How to use cardboard in your landscaping 🪴 Landscape designer explains cardboard mulch
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ส.ค. 2022
- Wondering how to use cardboard in your landscaping? Is it okay to use cardboard under mulch? When is cardboard mulch a good or bad idea? 🪴
This is the third video in a series about mulch, that I wish I had when I first started gardening. It would have saved me so much time! I hope it helps you, too.
Cardboard under mulch has some downsides. However, there may still be certain situations where it is helpful, even if not the ideal method to use.
Here are some ways you can get involved and learn more:
🪴 FREE MINI COURSE: How to choose the perfect plant (and put it in the right place): www.gardenprojectacademy.com/...
I HAVE EXCITING NEWS!
🪴 Design-Your-Own Landscape Layout ONLINE COURSE
...is now OPEN for enrollment!
For do-it-yourselfers who want to create their own landscape design, but just need a little extra guidance.I’ll walk you through the design process, step by step, so you can create a practical, hand-drawn "layout plan"(a landscape design plan that shows the layout of the finished design).
Learn more and sign up, here!
www.gardenprojectacademy.com/...
🪴 Follow my newsletter, here, for free gardening resources and updates on new courses: www.gardenprojectacademy.com/...
✨ Learn the basics of mulching in my previous video, here:
• Critical mulching tips...
✨ Here is my video that addresses different mulch materials options:
• What is the best mulch...
Here are some of the places I have learned about mulch. Please share any mulch resources you love in the comments, below! I’m always learning more.
I have learned so much from Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott of Washington State University, who addresses horticultural myths, here:
puyallup.wsu.edu/lcs/
Additional info on landscape fabric:
puyallup.wsu.edu/wp-content/u...
Additional info on paper based sheet mulch:
puyallup.wsu.edu/lcs/#:~:text...)
Additional info on wood chips:
puyallup.wsu.edu/wp-content/u...
“The Garden Professors blog” Facebook Group is a great please to search for answers to questions (search before you post):
/ gardenprofessors
Garden Professors Blog on landscape fabric mulch:
gardenprofessors.com/landscap...
Garden Professors Blog on cardboard mulch:
gardenprofessors.com/the-card...
Garden Professors Blog on reducing lawn:
gardenprofessors.com/how-to-g...
“Carbon dioxide and oxygen exchange at the soil-atmosphere boundary as affected by various mulch materials.” Shahzad, K., Bary, A. I., Collins, D. P., Chalker-Scott, L., Abid, M., Sintim, H. Y., & Flury, M. (2019). Soil and Tillage Research, 194. doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2019....
And if you’re new here, hello! 🌱 My name is Eve Hanlin, I’m a certified horticulturist and landscape designer from the Pacific Northwest corner of the USA. I've offered in-person landscape design services for years and now I am taking landscape design online by offering digital courses and resources for do-it-yourselfers. This is my new business: Garden Project Academy.
You can also follow me on social media:
Instagram: / gardenprojectacademy
Facebook: / gardenprojectacademy
Pinterest: / gardenprojectacademy
Tag me in your projects @gardenprojectacademy. I would love to see what you’re working on!
Remember that everything in my videos are for informational purposes only: It is entirely up to you to decide what is best for you, and your landscape. - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
I HAVE EXCITING NEWS!
🪴Design-Your-Own Landscape Layout ONLINE COURSE 🪴is now OPEN for enrollment!
For do-it-yourselfers who want to create their own landscape design, but just need a little extra guidance.
I’ll walk you through the design process, step by step, so you can create a practical, hand-drawn "layout plan" (a landscape design plan that shows the layout of the finished design).
Learn more and sign up, here!
www.gardenprojectacademy.com/diy-landscape-design-online-course/
I raided a local furniture stores recycling pile (with permission) and put cardboard down on almost a 3/4 of an acre on my property with about an inch of mulch over it last fall. As I get more chip drops I put more mulch down. It was a great way to murder my lawn and get started without having to deal with a million weeds while I was waiting for more free chips. The cardboard is gone now, and I've built up a decent amount of mulch.
This is exactly what I’m doing. Creating a big area for raised beds and new garden areas while effectively killing the grass
I like to use brown contractor's paper, sold by the roll in different lengths in the paint section. It breaks down quickly, but still lasts long enough to smother most weeds that are not huge/woody. And it's easy to cut into with a trowel if you want to add a plant (though this isn't usually necessary, since it breaks down within a few weeks).
I’ve used paper leaf bags instead of cardboard…it lasts long enough (when covered with about 3” of mulch) to smother grass…
I feel like this video kind of misses the point of using cardboard. I don’t know of many people that regularly apply cardboard to established beds under mulch. I’m sure some people do…but most people (including me) use it to establish new beds in really difficult weedy areas. I’ve established new gardens with cardboard where I just weedwhacked English ivy, vinca, Japanese honeysuckle, Bermuda grass, stinging nettle, chameleon plant etc etc and then did cardboard and mulch over top. I’ve done many thousands of square feet of new gardens with this method. if the options are either cutting off a small gas exchange and water absorption or using gallons of chemical herbicide or days of terribly unfun labor, I’ll always take the former.
