I signed up for the wood chips program but never got an email or call. We don't want to use wood chips too close to the house as it can attract carpenter ants. So we used it (we bought) far away from our home. I am going to try and get the wood chips this year. But we shall see.
Been doing it for years…remove tape, little printing. And no waxy boxes…it’s been very useful. It literally smothers most of the weeds and grass, makes the soil more fluffy if you added cut grass or wood hips and the process makes weeds that much easier to pull out..
Thank you, Laura and team. Every moment is instructional. I love to start every morning watching GA and reruns on most Saturdays. Thank you to your entire family❤
Oh my word I am so glad I went back and watched this video! Such an obvious idea as I have seen it done before, but I completely forgot. I have been digging and hand picking through all the grass I want to remove to extend our garden beds, so painstakingly slow. Plenty of boxes in the garage from the move too!
For a great weed killer I use Straight vinegar 1tsp dish soap per gallon in a garden sprayer then spray on leaves then saturated down to the roots on a hot sunny day will kill them by the end of day. Do not dilute. Pull away any mulch to expose soil to saturate roots. It usually lasts for a month or two. To last the season or longer for stubborn weeds dissolve 1/4 - 1/3 cup salt per gallon vinegar. It kills anything it’s applied to. Smell dissipates in a couple days. I get the bigger bottles of vinegar at Costco. Try on a test area first so you know what to expect.
Hi - very interested in this method. Would this ruin the soil though, to where you wouldn’t be able to grow anything in it ever again, or will the vinegar and salt leach out in time? How long does that usually take to leach out? I want to till up my whole garden area, but need to kill weeds and grass that grew up through landscape fabric, so I can get the fabric out of there - then I’ll always use cardboard going forward. It is very difficult to get the fabric out with the weed mess growing through it. I’m so mad at myself that I ever used landscape fabric. It’s the worst !! Anyway, just wondering more about your method w/salt and vinegar.
@@melaniecastillo1153 So glad you asked that. Don’t add the salt if you want to use that area for planting. After a couple of good rains the vinegar will neutralize & should be ready to plant. I’ll add salt if it’s a location I don’t plan to grow anything like near our road. We don’t have sidewalks or curbs where I live so I spray the weeds with the salt in those places. By the next season you’ll need to reapply with the salt. I don’t use either of them in the lawn area because this doesn’t discriminate and will damage what comes into contact with it. Try it in small areas before going all in so you know what to expect. It’s really working out for my needs and I feel good about not using chemicals. The vinegar will probably harm earthworms if that’s a concern and probably not a good idea for planter beds. For planter beds/area with weeds I just laydown cardboard to smother them or prevent them from coming up in the spring and won’t harm the worms. Hope it works out for you.
I've been using cardboard for years. Works great! We use it in our garden after our first till. We plant, add the cardboard down the rows, and then add some straw. Game changer for us! There are a few weeds around the plants, but it saves us from tilling. By spring of next year, it's all broken down. Our soil remains great. Love this method! ❤ Love your channel!
I love the cardboard method. Since you first featured this in your videos, I have used it many times with great success around my yard and garden. I also put cardboard down around my vine crops to suppress the weeds and it works great! I work at a flower shop so I have access to nice large, heavy cardboard boxes that flowers are delivered in. I highly recommend this method.
I also did this last year and I see a massive different in the soil now. On the cardboard side (which is broken down of course) the soil is full of live, so many worms and holds moisture very well. Right next to it I have an area where I ripped out the weeds and the soil is much poorer, very light in colour, no rainworms, etc. I will always use cardboard again! So much easier than keeping up with the weeds as well.
I would love to see a video of you opening up the Deadweed Brew and measuring it out and applying it to your driveway area as a before and after. I use to use Roubdup but I no longer use anything like that anymore. I normally use my hands now to remove weeds but in areas like a driveway it would be nice to have something that is not a harsh chemical. Thanks.
Love the cardboard mulch method I’ve seen you do it before super idea I should have done that in my little patch of flower bed my gardener charged me $200 to do it and I still had to put down the mulch after I planted flowers and I was 71 years old with back/ neck pain. 💪
I have a lot of elevation in my property. I tried this on a 20 degree slope but my landscape folks asked me to remove it because the sweet peat would not stay in place with it. So, if you have level land it works great but not so well on hills. I am glad that it is working so well for you!
