OVER THE YEARS I’ve shared my method of using cardboard under mulch for weed control. Every year people will come up and thank me for saving them so much time once they tried it. Here it is, easy edging and mulching; a quick way to conquer weeds for great looking beds.
I have an area that is difficult to mow around so I decided to turn it into a mulched bed to make mowing easier. I used the hose to outline the edge I want. It will be a nice rounded bed that will be easy to mow around. Then I finish edging the new bed. I use a straight bladed shovel for a nice neat edge. Simply slice into the grass at the edge of the bed at a steep angle 4” deep. Grass can’t cross that barrier of air, so it won’t make it into the bed on the other side of the trench. I just toss the clumps I dig out into the bed...why waste good soil I say.
“But what about all the grass and weeds in the bed...and all the clumps of grass you tossed in?” you’re asking. I suppose that I could spend a couple of hours digging out all the grass and weeds, but I have a much quicker and easier way to deal with that...cardboard! A layer of cardboard will smother the grass and it will die. All the clumps of sod that I tossed in will compost into the soil. I’m always on the prowl for large pieces of cardboard.
Here’s the bed all covered with cardboard. I used a razor knife to slice the cardboard along the edge of the bed. Make sure that the cardboard overlaps heavily so the grass and weeds can’t get through...8” of overlap will stop them.
I also used the razor knife to cut the cardboard, so it fits around the trunks of the pines and hydrangea.
Now all that’s left is putting mulch on the cardboard. This is the fun part, and it goes down quickly. I put a 4” to 5” layer of cedar mulch down. There are many types of mulch, but I like cedar because it’s cheap and smells nice too. Now the mulch is down, the area looks great and mowing will be simple.
It looks a little sparse now, but more plants can be added to the bed easily. Just brush the mulch aside, cut a hole in the cardboard and plant, easy peasy and it looks so much better now. In all, this took less than an hour, and I used 7 bags of cedar mulch.
In the vegetable garden, I use the same method except that I’ll use straw on top of the cardboard instead of cedar mulch. During a wet year like this one, I’ll wait until later in the season to cover the soil to give it a chance to dry out and warm up. Seed beds and other areas can’t get covered and still need to be weeded but at least the aisles remain weed free.
By fall earthworms will have eaten most of the cardboard and any that is left can be turned into the soil along with the straw adding organic matter and feeding the soil.
THANKS FOR THE READ!