Thank you for this response, tylerk. I was thinking the same thing. I have a ton of creeping charlie in my back yard and will use cardboard to smother it faster without chemicals.
Watch the vid. She says exactly this at about 5 min in lol
I was surprised that my local Community garden co - ordinator uses tons of cardboard. I do not recommend it unless it's used as a first layer barrier when creating a brand new garden bed. In our garden, unfortunately, it is used in a reckless manner. I am stressed, the established plants are stressed and completely smothered. Cardboard can be helpful for weed free paths or new beds, that's the extent that I would use it for. A friend of mine coined this term recently for people who over use it. "Cardboard killer". Of course all the volunteers are without question following this mulching method. I am just horrified and distraught. I even offered a talk on pro and cons of mulching with cardboard. 😢 I am not heard so I had to walk away and am refusing to work with cardboard altogether.
I've only ever used the plain, unwaxed brown corrugated cardboard boxes for mulching (with the packing tape pulled off). Can I tell you how amazing it was? I laid down a double layer of cardboard (flattened boxes, but not pulled apart) in the fall over the area I wanted to create a garden bed, then covered it with 6-12" of LEAVES, no wood chips (NOT leaves with tannic acid, like oak, nor walnut, and NOT high acid ones like conifer needles). In the spring I did a test: I struck my shovel outside of where the new bed was and it was like what you would expect hitting hard compacted dirt. Then I applied the same force and struck into the new bed...and nearly toppled over because it went right in as if slicing through butter. The worms were all over! IMPORTANT: do NOT til! There is so much worm and microbial activity and it has created all kinds of pathways that are so beneficial for seeds or seedlings to grow in. There were still pieces of cardboard, which I pulled back in the spring when I was ready to plant to let the soil warm up. But then I pushed it back when it got warm enough to offer mulch for holding in moisture. The only thing I've been concerned about is the glue holding the fluted middle section between the two outer layers. But since this isn't an every year process, and is just to create the initial bed, I'm going with it.
how did you keep the 6-12" of leaves from just blowing away? Even with wetting multiple times mine eventually dry out and blow to the corner of my yard where the fencing stops them.
@@kathylong858 if you have access to soil or compost, that'll hold it down. Some areas offer free compost if you are a resident. Lay down the leaves, then cover with soil, then water it down real good
10 months later and not a single response from the OP on ANY comment, says a lot about this sponsored clown. going to make sure to tell youtube to not recommend videos from them :)
@@HeyYoFabels You're not helping anybody by being rude for no reason.
Did this 3 years ago in the fall. Furniture store saved the cardboard for me and got 2 truck loads. Then put about 12 inches of woodchips ontop. In the spring put raised beds ontop of the woodchips. Filled the raised beds with fall leaves that I saved cutting down on the soil to fill the raised beds. If I planted along my fence I pushed away the woodchips put some soil in the hole and used the woodchips as mulch around the plant. Just love it and no weeds.
We started shredding all our boxes last year when we started a composting worm bin. Shredded cardboard is invaluable in our garden. We live in north eastern harsh plains of New Mexico and anything organic we can put down on the ground we see as soil building. So if not used to loosen up our garden boxes in the greenhouse or outside garden, we toss it on the ground in the garden pathways with grass clippings and have worked to eradicate bind weed and goat heads. If a worm bin will eat it, the garden will take it. It breaks down shockingly fast and we are pleased with the progress.
I use cardboard mulch in Los Angeles as an alternative to round up, which harms all sorts of things including bumblebees. It is the only alternative to round up that smothers Bermuda grass, St. Augustine and other weeds. It does take 5 to 7 months of heat, and thoroughly wet soil for the microbes to work. But you have much more friable soil at the end of the process.
I didn’t know this was a topic! Starting late fall, I save all my paper grocery bags. In spring, if I need mulch, I lay them down single layer, wet them really good then mulch and water the mulch. I use it strictly to choke out any weeds. I leave space around my plants or seedlings. I haven’t ever noticed an issue. I use it with drip irrigation and some places without drip. I’ve never used corrugated cardboard so maybe that takes longer to disintegrate.
there are lots of "experts" that do not think money is important....they also don't like the idea of reducing trash and recyling....using cardboard for me is a no brainer....I use it for a weed barrier...then place mulch on top....it really helps reduce weeds and then SURPRISE no need to use harsh chemicals......also, I would use newspaper, I would use brown paper bags as well..