I use doubled paper grocery bags that have been soaked in water for few minutes in a 5 gallon bucket to “paper” a steep slope then top with a thick layer of pine needles. Wetting the bags some makes them easier to place and they stay put long enough to get the pine needles on. Pine needles seem to mat themselves together and do not wash down the slope or blow away. I hate working on the slope but it’s worse to have to be on it more than once a year to weed and shovel other mulches that wash down back up to the top 🤬
I was working with an older lady on garden beds for all her properties many moons ago and she taught me to do what you are doing with the card board to start the beds and newspaper, paper bags, and recycled paper (junk mail) to lay down for already made beds. Every other year, I add the paper and then mulch on top. It is amazing how fast the paper breaks down. The soil black gold with so many warms.😊
Here in the U.K., my daughter used this technique on her allotment to clear weeds and make new beds and start growing fruit and veg. It’s brilliant! 🧡💚
We had a terrible weed problem in a garden area under our big walnut tree. The birds would drop seeds of shrubs and other trees resulting in hours of hand pulling each spring. Two autumns ago I decided to lay down cardboard and covered it with a very thick layer of mulched oak leaves. I wet this all down good so it wouldn’t blow away. I now have a weed-free garden and can add compost and grow flowers again. So easy and FREE!
Thank you so much @ GardenAnswer for doing a lot of economical gardening.A lot of us are on flower budgets,so it’s great to see these ideas.Thanks again.Y’all are just the Best .
The cardboard method works very well. I've used this many times, but only for flowerbeds - not in the vegetable beds. Lisianthus is the flower I buy in Winter at the grocery to perk me up. It lasts forever in a vase.
This is definitely a game changer in my garden. Tried it last year and I've been very happy about the soil underneath. Loaded with worms! I wet the cardboard down and then put compost and mulch down. My husband thought I was crazy. My neighbors are now trying it.
Cardboard is where it’s at! I’ve had great success with it and zero success with landscape fabric. I feel like fabric encourages growth by trapping heat. I will be using a small flame thrower (for real!) to get at the truly stubborn weeds under the brick portions of my yard. Also have found that comfrey teas and chop ‘n drop nettle teas make excellent fertilizers. I really don’t trust anything from the stores; even those that bill themselves as organic. Basically, all things permaculture have thus far worked well for me. I just received my first Black Pearl Lisianthus seeds and am super excited. They’re so pretty and unusual. It’ll be great seeing how your big collection of them turns out. Best of luck!
I love this method ! I have been using it for years now and it is so easy to do and sustainable ! No more tearing out sod for me ! Your project is looking beautiful ! Congrats ! !
I used the cardboard method a couple times and it works! One thing i recommend is to do 2 layers for sure and you will still need to weed if you are in an area with short rooted weeds (like the trailing ground covers we have here in the south). But its so much easier than digging up sod!!!
A hint about removing sod in a suburban area. The best top soil may have come with the sod, or developed with it. If the original top soil was graded off when the house was built. After I removed the sod for garden beds, when i move in, I found, not very fertile, subsoil. A local said the area was hilly farm land that had been graded flat for the subdivision build, leaving only subsoil. It's taken years to build the soil back up in those areas I stripped. I'd done better to have turned the sod over and helped it decompose. The areas I carboarded over, later, have done very well.
Love sheet mulching new beds! For an uber clean border, I pre-dig out an edge of about 4-inches of the sod. Otherwise the grass advances into the new bed a little more quickly.
I love this weed barrier! My husband isn’t sold on the idea. It’s easy to add more cardboard as needed with bark mulch by raking back the mulch and laying more down!
The cardboard method is successful depending on the type of grass you’re trying to suppress. I have couch in my front yard & have it covered in cardboard in an effort to rid myself of the couch. It persistently reappears around the edges or wherever a gap or hole occurs. I’m persistent however & eventually hope to succeed.
My favorite part of my garden 9s where I used the cardboard to start it! About 16 years and still virtually no weeds. Thank you for the reminder of this method...I am starting a new area this summer and totally forgot ❤
I have used this method and it works great!! Only suggestion is to make sure to remove any staples in the cardboard you don’t want to hit one of those digging.
I did have a bit of trouble planting through the cardboard..a couple of my sweet pea plants didn’t get down into the dirt underneath the cardboard far enough. I think I had a gap , my cardboard was a bit bent in places. But all and all it really helped keep the weeds down❤
I am so jealous of your Lizzy’s! I had very poor germination. My seeds were from Johnny’s and they were just purchased this year. The ones that did come up are doing great, I just planted them out yesterday. Mine will winter over if they are in a protected area.
I'm going to try the cardboard method over a patch that once had a sandbox. I read to lay down cardboard, top it with 4 inches of topsoil and compost, then plant grass seed on top. Hope it works. Paul and Bethany are tireless workers! Perfect match for you and Aaron!
