Weed Free Garden using Cardboard | Mistakes to Avoid

#permaculture #recycling Cardboard is a fantastic resource to make a no till or no dig garden. It is the first step to a relatively weed free garden. It shades the soil giving it time to heal. The worms and fungi consume it providing further enrichment. I get my cardboard for free out of a dumpster meaning it would have just gone into a landfill. I am thrilled at what my permaculture garden has become BUT I still have, although a small amount, aggressive weeds. I made a couple mistakes using cardboard. Watch this and learn from my mistakes!

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[FastGardeningMichigan]

I hope this video finds who needs to see it! One layer of cardboard is not enough. Use 2 or 3 and overlap generously. To plant, just make a hole large enough in the carboard. The fungi and worms will thank you!

[merryanneadair]

THANK YOU!!! This explains why my single layer of cardboard helped but were still a bit disappointing! God bless!!

[jswhosoever]

About 10 years ago i was walking along a newer paved bridge up north and saw a weed had pushed up and broken through 4 inches of asphalt like a little volcano! THAT was impressive😆

[jcharris]

The yellow jackets appreciate you sharing the space. ❤️

[VermiCast_Garden]

I understand the need for a weed barrier, but isn't it just a matter of time or just delaying the inevitable? Using compost that has been taken to very temps seem to help the most in raised beds, but I understand that wouldn't be practical for bigger plots of ground. It's a tough row to hoe no matter how you slice it when it comes to weeds. Good video and thanks for posting.

[dennisstolte]

Good information. You may have saved me lots of work. Thank you!😊

[ohTrailBlazin]

Thanks. I love in Vegas and I'm super Novice. I think this Multiple layer trick is gonna be beneficial for this hard Rocksoil we have here

[RashidDarden]

I, too, learned this the hard way. I tried to use cardboard to smother unwanted canna lilies in my yard. Those lilies said HA! YOU THOUGHT!

[patriciadempsey]

Thank you for sharing hope you manage to fix the problem.

[araceligomez]

Love it. Learned a lot. Thank you, sir!

[tenij]

you use thick plastic dark foil that get real hot in sun all die under it

[PlowAndPantryHomestead]

We have the same arch nemesis. Those dirty rotten rhizomous grasses!

[EducatedSkeptic]

Thanks so much for a most informative and HIGHLY USEFUL video! This is the first of your videos I've seen, but it is going to be SO incredibly helpful. I've now subscribed and clicked to see all your new ones. An area of our "pumpkin patch" (which includes all our winter squash) has become too shady as adjacent trees have gotten taller, so I'm going to let that return to lawn and expand the pumpkin patch into a sunnier area that is now lawn. Had planned to lay down cardboard (of which we have a bountiful supply, thanks to a spring construction project) and cover it with the rotted shavings and horse manure that I have in a giant compost pile. Will now DOUBLE the thickness of that cardboard, and make sure it's completely - and alternately - overlapped, so as to try to minimize weed penetration. Here in Maine, we face a lot of the same issues you do in Michigan - I can relate to the snow on the ground! (Love the moustache on your assistant, by the way!) Thanks again!

[ziptiefighter]

Overlapping cardboard like shingles is good. Another strategy I've employed is to cut multiple relatively evenly-spaced slits [with box cutter] in the cardboard to facilitate somewhat easier percolation of rainwater thru that biodegradable weed block. Not every plot is going to respond with the same degree of success. I employ a good plant app to ID interlopers.
I enjoy hearing others' experiences with cardboard. I'm on my sixth season of winter-sowing mostly native plants, trees, and shrubs in NE WI. Most of my non-native turf grass has been replaced with genuinely beneficial plants native to my region.
Learning a little more every season.
Thankyou for the vid 👊

[lisalisa]

Just found your channel today, loving how informative the vids are. Im in SE MI Z6b. 👋🏻 I have a probably stupid question. Its my 1st yr planting perennials in my "landscape" which has crap dirt. Trying to make it better and suppress weeds. I cant buy mulch but read about making mulch from plant cuttings, leaves and sticks, all chopped up small, so Ive been doing that, and I have a 3'x4' pile Im still adding to. Read about the cardboard thing so Ive been collecting from stores. What should my next steps be? I cannot buy anything, have to use what Ive got lying around. TYSM

[EpsteinIsSeaEyeAyy]

Weeds just never stop. If only we could bargain with them. There's a lot of great places outside of the garden

[LeaJones]

if you get cardboard with no ink, no tape, no waterproofing, it's all sugars and paper and not terrible for the ground.

Feed stores get a lot of this sort of cardboard on their flats of feed. Call your nearest feed store and see if they've got some.

[AnnieDog-arfarf]

The reason some plants can pop up without light is “geotropism”. It’s a response to gravity.

[lyndelgado]

Ive been pulling mallow n other weeds out of old 'free' soil (mostly inch sized sharp rocks w a little, dirt) for 3 yrs. I have less weeds after first 2 yrs but i didnt know to put wood chips over cardboard to help it smother weeds n improve soil . This is first vid of urs ive seen. Going to chk out others 4 ideas of what else free or inexpensive i can use to improve this fill swimming pool hole (30 yrs ago). Thx!

[ljay]

Have you come across any issues with pests like slugs?