I save all my substantial boxes from Amazon, Chewy, etc., and break down/fold them double. I lay these down and cover them with bagged mulch, grass clippings, straw...whatever suits the intention and purpose of the bed I am making. I then use good bagged potting soil, mounded up, to plant seeds or small plants (tomatoes, peppers, flowering plants, etc., but not larger plants like shrubs or trees). I do this for the first year of the new planting. By the second year, I can dig and plant into the newly-created soil, usually. I may still amend the planting hole with some good potting soil, if needed. Don't make it complicated....it has been a good method of landscaping for me with very little issues, if any. If a weed or some grass, etc., pops through, remove it. Refresh the mulch material as needed each year. Simple.....
I've been using the no dig method using carboard and wood chips to create new beds around my yard and also to smother out weeds and lawn around already established areas. I remove all the tape, labels, etc. before putting the cardboard down because water cannot penetrate those items. I also don't use cardboard with a coating on it. Since at this point in my life, I need to work more efficiently in my garden, it's definitely quicker and easier, than digging all that grass out by hand or dragging out my little cultivator and the heavy heavy duty electrical cord. I've been doing this since last fall and so far, I've had no problems. For me, the cardboard has been breaking down fairly quickly. I already have areas where there is no cardboard left. I will say that if you have an extensive area to do, that it takes a ton of cardboard to do the no dig method.
This is exactly how I expanded our backyard garden. Worked like a charm. Now I need to smother out weeds that got out of hand because it's been too hot to go out & weed everyday. Thinking of trying newspaper & comparing methods.
no problem with even leaving tape or labels if its not for fruit bearing plants tbh, its going to rot in the sun/heat anyways and eventually break down
I live in the Piedmont of NC and can tell you from experience that after dropping (no joke) 14 inches of woodchips, bermuda grass will still get through without cardboard. I did a test of this in a 3x3ft area, the bermuda grass just went right through in early summer. Thanks for the advice though. I was amazed at how long it took cardboard to truly decay, it seemed to stay in tact for around 2 years....
weeds will find a way but laying down newspaper or cardboard under mulch really helps....a nice organic home made weed killer is one gallon white vinegar with 1/4c of dawn dishwasher liquid and 2 cups of epsom salts....no more harsh chemicals.
I have Bermuda grass everywhere. I don't use chemicals. Have you had any luck getting rid of it and if so, how? I live in WV, so once it's on clay, you can't totally pull it up. Help!!
@@corrinnacorrinna5572 yeah I just went around to target and cvs near me and got more cardboard then any one could ever want lol. Laid it down in the winter and Bermuda grass is gone. But, ANY holes, and I mean any holes that are left, the Bermuda grass will find it and come back. You have to really lay it down 100% .
@@corrinnacorrinna5572 BioAdvanced Bermudagrass Control for Lawns, is one chemical and Fusilade II Herbicide are the best way to kill it but requires multiple applications. I have clay soil in NC and have been digging up bermuda for about 20 years, got tired of it and finally used chemicals.
I put cardboard around a tree to attempt to smother the lily of the valley that's taking over the valley. Mowed the lily, and hoed up as much of the roots as i could, then i laid down cardboard, covered it with mulch and through winter, i was happy with the effects (no weeds), but come spring, the lily of the valley popped right back up as if nothing new happened last summer. I think I'm going to just dig up all the lily and move it to a valley next to the alley where it will be more welcome and manageable. And now I can haul all my saved up cardboard to the recycle lot
Lily of the valley seems so innocent--nice leaves, those beautiful white flowers...UNTIL...you notice it's popped up all over the yard! And if you mow it down, it comes right back. The only thing that makes it better than bamboo is that it's smaller and easier to dig out. LOL
If you want to smother to build a bed over top, construction floor covering is super dense cardboard. It worked very well! I did it in the woods (cut the bushes low) and years later I only get the odd fern that pulls easy. Amended old potting soil with seaweed, compost and chicken manure and grew huge garlic. Used the bushes cut up as a sub mulch on the soil with straw on top of that.
I use shredded cardboard for mulch, and it works great and decomposes over time, adding nutrients to the soil. A heavy duty 15 sheet shredder works great to shread most cardboard boxes - obviously remove tape and labels before shredding.
I shred cardboard as well. I’m confused as shredding isn’t logically considered, only complete sheets. Should I assume if pine bark is considered, the whole log should be laid?
Thank you for sharing your experience. As you mentioned, if your goal is to completely smother weeds and get a head start on converting a weedy area or lawn into a garden, many people use layers of cardboard. I want to share a tip that has been incredibly helpful for me.
I work at a contractor's warehouse where we deal with large quantities of solar panels installed on residential properties. When the crews return daily, they have to unload their trucks, including the large cardboard boxes that secured the solar panels. This cardboard is the toughest I’ve ever encountered-really thick and durable, it obviously breaks down eventually, but due its density and thickness it comes handy when you are dealing with very tough weed varieties, ( Bermuda grass !!! ). One would have to save newspapers for several years to achieve the a comparable density of one of these cardboard pieces.