I’ve used this method with much success but the game changer was learning I could go to Sam’s Club and pull “slip sheets” for free- these are the 4x4 plain cardboard sheets that are found between layers of product on the myriad pallets found in the store. I wanted to share this with the GA family! No cutting down boxes and ripping tape off. I fold it in half and pile the cart high!
Excellent!!!
In your experience, do they have them in a big stack and ask for them?
Ahh! Great idea! Thanks for sharing! OMW
Can you get them at Costco, too?
Indeed! I worked in warehousing & distribution for a couple of decades. Those slip sheets are fantastic for a number of things!!
Who else is sitting here sipping coffee watching Laura plant all these plants? She's a beast in the garden not to mention being a momma. Wow just wow Laura you amaze us!
Me, in Georgia! Waiting for biscuits to be finished.
@@patsywilliams5570 now I’m hungry lol 😋
I'm doing exactly that, with half a cup left - Laura makes me miss my youth as I just can't jump up and down from the ground like I used to. LOL
Me, in Orlando, Florida.
@@camirichardson7485 same here.1 day gardening=2 days recovery 🫶
Paul & Bethany are work beasts !!!!
And all of their physical work shows, right?! Nice and trim.
They really are! Truly talented people. We all would love a Paul and Bethany. ❤
Can someone clone them lol love them!!’n
Have used cardboard and newspaper for years. Highly recommend it to anyone.
Is newspaper as effective?
Yes 👍
I want to do this but don’t slugs gather under the cardboard then eat the seedlings?
@@anitanvrk358I've never had that problem. They would have to get through the layers of cardboard and mulch first.
@@anitanvrk358 rolly pollies love tender seedlings too eat.
I often put down cardboard, leftover straw from Halloween, shredded leaves and then compost to fill new raised beds. It's worked beautifully for me.
As someone who works at a plant that produces cardboard, using it for flower beds works great but I would never use it with vegetable or edible gardening. The chemicals that are used to produce the cardboard are toxic and not made for consumption. Keep that in mind also if you live on a well system that it eventually makes it's way into your drinking water.
Great advice about the chemicals used in the cardboard! Thanks!
This makes me sad. Did not know there were toxic chemicals in cardboard. I used it at the bottom of my raised bed veg garden 😬
@@JD-2-k3gI also used them at the bottom of my raised beds. My beds are 17” tall so hopefully the root systems won’t make their way all the way down there.
Thanks for that. Might affect wildlife, too. Do you know if brown paper bags are ‘chemicalized’?
@@jessicalatorraca8507 Yes they are
I’ve been gardening for 35 years, I wish I had known about using cardboard and compost to make new beds years ago! I used to double dig to work in soil amendments, sometimes using a rotor tiller. Before doing that I’d have to remove the sod! It was SO MUCH work! I love this no dig method!
Martha Stewart was my patron Saint in the '90s, and I remember her demonstrating the double-dig method. That lady never used shortcuts! 🤪
I always remove sod and dig...yes its hard but my space is small compared to GA - so each year I do a section attached time ❤🎉😊
The problem with removing sod (other than the time and labor) is the vegetation, top soil and roots are all removed, leaving only subsoil. By leaving the sod intact and covering with cardboard & mulch, you pretty much have good soil with valuable nutrients below that is ready to plant in someday, if you like.
QUESTION
Why does the print and color on the cardboard matter, when used in a bed where you don’t grow food?
I get that you wouldn’t want potential chemical dye in the soil for growing vegetables .
For for flowers and trees I wouldn’t think it mattered very much, unless one is very environmental conscious .
Many people do spray anyway, I’s the printed cardboard worse than weed killers ?
@@malina1239 online resources say that colored ink on cardboard, newpaper & other papers, may contain some toxic heavy metals. Even if food isn't being grown, these toxins can eventually find their way into our water. On the other hand, most American & European boxes are printed with non-toxic inks unless they are shiny. I don't remove tape or labels because they seem to work their way up to the surface where it is easy to pull it off.
Laura, the cardboard method is a game changer 😊 I’ve also used brown paper grocery bags 2 to 3 layered on top of each other ,especially in my raised beds and it works beautifully , the paper bags break down by summers end ! 😊
I'm just here to say that this is the first gardening video I found my husband watching over my shoulder at the start, he then proceeded to tell me how WE need THAT! I was so excited he finally sees gardening as the great thing it is....... Then he says 'with THAT dozer I'd be doing all kinds of cool stuff! But I could also use that 5 car garage, you know to store the dozer in!' 😐
🤣😂🤣
😂😂😂😂😂
LOL!!!
