If you’re struggling with weeds in your backyard, you’ve probably looked up and found nearly a million different ways to deal with them. If you think that you’re just stuck with these weeds, think again. There’s a new trend that’s been blowing up online and for good reason: cardboard gardening.
If you’ve never heard of cardboard gardening before, you’re not alone. Essentially, you’re putting down a decomposable shield between your garden and the actual soil of your backyard. Some weeds, even after being uproots or killed, can grow back thanks to leftover roots in the soil or other neighboring weeds. Cardboard gardening stifles the weeds while still allowing the plants you want to flourish.
Another great reason to cardboard garden is if you find yourself lacking garden space due to an oversized lawn. If you don’t want to tear out your garden, try just cardboard gardening right over it!
Let’s break it down.
1. Start with a thin layer of newspaper.
Now’s the time to dig into that pile of leftover newspaper you have gathering dust in your garage. Once you’ve cleared out the area that you want to cardboard, put down some newspapers first. These will help soak up water and create a primary barrier between your garden and the soil.
You’ll want to fold out each newspaper and layer about 5-10 pages per square foot. Make sure no area is too thin or too thick, as this will make the next step much more difficult.
2. Time to cardboard!
Each piece of cardboard should only be one layer thick, so you’ll want to double check that you’ve fully flattened all boxes or other sources of your cardboard. Check with your local recycling center or neighbors to see if they have any left over boxes if you’re finding yourself running short on materials.
Pro-tip: Very slightly layer each edge of the cardboard to ensure no holes where weeds can pop up in between.
3. Hose down your cardboard.
The whole point of using cardboard is to help your garden grow better. If you wet down you cardboard, you’ll be helping along the decomposition process as well as keeping them all in place.
Wetting the cardboard will also help flatten it, giving you a cleaner and flatter surface to start with.
4. Start with mulch.
Mulching will add another layer of nutrients to your garden and help that decomposition process mentioned. Like with any compost pile, you’ll want a brown substance be the heart – with you garden, consider your mulch to be at the heart of this composting. Also with this cardboard garden, you’ll only need to much once during the season.
5. Add your soil.
The whole point of cardboard gardening is to reduce the actual interaction your garden has with your own backyard soil. I would recommend not using soil from your garden, in case you end up transplanting some of those weed roots in the process. Try investing in some higher quality, store-bought planting soil to supplement your garden. You’ll want to add enough soil and mulch collectively that you will be able to actually dig a hole to place your plants.
Pro-tip: Try building an above-ground planter around your cardboard to give yourself more space to plant deep-rooting plants.
Happy planting!
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