If there's a solar installation company in your area, reach out to them and ask if you can take their boxes. They have plenty, and it helps keep their waste bins from overflowing. It's a win-win situation!
I used cardboard (and mulch) to kill some grass. Set that up one year. Waited until the next to plant. Worked great. It was all broken down and the grass was all dead.
I SHREDD MY CARDBOARD, to use for mulch. Then mix straw with the shredded cardboard as my exclusive mulch. It's awesome. Snuggles up close to the base of the plants. No grass, retains water, keeps the roots cool.
I used cardboard to line the bottom of all of my raised flower beds surrounding my home. I also use cardboard in my compost. I follow a no rules method, so any cardboard I have on hand gets a thumbs up by me. Anything that will decompose gets a YES for my compost bin. It’s okay that others have rules. I’m trying to eliminate rules and reuse my waste. I just don’t worry like some folk do. There may even be some tape or plastic from my shredder because I’m not meticulously picking things out.
I used sheets of cardboard on top of the native soil in my vegi bed because there was a lot of alfalfa and bindweed in the original soil and I wanted to prevent it. Cardboard was perfect.
In my compost brown cardboard does not decompose. Now i added compost awakening or whatever it is called in english - im not from english speaking country. I ll see what will happens
So leave a slightly larger area around plants with just mulch an no cardboard so air an water have no restrictions......it works just fine
I use cardboard to smother and then build an 8 to 12" soil bed on top of the cardboard. Then, cover with a shredded, composted mulch. The soil layer varies between a mix of: garden loam, bagged, compost, peat, amended soil from another bed, etc.
I'll also use clean, old straw instead of cardboard if I have that available. It will smother existing grass, weeds, and the seed bed when 8"+ soil covers it.
Cutting wells in the cardboard where you put your plants takes care of the water and aeration of the soil. Easier to pull a few weeds from just the wells, than the entire area. Landscape fabric can be used where you put your plants as well
The cardboard I lay under our mulch didn’t last more than 2 weeks thanks to a late lasting wet season. But interestingly the native violets I put in before the cardboard had rotted at all struggled even after the cardboard started to rot. The ones I planted right in the same area AFTER the cardboard had started to rot have taken off and there’s no stopping them!
It’s cut back the weeds, but nothing can stop the nut grass… that stuff will grow through anything.
Nothing will stop the hateful Bermuda grass either due to its creeping nature. UGH! It’s the Bain of my existence!!!
Just shred the cardboard. Don’t lay it down in sheets. Shred it in a 24-sheet paper shredder (Amazon Basics has one that works great) or use a wood chipper (pass the cardboard through twice). It’s fantastic, lightweight, so easy to spread and you don’t need more than an inch to stop weeds. It looks great too. If you want black or red or dark brown mulch just buy mulch dye in whatever color you want, mix it in a pump sprayer and spray the mulch. It’s very inexpensive and you won’t believe how good and high-end it looks. Just remove all the tape and labels from the cardboard and don’t use anything but the plain, light brown, corrugated kind. Don’t use any cardboard with pictures in colors and with a shinny finish on the surface. There’s no airflow problems or water flow problems with shredded cardboard. Also, termites are not an issue at all. Not sure who is spreading that rumor. I have been doing this for years and have yet to find any evidence of termites whatsoever. And I live in a termite prone area.
I put down cardboard under a rock garden with clay soil underneath - it’s great at suppressing weeds but I did lose a couple plants in that part of the garden, though another of the same species - Cryptomeria Japonica - survived. Others seem to be doing well but I think the advice in this video holds true for me.
I love mulch, but limited supply limits my use of it. Yes, it seems like cardboard is better for the environment than tillage to break new ground, the looseness recovers once the soil is mulched. We have quack grass, which has spear-like tips that will push through almost anything, an invasive plant that grows a good distance by runners, so I'll probably have to cardboard first then mulch. My idea is to strip garden, with the neighboring strips planted in alfalfa, so the green mulch crop with fixed nitrogen is just a mowing away from being placed on the beds.
My purpose of using cardboard is to smother out grass that is growing around the edge of my 1/2 acre property. In this case, it would be easier and less sweat equity as well as environmentally safe as opposed to using chemicals or digging to kill the grass. I wouldn't be using it around plants that I want to survive and thrive. Thank you for the information. It really helped me!
If you have intense weed pressure, like I do in Houston, cardboard works pretty well.
Though it breaks down fast also, due to heat and humidity.
I used it in my front yard landscape so I don’t have to weed all the time. Big timesaver.
And also in the backyard to keep weeds from growing between raised garden beds.
Also saves on total amount of mulch, as you mentioned.