I’m on a 1/3 acre that’s a blank slate and I’ve done the cardboard method! I think it’s easy and is instant gratification to our space. 10-10 recommend!🙌🏼
Question if you will, When are you able to start planting flowers after putting down cardboard?
@@snickerspayne4929 I’ve planted right away and I’ve waited about a month I just cut out the cardboard where I wanted to plant. I hope that helps☺️
I started marigolds inside and this is the first time my seedlings were strong. Our walkway is lined with marigolds and all but 1 survived. So proud of myself. I cant wait til next year now lol
I love marigolds ❤
Loved and used this method since finding Charles Dowding on TH-cam 10 years ago! The worms GO CRAZY for cardboard😍
Yes! I was hoping someone would mention UK's Charles! He goes into why you do better not disturbing your soil structure. I thought I was just being lazy ( not wanting to cut sod) but it's actually the best for your soil's health. He doesn't even wait for cardboard to break down to plant. Just plants right in the thick layer of compost.
... Er ... RIGHT - about 1
I reclaimed a chunk on our property this winter/spring with this method and now it is our flower cutting garden! The seeds and seedlings are thriving and the only weed that is coming through is bindweed and as we all know, not much is going to suppress that so were managing that manually as it pops up. Bonus when we ordered a new mattress and they left the box. Then I asked what other boxes they had in that delivery truck and they gave me a truckload!
Cardboard IS the gardener's friend! (Especially when dealing with noxious weeds like Bishop's weed!)
It doesn't eradicate it (nothing does,) but it does knock it down enough to make it doable. I only wish I'd known about using cardboard 30 years ago! Looks beautiful!
Worms love decomposing cardboard - after all it was a wood tree once upon a time.
I have done this for years, newspaper and paper grocery bags also work great. This is nothing new been using this for years, I actually have cardboard on my walking paths as I type waiting to have rock placed!
I have been gardening for 40 years and this is a common method to use in Illinois. Have a great day everyone.
I have used this method for years and years as I have 100s of acreas of different gardens. It's the best
Douglas is back. Also thank you for supporting cardboard use. My neighbors think I’m weird.
As a Girl Scout leader of many years, if you are looking for free cardboard contact a local Girl Scout troop between January and March. They may be willing to save empty cases for you. My troop personally dumps tons of them. You can also reach out to local counsels to help you find one.
I love using cardboard to create gardens- it brings in the worms 🪱 too! ❤ Plus saves sore knees and ankles with arthritis
I absolutely LOVE doing the cardboard method. I learned about it a few years ago, and since then it is the only way I make a new bed. Not only does it suppress grass and weeds, it holds moisture and attracts worms. My horrible clay soil (so bad you could make pottery out of it), actually improves in the cardboard and compost areas. I have one new bed that I just put it two weeks ago, and it looks great, and I am hoping to get another one cardboard and composted in the next few days. It was so wonderful to see that you use the same method in your gorgeous gardens. Thank you for showing us.
Laura, you and Aaron are what this country is really all about. I love when I see where you and Aaron are now I I think about Aaron saying how he had to sell his lap top to buy the house. So many sacrifices for where you are today once again I love your hard working attitude. I wish I had half.
Sometimes do you just stand with your mouth hanging open in amazement of all Y’all have done !!! It’s incredible !!!🎉🎉
Great to show this! I use 12 layers of newspaper overlapped, wet down and then covered with fine mulch in old flower beds. I have purchased rolls of newsprint for this. Also brown paper bags work well. Cardboard works best for grassy areas, but I do soak it down and sometimes put some landscape staples in it, then put fine mulch on top. I like to keep it wet for a couple of weeks because if it dries out a big windstorm can shift it around.
Good tips, thank you! ❤
I did the cardboard process a year ago to extend my flower beds in my small track home yard, and it turned out fantastic! You are right when you shared how much labor it saves. Fun to see it done on a larger scale!
So happy that you're showing this method of using cardboard to block weeds. It works GREAT! Love all your videos with your cheerful enthusiasm and knack for accomplishing huge projects easily. You make anything possible.
But having a large space to plant they have big machinery to help with the dirt and it looked like men who obtained the cardboard ,put it into trunk and brought it to farm. Wish I had even one person to help in my small yard especially since I've gotten older and can't get up and down as used to,but I love the flowers,helping the pollinators,and milkweed bushes to help the monarch butterflies. In Florida the soil is rich but very easy to hoe ,no clay and hard soil.
