Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Recycled "Weed" Control



Now everyone needs a way to access their plants, and most of the time (read "all of the time") that requires paths in between the garden beds. A huge problem that most folks have is that "weeds" tend to grow in these relatively empty spaces. 


Like so...

So using a technique I learned from Jack Spirko, I have put cardboard under the mulch in some paths and garden beds, that'll really discourage unwanted stuff from growing!


So here's what I did:
I first soaked the heck out of the cardboard I was gonna use. When you do this it helps the cardboard stick to the earth and do its job better. 
While the cardboard was soaking in an old metal trash can, I was sorta clearing up the space for the cardboard to go down. Now don't get me wrong, I really wasn't weeding or putting much work into it, I was just scraping the dirt with a shovel to clear up the space. The purpose of clearing this space was so the cardboard would lie directly on the soil. 
Once the path was prepared and the cardboard was ready to use, I threw down the cardboard!
On top of the cardboard I then put a bunch of straw mulch. (And we all know the benefits of mulch!)


                  
Yes those are from Burger King.
Its being thrown away anyways and so its freely available.
 I might as well put this stuff to good use!

Now what this will do is: discourage things from growing up from underneath, help keep the soil hydrated, and thereby promote good soil health. How's that for a positive solution!?

But this solution is not just limited to where you DON'T want to grow things. Its also quite useful in keeping a garden bed clear too. 

The perennial herb garden.
I did the same thing to this garden bed as well: but where I wanted to plant my herbs I simply cut out a hole in the cardboard and proceeded to plant! 

You can see the cardboard surrounding the dirt where the pineapple sage is growing.
I believe that over time it simply will decompose and become part of the soil, so no worries about choking out my plants. 

So there you have it! 
Yet another simple and easy solution!








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