Every time I have put in landscaping at a new home, I’ve been told not to use landscape fabric or cardboard. Here are my two problems, though. 1)If you are planting small flowers in the soil, 12” of mulch will smother them out of existence. 2)I have Bermuda grass in my lawn. It doesn’t matter how much mulch you put down, Bermuda grass will send out underground runners and they will come up everywhere. I HATE Bermuda grass, but I have dogs and an HOA, so I’m stuck with it. I’m getting ready to put in a decent sized raised bed vegetable garden. I plan on scraping up as much Bermuda sod in that area as I can, then putting down cardboard and mulch. Otherwise, I’ll have Bermuda popping up all through my raised beds and pea gravel walkways.
i have bermuda, put in two raised veggie beds over a year ago, one 14 inch high the other 20 in, have no bermuda that came up. I did line the bottom with layers of landscape fabric.
I am so Happy that I only put cardboard where there were lots of weeds and no plants. I didn’t have enough mulch but realized I had some cardboard laying around and used it. Guess I used it right! I think you have very interesting kontent! Mulch is exciting! 😊
I acquired a very large area of hard clay soil with rocks, very tall weeds, and a 5 inch layer of weed seeds. I removed the weeds and as much of the seed layer as possible. I tried much from a tree-trimming company, but there were too many large pieces, and it was a huge amount of labor to spread the giant truckload they dumped in the middle before the Fire Dept got after me about an 'illegal compost pile'. Since then I've used cardboard and 'self-mulch' from cuttings and leaves from my property. It reduced the weed problem by 90% for the areas I was able to keep mulched with only 1 to 2 inches of material. All of that was free, and I could do it when I had time. I was never going to be able to manage 4 to 6 inches of mulch. Bermuda grass must be dug out repeatedly or sprayed repeatedly with weed killer. The rhizomes can go down 18 inches. It can take months of constant attention to get rid of it. I'm in California, where we've had awful drought, followed by crazy rain this year. I've noticed that the cardboard swells up with the seasonal rain, and helps the soil retain moisture. It's relatively easy to pluck out misc weeds from the surface, since they don't penetrate the cardboard as quickly as they do soil. I also have plants like nasturtiums and alyssum that grow on the mulch atop the cardboard. I normally put plants in containers on top of the cardboard and mulch, which also helps discourage gophers.
Gosh you are so generous with your knowledge and time. Love watching your videos. I’m in Sydney, Australia and have used the cardboard, soil/compost and mulch method to change lawn to garden. It worked well for me. I was going to suggest this method to my son and daughter-in-law but as the area they are moving to offers free mulch I will now explore the deep layer of mulch method. Thank for the information.
I was just thinking about this! Thanks for the tips!!
Mulch can definitely get pricey! Cardboard was a really cost effective way for me to smother grass and weeds when starting beds, putting only 3-4" of mulch on top. I did plant right away as kind of an experiment, but they were splits from other areas of my garden, so I wasn't worried about any sort of cost investment. I left a good-sized open area around the base of the plant for airflow, and used soaker hoses running along the base of the plants so they would get directly watered. It did mean that I had to watch for weeds to pop up in those open areas around the plant, but it was a compromise that allowed me to plant things right away!
That said... if I was purchasing things that are more of a cost investment (shrubs, trees, etc.), or plants that are more finicky about their conditions, I probably would have waited for the cardboard to break down first.
Your yard sounds amazing! 😍🪴 Thanks for sharing your experience with cardboard mulch, here.
Chipdrop gets you wood chips for free.
When I initially make a lasagna bed, I use cardboard but tear it into smaller pieces so that water and air can get through. After beds are established, if I cannot obtain wood chips or shavings, I put cardboard through a paper shredder and use it as mulch. Works like a charm.
Great information. I love your channel and how you deliver the information. Thanks 😊
You are doing a public service by countering all the misinformation out there on this. I discovered this research when I planned to use it between a 200 ft line of dogwoods. Before I was about to do it, something said "stop". How can you cover the soil and limit oxygen and water to your wonderful trees? That's when I found the research that showed the problems. The only reason you have a lot of earthworms is that they come to the surface for oxygen. Thanks for this and for confirming my own conclusion. So, Smother, yes, cover for mulch, NO.
I use cardboard And sometimes lay fabric over it before mulching in areas that I don't want any grass or weed growth. No matter how thick the mulch, it blows away and it's a pain and expensive to reinstall every season. When I want to start a new bed I lay cardboard a few months before. When it's time to plant the clay soil is soft as butter, full of creepy crawlers and ready for soil amendment and seeds.
Thank you. Makes perfect sense. I tried laying cardboard down and covering with mulch. Poking holes to plant veggies. NOTHING grew. The area previously had been very productive. Sure there were no weeds. But there no veggies either. Had to learn the hard way.
Am loving this mulching series - I used cardboard then as mulch as I could find in autumn and put in a bunch of natives - I’m now very much hoping they grow in spring 😅it’s a huge area
I am sending good vibes 🌱🌱🌱, I'm sure they will do great! 😍 Sounds like such an amazing project! Please let me know if you have any additional mulch questions.