Greeting's from Ireland, We live live in a cottage in rural Ireland which we bought over twenty years ago. We have four flower bed's and lot's of pot's in the front garden. I dug up the flower bed's with a spade twenty years ago and planted them. Ten year's ago I picked up a book in a garden centre by Charles Dowding on no dig gardening. A decision was made and we fenced off the bottom part of the back garden and created a no dig veg garden and used homemade compost that I was already using to mulch the front flower beds. Now that I am retired, I have more time on my hands and I'm thinking of creating no dig flower beds out in the back garden. I wont need to buy plant's because early next spring I will be digging and splitting up mature plants in the front garden and planting them into the back garden.
You work so hard Laura. There should be a holiday for your efforts and to praise all hard working gardeners creating their color spots of beauty for our pollinators ❤❤❤
Lol, Well there is International Naked Gardening Day to celebrate gardeners. 😂
I live vicariously through y’all for the start of a lovely sunny gardening season 😆I’m in Scotland and we take a little longer to get going 🙄(wouldn’t be anywhere else though). You keep my spirits up for a sunny Summer 🎉😂❤
I have a Douglas kitty too!! Everyone that meets him thinks his name is so funny, glad to meet another one from the rare Douglas kitty tribe LOL. His full name is Douglas Lamar English lol. I got sidetracked, happens easily!
Back to your video...thank you for showing us how you did your cardboard. As you said, there are many others saying it works but seeing the lawn vs. woodchips vs. cardboard is really helpful for deciding which route I want to go. 😊
Many years ago when we built our home; I used to get a gardening magazine called Garden Gate and that’s where I got this idea. You can also use 5 sheets of newspaper paper black and white ink only. It kills the grass and makes great nitro humus for the plants. Works amazing.
The cardboard method helps me so much. At 61 year old, it saves my back! The earthworms love it too!
Charles Dowding a market gardener in the UK I think really is responsible for promoting this method n making it now so popular. His gardens are beautiful n so productive. Check him out! He has written many books as well. Nice man, so knowledgeable.
I don’t know how I missed this cardboard trick to creating a flower bed. Thank you for GA and GA friends for sharing.😊
Good morning, Laura ☕️I used the cardboard last year and it worked well! So much easier than pulling up the grass. That border is gorgeous! Paul & Bethany are amazing workers!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 The cut flower garden is filling up nicely!😍Have a Blessed Day 😊🐈🐈
Love watching Laura work. Her method is so efficient, organized and time saving. My kind of style. I sometimes get frustrated watching other gardeners who don’t have this skill and seem to waste so much time and work so unorganized. Must be the type A in me that gets triggered. 😆 But Laura, I could watch all day. ❤
No questions today...just a thank you. You're truly an inspiration and an encouragement. I have been wanting to do this and I'm currently saving cardboard, but haven't done it yet as I too have been skeptical. You showing this gives me the push to just go for it!
Thank you!
We use grocery paper! It’s much thinner but we save up when we make groceries. We do not use it on this kind of a scale. We layer it just the same and we don’t worry about tape or staples or print since they are typically plain brown paper.
Yes the cardboard method works well for sure! Reminder to people to not use the ones with the heavy labeling on them. Example: diaper boxes
Breaking down the boxes is a good project for kids to be involved in!
Good morning! The area that was just mulched over the grass look so nice. Such an easy way to kill off a large amount of grass and make it look fresh and clean too!
I’ve used the cardboard method several times with great success…another thrifty and effective route is newspaper for smaller areas. Again, no glossy or highly inked/colorful supplements, (just black & white newsprint) works great with about a 5-6 layer thickness. Of course wind is a factor with newspaper, but I wet it down right away which helps. Both the cardboard and newspaper methods are eco friendly, budget friendly and effective! Thanks for spreading the word Laura.
I LOVE the music today!!!
I love using cardboard in my garden. It cuts down on weeds, tremendously, and worms love it once it has broken down. So when I shut the garden down for the winter (Zone 6a), I lay the cardboard down and cover with straw/hay, which also breaks down and feeds the soil. Although, I noticed this past winter that since our temperatures did not get too cold, some of the cardboard did not break down, which I took up and put into my compost bin. And these were only small pieces, like may seven total. All the Best to You!
I really admire your beautiful gardens, and I'm so jealous at the wonderful variety you have. I have soooooo much trouble here with deer and groundhogs that my choices are limited if I don't want to do all that work just to provide them with breakfast, lunch, and supper. Sigh. Either way, you inspire to get out there and get 'er done!!
Moved into our first house, no landscaping on the property. Used cardboard and layed 6-8" of chopped leaves from a trash pile, gathered up old woodchips and lawn clippings.
Didnt have a truck, so I lined my Jetta's trunk with a tarp and hailed load after load 😂 it worked great!
