Weeding Hack that Saves Your Back!
Hello,
How are you doing? I hope that you and your family are taking good care and staying well!
I've been in my garden a lot, as I'm sure you have been, and it seems that pretty much the main task I am doing each day is weeding! Lordy, it's no joke. Although I laugh because when I was working in gardens for clients, the main task was weeding. Each spring season I seem to forget how many dang weeds there are trying to take over the garden!
One of the tricks I love to implement whenever possible is sheet mulching. It is super easy and so incredibly effective! All you need is cardboard, mulch and water.
Here's how I do it:
Find an area that I am tired of weeding, where I am not planning on planting in the near future, like a walkway, around a fruit tree or garden border (although you most certainly can plant into the sheet mulched by cutting into the cardboard to plant, no problem. One gallon plant size and larger is recommended).
Lay out the cardboard* on top of the weeds. Yes, lay the cardboard directly on top. If your weeds are rigid and won't lay down under the cardboard, then go ahead and cut/mow them down. The cool thing about sheet mulching is that you don't have to 'pre-weed' that area.
*When I lay out my chardboard from the boxes I've collected, I simply flatten the box so to keep a double layer of cardboard. I am not opening the box up as a single layer. Does this make sense? You can lay the cardboard out as a single layer, but I want the double layer which will last longer. Also when I lay out my cardboard, I overlap any seams and the edges as to completely cover the ground below. This is super important. If there is a crack, the weeds will find their way through.
Now I pile on the mulch. No less than 3" is the standard recommendation. Sometimes I am a bit shy of 3" and it'll work, but the thicker the layer of mulch the better. You can use whatever kind of mulch you prefer. I like the arbor mulch that I can get from tree companies. It is chipped kinda big & corse, which will last longer than a finer mulch. Also, if you are purchasing mulch from the landscape supply yard, arbor mulch is typically the most economical choice.
Water in well. This will settle the chips & cardboard so it will stay in place. It's that easy!
I love to sheet mulch pathways, around my raised beds, around my fruit trees, and even along the garden borders. The other neat thing that I'm happy about is that many boxes are shipped now with paper tape. That plastic tape is such a bummer to deal with for so many reasons.
I've also learned that sheet mulching around fruit trees not only keeps the weeds down for 12-18 months, yes, 12-18!, allowing me to prune limbs and harvest the fruit with ease, but the sheet mulch also increases the health of the tree. It's incredible! As the microbiology decomposes the cardboard, this process feeds the root system making a healthy tree.
It's truly amazing how easy and beneficial sheet mulching can be! I hope you give it a try if you haven't already : )
Enjoy your day, stay well!
~Suzanne