I only use cardboard on the outside of my garden. The walkway. I've had an ongoing issue with Oxalis in our garden for many years as well as in our yard. I only use the cardboard in our gravel driveway and the walkway of our very narrow garden. The Oxalis was there years and years ago prior to us gardening.
Thanks for the video. It was especially useful to me to know about the downsides of cardboard. I wish you had mentioned that even with these downsides, it is better for the soil, the environment, and human health than using herbicides if that was the alternative being considered. I also liked learning from you that 8-12 inches of arborist chips is a great option, even better for the soil than cardboard.
Can you make a video about the best types of mulch to use for drought tolerant native plants. There's leaves,, arborist chips, pine needles, gorilla hair, sheet mulching with cardboard, etc. Some people even use weed fabric. I'm in California and there is a big push here for drought tolerant native plants and getting rid of thirsty grass lawns.
Very interesting. Thanks 👍
Wow this was incredibly informative. Great stuff!
The problem with wood chip mulch is cost. Mulch costs $20 to $30 per yard, plus delivery, and you might need several yards to put down 5 inches of coverage. Cardboard is free.
Excellent video! This is a thoughtful, balanced discussion that I hope will reach the ideologues on both sides 👍
Thank you for your informative video. I’ve used cardboard to start my no dig vege garden, and it’s good to know why and how it works, e.g kills the weeds, plants are on top of the cardboard in a good layer of compost, and my climate is very wet so cardboard is gone in short time. Animals are another thing to consider with cardboard; an area was a bit shallow and the blackbirds dug it up to get to the worms and bugs, entertaining to watch! I’m glad I watched your video so I won’t put it over plants or trees, unless I want them to have a hard time!
Love you, and your show. Great advice always! Thanks.
I'm amazed at the feedback as compared to the male you tubers who address the same topic, without being as thorough and providing as many alternatives and pros and cons of different methods.
Adorable birdie 🦜
If you are dealing with Bermuda Grass, cardboard under mulch is the only way. I have created fabulous planting beds using a bicycle box with mulch then soil on top.
Can you please enable closed captions on this video? I recommend furniture stores because the boxes are so big makes it faster to cover an area
Yes! I have them turned on, but TH-cam actually automatically generates them, so it can take anywhere from a few hours to up to 24 hours for them to process and become available. Please check back shortly!
Thank you so much for this info, your videos are exactly what I needed. Yikes I have a ton of cardboard saved up….
I use it as a bottom liner on my raised beds. Works like a charm.
I’m using this method to eliminate weeds between my cedar container trellis boxes. so far it’s working well. First I removed all the weeds. I’ve already done this so I hope it works. My starts are all doing well so far.
This was helpful TY!
The problem is I have a MASSIVE area that I need to kill off grass and weeds. Digging it all up would take forever.
Very interesting. Thanks 👍
I have an acre that I’m landscaping and creating many planting beds on. I’ve been using cardboard and arborist chips to smother the grass. I live in a very hot and humid area with a 6 month rainy season during the late summer and fall. The beds I created in May using this method have completely broken down the cardboard within 3 months. Since our soul is also very sandy the wood chips will be feeding the soul and helping to create a healthier soul with more organic matter. I created a 600 square foot vegetable garden 2 years ago using this method and I found my first earthworms this year. It can be a good method depending on your circumstances. I enjoyed your well thought out and presented video.
Thank you!
YES!!!!! Thank you!!!!
I agree with what you say, and want to add, that if there are fire ants in your area, they are very attracted to cardboard mulch. Very. In fact, you can almost plan on attracting them!
I've used cardboard under wood chips to make a path through my raspberry patch. I tried about 10" of arborist chips in previous years and it didn't even slow them down from growing in the path
If you’ve ever dealt with bishop’s weed (goutweed l) cardboard is the only thing I’ve used instead of solarizing with plastic or a foot of mulch with the hope that in a few years I’ll have lovely soil underneath. Definitely practical. I’m now in my third season and I still get bishop’s weed popping up but it’s weakened. One day I hope it will be eradicated - and so much better than herbicide. Great video, thank you!!
What about using shredded cardboard as part of the mulch and/or compost?
My entire yard is plagued by extremely tenacious bindweed and there is no effective way to eradicate it. It wads up in a tangled mass under cardboard and proliferates at the edges. Thick, healthy groundcover is the best so far at slowing it but it never goes away. I'm increasingly concerned with soil health and I thank you for deepening my understanding.
I am really enjoying your videos and the mulch series is great! I'm so perplexed by this myth that laying fresh arborist chip won't steal nitrogen! I seem to constantly have a pile of mulch resting in my yard as that is the advice I've seen from gardeners for years. Although I don't think I could identify a nitrogen deficiency in a plant anyway 😅
Do you know anything about how fresh arborist chip affects microbes when on the soil? (I tend to use free mulch plus sheep pellets/blood and bone/worm castings to feed soil rather than buying compost).