Had a few cases where wiregrass came through where it was thin, and you'll still have to take a little hand hoe to strip out the violets that grow through but it's SO much easier! Highly recommend. Plant it up densely so you dont have to weed it except once in a rare while. The insect life and variety exploded :D
I learned the cardboard method years ago from Eden garden. You can always add more on top later as it decomposes and add more mulch on top. The sod adds nitrogen back into the soil as it decomposes too. Love this method. Kudos to Paul and Bethany Bethany for their hard work!
Your neighbors really lucked out with you as a neighbor
Cloudless sky when planting lisianthus...looks like swimming weather....
couldn't believe the quail in Hartley clip shown on instagram ❤🎶
might have been drawn by the pond, with its waterfall & shallow end (birds r spreading the word)
...with dream stream might get more songbirds or grassland birds like sparrows.
Red winged blackbirds like wet areas & so do winter seasonal to your area...yellow headed blackbirds.
The cardboard method, game changer! Used it several times over the last couple of years to create flower beds and currently a bed around a new patio. I make sure minimal print on cardboard and as you said remove tape. I layered it with compost, soil conditioner and mulch. The bed I’ve had the longest contains Hibiscus, A climbing rose bush and several other perennials and is doing fantastic.
Lisianthus! I tried several attempts at starting from seedlings in January (inside of course). Out of 24 ended up with one! Slowest growing plant I have ever encountered. Patience is a Virtue I was not gifted with! The one however is looking fantastic since being potted outside about 2 months ago. Cannot wait to see it bloom. I will probably try again next year and now know what to expect.
In South Carolina, I remove the sod, put my chicken run compost full of weed seeds over the rock hard clay, then cardboard, then arborist woodchips. And it's still a fight to keep the Bermuda, crabgrass, and centipede down. In a couple of years it's beautiful to plant in though! I'm super glad this method works for some! So much easier.
I love the cardboard method. I put it under my woven weed fabric because of Bermuda grass. I did leave the bottom of my raised beds with just cardboard. Some of it will try to come up. Keep digging it it
Out. And pull all tint weeds. It’s a pain but I have beds that have no grass. My favorite mulch is shredded leaves for raised beds or shaved wood chips for garlic and strawberries. Or shredded hardwood.
Laura we used landscape fabric two years in a row. The following year's I was planting new things. I hated when trying to pull weeds etc and getting the fabric. Someone where I live mentioned the cardboard method. It works and you don't have to worry about trying to get up the fabric. I stopped using landscaping fabric 9 years ago. We recently moved with a bigger back yard. I have ordered different things online. I saved the cardboard boxes and removed any tape. We went to the liquor store that had free boxes. We took the tape off and have them in one of our sheds. We used some of the cardboard for plants I had at the last place. So we planted those using the cardboard method. I love how it looks. It looks amazing! We did water our down as we had some gusty winds a few weeks ago. I am sticking with the cardboard method forever. I love how your area looks. I signed up for the wood chips program but never got an email or call. We don't want to use wood chips too close to the house as it can attract carpenter ants. So we used it (we bought) far away from our home. I am going to try and get the wood chips this year. But we shall see.
I've been stashing cardboard for a flowerbed expansion project for the fall. Thank you for the refresher on this! Can't wait to get started!
I sheet mulched my entire back yard. It’s a good way to go.
Been doing it for years…remove tape, little printing. And no waxy boxes…it’s been very useful. It literally smothers most of the weeds and grass, makes the soil more fluffy if you added cut grass or wood hips and the process makes weeds that much easier to pull out..
Thank you, Laura and team. Every moment is instructional. I love to start every morning watching GA and reruns on most Saturdays. Thank you to your entire family❤
Oh my word I am so glad I went back and watched this video! Such an obvious idea as I have seen it done before, but I completely forgot. I have been digging and hand picking through all the grass I want to remove to extend our garden beds, so painstakingly slow. Plenty of boxes in the garage from the move too!
For a great weed killer I use Straight vinegar 1tsp dish soap per gallon in a garden sprayer then spray on leaves then saturated down to the roots on a hot sunny day will kill them by the end of day. Do not dilute. Pull away any mulch to expose soil to saturate roots. It usually lasts for a month or two. To last the season or longer for stubborn weeds dissolve 1/4 - 1/3 cup salt per gallon vinegar. It kills anything it’s applied to. Smell dissipates in a couple days. I get the bigger bottles of vinegar at Costco. Try on a test area first so you know what to expect.
Hi - very interested in this method. Would this ruin the soil though, to where you wouldn’t be able to grow anything in it ever again, or will the vinegar and salt leach out in time? How long does that usually take to leach out? I want to till up my whole garden area, but need to kill weeds and grass that grew up through landscape fabric, so I can get the fabric out of there - then I’ll always use cardboard going forward. It is very difficult to get the fabric out with the weed mess growing through it. I’m so mad at myself that I ever used landscape fabric. It’s the worst !! Anyway, just wondering more about your method w/salt and vinegar.