When it is breaking down in the pile the microbes make a lot of heat, a reason not to place mulch close to plant stems. I wonder if there would be less beneficial microbial activity as small piles don't seem to generate heat like the big ones?
Recently I got myself a paper shredder that does cardboard as well.
I noticed that these machines are not designed for loads of cardboard, so it might take some cooldown time every other box.
Just sprinkling the shreds on top of the mulch and soil.
I only started last year mulching and I like to add all the material that I can get.
As long it's easy to rake and decomposes over a year or 5 I want it.
Sheet mulching with cardboard or newspaper can be a good way to boost soil organic matter in the humid tropics with rapid decomposition. However, it is important to invite fungal-based microbes and mycelium to the sheet mulch via compost or manures or liquids and continue to mulch the soil with organic materials after the cardboard or newspaper has broken down.
I'm definitely not a horticulturist, arborist or any other "ist". All I have is 35 years of gardening.
When I first started gardening, I used the plastic weed control. Won't ever use it again as in NEVER. After a year, it tears, doesn't decompose or add anything to the soil and is a major P.I.T.A.
Then I used wood chips placed on the ground around the plants. Worked fine for a while, but when it rained, the wood chips would sink down into the soil. Had to keep adding wood chips. It's also very expensive to use in the long run.
What I finally settled upon was newspaper - not directly under the plant, but around the plant - cardboard between the rows and wood chips on top of it all. I also poke holes in the cardboard for water, aeration, and only use one layer. It's kept the weeds away, the plants still get oxygen to the roots, retains moisture as needed.
When I want to add more plants, I just peel it all back, plant, and put the newspaper/cardboard and wood chips bac,.
It's what has worked for me.
Other people may have success with their own ways.
I think mostly, it's trial and error.
We ordered what was supposed to be a premium compost/garden soil last year. A truckload. Spread it around the perimeter of our backyard where we had beautiful sod installed in the center the year before. Now the soil is covered in bindweed which is now coming into our lawn. So upsetting!!!! Was going to torch the weeds that are not as close to the fence line and then cover soil areas with cardboard. What is your solution to bind weed?
You had me @ Nurd.
I prefer lawn and leaf bags or contractor paper to keep weed pressure down between perennials.
As for the arborist mulch, make friends with your local arborists! Freshly shredded tree mulch can pull out some nitrogen as it decomposes. But the stuff near the base of their large mulch piles, well that's just pure gold. And usually delivered and dumped for a very reasonable cost.
Love your videos and your fresh take on things. We are using the cardboard with a thick layer of Arborist chip to smother really thick kikuyu grass in order to plant a native forest and food forest. I didn't consider the slight downside of the cardboard but we feel the grass would have more downsides and like you say its temporary until the cardboard disappears. It's working well so far. Kikuyu grass is relentless! The added organic material will be of huge benefit long term. We are in a Mediterranean/coastal temperate area in the Overberg at the tip of Africa (2 hours from Cape Town) so relatively dry but this area receives a bit more rain (in winter) than Cape Town
Love that area! So beautiful! I agree, it’s what I have done successfully in USA, SE Ct. Hope to go visit again!
I’m sure this has been shared but cardboard placed at the base of raised garden beds seems to be the best use even with a few layers of them. Then about 10 inches of soil for the planting and 3 inches more of mulch seems to be my method. I told this to my cousin and he shrugged it off, now he has weeds grown around his vegetables lol but he’ll be starting over to plant potatoes 🥔 😮 and is actually taking my advice this time 😂
I've been using paper grocery bags instead of thicker cardboard. I am lazy and don't want to dig out all the lawn or weeds so it is strictly to smother out undesirables. It breaks down quick enough that I don't worry about it negatively impacting the plants around it that much. Plus there are gaps. Sure, ideally I would just use mulch, but it can get expensive when you want to cover such a large area.
I've been laying the same couple pieces of cardboard out around my yard for the past few months to kill weeds, then I pull them up, mulch, and move the cardboard to a new area lol
Works as well as a tarp but doesn't get nearly as hot and I don't find a bunch of dead bugs around the cardboard like I had been finding with a tarp
If the bed I'm trying to repair is a rock bed .. what is the best way.. or step number for the rocks to be reincopperated? If I'm weed blocking with cardboard and wanting a mulch top
Can you do this newspaper mulch make a bed thing in the winter time. I’m in Missouri.
It definitely worked to kill off the weeds and grass around the garden I was planning.
Hello, i used to work for a cardboard recycling company. Few facts: tape, poisonous ink and microplastic are all present in brown cardbord, why? Because wooden pulp is mixed especially if it is recycled. People should look into a paper bin and ask themselves if they would put that in theirgarden. Plus even virgin woodpulp will receive antirain antifire chemicals, i would not put that in my garden either.. pls avoid cardboard if it s an edible landscape the least!