@@melaniecastillo1153 So glad you asked that. Don’t add the salt if you want to use that area for planting. After a couple of good rains the vinegar will neutralize & should be ready to plant. I’ll add salt if it’s a location I don’t plan to grow anything like near our road. We don’t have sidewalks or curbs where I live so I spray the weeds with the salt in those places. By the next season you’ll need to reapply with the salt. I don’t use either of them in the lawn area because this doesn’t discriminate and will damage what comes into contact with it. Try it in small areas before going all in so you know what to expect. It’s really working out for my needs and I feel good about not using chemicals. The vinegar will probably harm earthworms if that’s a concern and probably not a good idea for planter beds. For planter beds/area with weeds I just laydown cardboard to smother them or prevent them from coming up in the spring and won’t harm the worms. Hope it works out for you.
I've been using cardboard for years. Works great! We use it in our garden after our first till. We plant, add the cardboard down the rows, and then add some straw. Game changer for us! There are a few weeds around the plants, but it saves us from tilling. By spring of next year, it's all broken down. Our soil remains great. Love this method! ❤ Love your channel!
I love the cardboard method. Since you first featured this in your videos, I have used it many times with great success around my yard and garden. I also put cardboard down around my vine crops to suppress the weeds and it works great! I work at a flower shop so I have access to nice large, heavy cardboard boxes that flowers are delivered in. I highly recommend this method.
I also did this last year and I see a massive different in the soil now. On the cardboard side (which is broken down of course) the soil is full of live, so many worms and holds moisture very well. Right next to it I have an area where I ripped out the weeds and the soil is much poorer, very light in colour, no rainworms, etc. I will always use cardboard again! So much easier than keeping up with the weeds as well.
I would love to see a video of you opening up the Deadweed Brew and measuring it out and applying it to your driveway area as a before and after. I use to use Roubdup but I no longer use anything like that anymore. I normally use my hands now to remove weeds but in areas like a driveway it would be nice to have something that is not a harsh chemical. Thanks.
Afternoon Everyone 🍃🌺🍃
Love the cardboard mulch method I’ve seen you do it before super idea I should have done that in my little patch of flower bed my gardener charged me $200 to do it and I still had to put down the mulch after I planted flowers and I was 71 years old with back/ neck pain. 💪
I have a lot of elevation in my property. I tried this on a 20 degree slope but my landscape folks asked me to remove it because the sweet peat would not stay in place with it. So, if you have level land it works great but not so well on hills. I am glad that it is working so well for you!
You can buy mulch for hills that is longer and kinda interlocks with it's self, not the best to plant in though.
I use doubled paper grocery bags that have been soaked in water for few minutes in a 5 gallon bucket to “paper” a steep slope then top with a thick layer of pine needles. Wetting the bags some makes them easier to place and they stay put long enough to get the pine needles on. Pine needles seem to mat themselves together and do not wash down the slope or blow away. I hate working on the slope but it’s worse to have to be on it more than once a year to weed and shovel other mulches that wash down back up to the top 🤬
I love, love, LOVE the cardboard & mulch method.
Good morning everyone! It looks so good! The cardboard under mulch is the best! Blessings 🙏🏻💞
This cardboard idea is becoming SO POPULAR!!! Thanks for showing us how its done. 🥰🥰😃 Liz from California
I loved the music behind this video- very 60’s vibe!
I was always team “sod removal “, the last flower bed I created I did the cardboard method. So far, full success!
Seen you doing it before the cardboard box and mulch perfect for me love it 💞
I was working with an older lady on garden beds for all her properties many moons ago and she taught me to do what you are doing with the card board to start the beds and newspaper, paper bags, and recycled paper (junk mail) to lay down for already made beds. Every other year, I add the paper and then mulch on top. It is amazing how fast the paper breaks down. The soil black gold with so many warms.😊
Here in the U.K., my daughter used this technique on her allotment to clear weeds and make new beds and start growing fruit and veg. It’s brilliant! 🧡💚
Douglas took the plant label!😊
We had a terrible weed problem in a garden area under our big walnut tree. The birds would drop seeds of shrubs and other trees resulting in hours of hand pulling each spring. Two autumns ago I decided to lay down cardboard and covered it with a very thick layer of mulched oak leaves. I wet this all down good so it wouldn’t blow away. I now have a weed-free garden and can add compost and grow flowers again. So easy and FREE!
After I saw Paul do it the first time, I did this for a strawberry bed. Works great!