I had access to a lot of free wood chips (neighbor cut down some trees). In my past experience though they take a long time to break down so when I'm ready to plant I'm not sure what to do. Brush them aside and plant in the soil below? Is it ok to let some of them get incorporated into the soil? Even with only 4" of this mulch how do I incorporate amendments into my soil? With my clay soil I typically top with as many leaves in the fall as I can manage.
This is great. I was saving a lot of cardboard to use on new beds, but I think I will stick to multiple layers of newspapers as I have in the past. It seems to work great for me with soil and then mulch on top and I get no serious weeds for years. Are there any downsides to using newspaper that I am missing?
Newspaper subscriptions are expensive! Do you get your from the recycling center?
@@gailwilliams5278 You're right. We did get a subscription for my mom in the senior living place because it was her one joy in the morning, so I have tons from the past years to use.
Ivd heard problems s udd so km/h cardboard around thd house due to attract termites!!
What ard youf thoughts??
Is ig safer to use newspapers instead??Since ig will desintegrate sooner
I wounder how shredding the cardboard changes the off-gas and water distribution.
shred the cardboard. I use my chipper shredder to shred boxes and throw it in my compost. MAN!! Awesome!
I love cardboard. To smother out grass around wear I plan to add to my garden
There’s no getting rid of Bermuda, or other invasive runner grasses. They will crawl up any mulch depth that’s used without fabric or cardboard
Intuitively I've always known this. What forest floor has cardboard and weed fabric smothering it?
Thanks for this video, very useful! One question, do you have any experience with using burlap instead of cardboard? Or do you know of any research on it?
Great question! I looked a bit but have not yet found any research on it (doesn't mean it isn't out there, I may be missing it). My guess is that it is not a great option, because I do know that burlap is often treated (sometimes "naturally" and sometimes "unnaturally") to prevent it from decomposing. Some types can take years to break down. So I suppose it depends on what you use it for, though not something I'd feel excited to recommended.
Here is some info about burlap in the context of wrapping trees: gardenprofessors.com/burlap-the-fashion-fabric-of-the-gardening-world/
I spend very little time weeding my garden with approx 3 in bark mulch. Don't use big chip mulch- it's an insect hotel. Leave a gap around your plants to prevent rotting on stems. Top up mulch every few years as it becomes soil. Avoid chemically treated mulch. For the 4 ft wide side of my house
where the grass was not growing properly due to shade and clay soil (no plants there) , I laid down 3 layers of newspaper then landscape fabric then about 3" of smaller diameter stone. Newspapers here use natural vegetable oil ink. I get very few weeds and what comes up is easy to pull. Never heard of using cardboard. Newspaper layers do the trick to kill the grass and deteriorate faster than cardboard. I only use natural mulch in my beds.
I know this... If you LOVE silverfish and want to feed millions of them. Use cardboard as mulch..😊
i recently bought a house where the previous owner has mulch all over the backyard and no plants at all. weeds have started poking through the weed barrier he used. im not planning to change what he did. would it hurt then for me to put the cardboard under the weed barrier?
I use old cardboard that has been getting rained on for months. Not very hydrophobic at that point.
What about Charles Dowding’s no-dig garden bed method
I have a motorized leaf shredder & use this to also shred paper & cardboard. I use a mixture of shredded dead leaves, paper & cardboard (mostly leaves @75%) in our vegetable garden. This is the only way I use paper or cardboard in areas where I intend to plant. Thoughts? Thx for the video!…. PS - my grandson LOVES to shred his old schoolwork this way😂
I'm a little confused, I've been watching videos about the benefits of using cardboard instead of lawn fabric. So my question is, is it not recommended to cover around your plants with cardboard because it will kill them?
I’m not sure now what to use in my yard…I am adding deer resistant plants along the edge of our woods and wanted something to go down to stop the weeds, what if I put cardboard down between the woods and my plants? Will my plants be okay?
What about putting the cardboard in sideways? So it's present in the soil vertically, instead of horizontally? Does this have any particular benefits or drawbacks?
It wouldn't smother weeds, but I wonder if it would make clay soil percolate better
How long has it taken for your weeds to be smothered to death underneath the cardboard or newspaper?
Has anyone had success covering up Bind weed ? Herbicides are Ineffective. The roots grow 5 feet deep. I really don't think 8 inches of wood chips will slow them down in the least. I've repeatedly dug 6 inches of the roots only to come back the next day and the plants were 3 inches tall. I'm thinking of covering my whole back yard with cardboard and just growing a vegetable garden because I just can't seem to win the fight with the Bind Weed.
Can't you just cut up the cardboard in small pieces and soak it in water for 10 minutes so it further breaks apart and add it as a mulch on the garden beds? I don't think it would restrict the air flow or have any trouble watering the plants at that point....?