I am always amazed at how much the four of you accomplish with such a large space! It's awesome and absolutely beautiful!
Thank you so much @ GardenAnswer for doing a lot of economical gardening.A lot of us are on flower budgets,so it’s great to see these ideas.Thanks again.Y’all are just the Best .
The cardboard method works very well. I've used this many times, but only for flowerbeds - not in the vegetable beds. Lisianthus is the flower I buy in Winter at the grocery to perk me up. It lasts forever in a vase.
I have always hated fabric. I will definitely use this!
This is definitely a game changer in my garden. Tried it last year and I've been very happy about the soil underneath. Loaded with worms! I wet the cardboard down and then put compost and mulch down. My husband thought I was crazy. My neighbors are now trying it.
Cardboard is where it’s at! I’ve had great success with it and zero success with landscape fabric. I feel like fabric encourages growth by trapping heat. I will be using a small flame thrower (for real!) to get at the truly stubborn weeds under the brick portions of my yard. Also have found that comfrey teas and chop ‘n drop nettle teas make excellent fertilizers. I really don’t trust anything from the stores; even those that bill themselves as organic.
Basically, all things permaculture have thus far worked well for me.
I just received my first Black Pearl Lisianthus seeds and am super excited. They’re so pretty and unusual. It’ll be great seeing how your big collection of them turns out. Best of luck!
I just did the cardboard in our flowerbeds too. Super easy and so natural. Love it!
I love this method ! I have been using it for years now and it is so easy to do and sustainable ! No more tearing out sod for me ! Your project is looking beautiful ! Congrats ! !
I used the cardboard method a couple times and it works! One thing i recommend is to do 2 layers for sure and you will still need to weed if you are in an area with short rooted weeds (like the trailing ground covers we have here in the south). But its so much easier than digging up sod!!!
A hint about removing sod in a suburban area. The best top soil may have come with the sod, or developed with it. If the original top soil was graded off when the house was built. After I removed the sod for garden beds, when i move in, I found, not very fertile, subsoil. A local said the area was hilly farm land that had been graded flat for the subdivision build, leaving only subsoil. It's taken years to build the soil back up in those areas I stripped. I'd done better to have turned the sod over and helped it decompose. The areas I carboarded over, later, have done very well.
Love sheet mulching new beds! For an uber clean border, I pre-dig out an edge of about 4-inches of the sod. Otherwise the grass advances into the new bed a little more quickly.
I do this all of the time but I always water the cardboard down first. Works great for making new flower beds without digging. ❤
We used cardboard and black mulch on flowerbeds where we are not planting anything. It looks so nice and clean.
I love this weed barrier! My husband isn’t sold on the idea. It’s easy to add more cardboard as needed with bark mulch by raking back the mulch and laying more down!
The cardboard method is successful depending on the type of grass you’re trying to suppress. I have couch in my front yard & have it covered in cardboard in an effort to rid myself of the couch. It persistently reappears around the edges or wherever a gap or hole occurs. I’m persistent however & eventually hope to succeed.
My favorite part of my garden 9s where I used the cardboard to start it! About 16 years and still virtually no weeds. Thank you for the reminder of this method...I am starting a new area this summer and totally forgot ❤
Am tackling the cardboard tomorrow at my house. Mulch next week. It is a joy to know that no weeds will be coming through.
I have used this method and it works great!! Only suggestion is to make sure to remove any staples in the cardboard you don’t want to hit one of those digging.
I did have a bit of trouble planting through the cardboard..a couple of my sweet pea plants didn’t get down into the dirt underneath the cardboard far enough. I think I had a gap , my cardboard was a bit bent in places. But all and all it really helped keep the weeds down❤
Good Job Laura! you work too hard. 💙💛🧡❤💗💓💖💝💙💙❤❤❤❤🌺🌹🌸 The best garden/flower show/video we have. You are # 1 in my book.
I am so jealous of your Lizzy’s! I had very poor germination. My seeds were from Johnny’s and they were just purchased this year. The ones that did come up are doing great, I just planted them out yesterday. Mine will winter over if they are in a protected area.
This flower bed is as big as my whole back yard! I love it! I always use the cardboard method for my little flower beds and it works amazing. :)
I'm going to try the cardboard method over a patch that once had a sandbox. I read to lay down cardboard, top it with 4 inches of topsoil and compost, then plant grass seed on top. Hope it works. Paul and Bethany are tireless workers! Perfect match for you and Aaron!
Love it! I think it was lisianthus "mariachi white" you ended up seperating and having several flats of, maybe?
Will definitely try this
Did the milk jugs for seedling starts worked great